Matthew Coller continues to answer random questions from Vikings fans and talks about his interview with Rich Gannon and what Rich had to say about Sam Darnold.
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[Music] [Music] regulator Mount up we’re coming [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey everybody welcome to another episode of purple Insider Matthew CER here and I have to tell you the truth when I scheduled a live stream for tonight I forgot that game seven of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was going on so I have the hockey game on my TV right over here and uh so you’re GNA see me peering over here but luckily we are in the intermission to start the show so hopefully a lot of you can jump in we could talk a little football and uh then I’ll be watching it as continuing to talk football with you because that is what I do this week on the show it’s been random question week so hopefully you caught the episode with ARF Assan that was a lot of fun and the other episode where I was asked to make an entire team out of fullbacks and I did that a couple nights ago but I thought it wouldn’t make any sense to do random question week without people coming on and randomly popping in and asking question so I’m going to need that from you guys here I also have a couple other things to talk about including my discussion with Rich Ganon for an article it wasn’t a podcast but it was for an article that you could see over at purple insider.com had a great conversation with the former Vikings quarterback uh and we talked about Sam darnold and so forth so I’ll discuss that and as long as we’re talking random things I’m going to throw this out there today I played golf and it was an elite Flawless golf day a little bit windy but I I’m not going to make excuses there was a nice breeze blowing through Sun out perfect temperature 82 to 84 degrees while I’m out there playing and I played with my friend Sam xtram but we couldn’t find a third and a fourth so we just played with two randoms and the playing with randoms thing can go either way and it worked out really well for me today where I played with two guys that were they actually didn’t know each other they just played solo which I respect and they were cool guys they played pretty well they moved along at a good Pace but that play if we’re talking about random stuff that’s just going on in the summertime when you play with random other golfers you are either in great shape or terrible shape sometimes I’ve had people who don’t know how to play uh one time a guy asked if it was okay if he smoked weed while we played but today uh worked out great so anyway since we’re doing random if you’re here watching jump in the comments ask a random football or Vikings question does not matter there are no rules other than probably if it’s who’s going to start as the quarterback at the beginning of the season that’s not really random enough so I need more random than that uh and until you guys get some questions in the comments I will and I also have a bunch of them that are uh you know piled up from Twitter as well so I might jump into those because I’ve got a lot of crazy questions there but uh I want to start off just with this interview that I had with Rich Ganon for an article and I gave Rich a text he used to come on the radio when I was on 1500 ESPN so I had his number and I shot him a text and just said hey Rich I’m writing about Sam darnold what do you got can you help me out let’s talk let’s talk about Sam darnold and so he texts me back and says hey I got 10 minutes right now so I I call Rich and I said Rich how does Sam darnold become the next you and he told told a great story when he was playing for the Kansas City chief so rich Ganon if you don’t know started out his career as Minnesota Vikings quarterback was pretty decent for the Vikings but I mean he finished with a winning record but didn’t maximize the talent on those teams didn’t get off to an amazing start to his career they eventually traded him to Washington he ends up in uh Minnesota or in Kansas City and he told me a story where he threw an interception in practice there wasn’t his fault and Marty Schottenheimer the legendary Chief’s coach came over to him and said we don’t do that here we don’t turn the ball over here because shoten Heimer had this incredible record of not turning the ball over so as someone who grew up in the 990s you can imagine this is pretty cool for me having this former NFL quarterback tell me a story about Marty Schottenheimer but anyway so he’s talking about this and he he called it the talk like he had the talk with him but in football terms that’s about turning the ball over and then he explained all the things that you can do as a quarterback that will reduce the amount of turnovers that you have and he talked about the better you understand the line of scrimmage defenses your play caller the relationship with your play caller that all of it and understand the weapons you have the alignments where everybody is on a given play the more you understand how it all works in conjunction together the better you can be at protecting the football which is really been Sam darnold’s Achilles heel throughout his career and so rich took me through all these different things that went through his mind as he grew as a player in the NFL one of them was third down and long and so rich talked about how on Third and long your chances of getting it are not very high so that doesn’t mean that you check down every time of course we’ve seen that in the past a little bit but his point was if it’s not there right away then make sure you’re not having a negative play and what I discovered was that Sam darnold the majority of his interceptions throughout his career came on second or third down and long where he was I think just pressing or you see of course more complicated coverages and blitzes but even relative to the rest of the NFL his interception rate was mostly okay on second down and third down in less than seven but if you go more than seven Sam darnold was so aggressive in trying to make plays and trying to do something special that he made a ton of mistakes when he was doing that that’s again not to say he was incredible under all other circumstances but it was a remarkable difference in how many interceptions he threw uh it was something like 17 picks and 500 passes or something like that or or even more than that on Third and and long and it was this very high percentage of throws that had been picked off whereas when he wasn’t trying to press too hard then he didn’t have as many turnover worthy plays and if he heeds the advice of Rich Ganon and turns the ball over less then he does have a chance to succeed as the Vikings quarterback so again make sure you go check that out but I just thought it was yeah of course we all know that he has to turn the ball over less but I also think that what rich is pointing out is that darnold has to be more aware he has to be less uh trying to do it all and trying to be a hero and trying to be the guy who has drafted high and there’s a psychological effect to all this if you’re losing games you might press more you might be trying if you’re losing with the Jets hey I I gotta go make a play or something if you don’t feel like you have a great team whereas maybe in Minnesota there will be fewer of those situations but also you have to understand the situational awareness like it’s okay to punt in the first quarter or something you don’t have to try to be a hero right off the outset of the game which I think is Rich gon was getting to so it is hard though because Sam darnold has so much talent that you want him to make plays he can run he’s mobile but also he has to understand when he can make those plays and when he can’t which is probably the key to whether he succeeds or not because rich said to me in the article I don’t care what receivers you have I don’t care who your play caller is if you turn the ball over if you take sacks and get strip sacked on third down or throw picks on second down and long then you’re not going to be the quarterback uh for all that long so uh very interesting stuff again purple insider.com the place to go check that out and sign up for the newsletter it’s a good time to do so so you’re ready for all the training camp content that will come in uh July and so forth so let me get to some of your questions uh some of them they’re going to have to dial it up more on the random scale I think if we’re asking purple Insider random questions here tonight but we’ll start with JP uh lots of people saying that we should sign a veteran wide receiver three or cornerbacks or defensive tackles I think this should be the year that we keep watch on our youngest players to see if we can count on them our competitive years will be next year uh JP I I don’t again I don’t think that’s super random but I think it’s very smart of you I I don’t think that it’s totally necessary that the Vikings go out and sign a hunter Renfro or Yan andak or something to be the extra Edge rusher it’s okay if they just decide that we’re going to wait and see and we’re going to find out how some of these players that are unproven can handle the heat because if they had gone out last year and they kept Jordan Hicks but if they had gone out last year and added another veteran linebacker or something then maybe we wouldn’t have found out about Ivan Pace Jr or if they went out and added a veteran cornerback they played Josh matelis at nickel Corner out of necessity and then it turns out that there’s something there now this has gone the other way sometimes in the past Holton Hill for example was a time that it definitely did not go in the right direction and the 2020 defense where they were hoping that a bunch of young Corners could step up and then they didn’t so there is the possibility that if you leave the wide receiver three position to Jaylen Naylor Etc Malik nolles whoever else they cut one guy from Merc there’s still one guy from Mercer remaining uh on the udfa list but if you let them all kind of fight it out like in Batman when he throw the Joker breaks the pool stick or whatever and throws it like there you go fight it out uh if that’s how they handle some of these positions someone could emerge that you didn’t think was going to even think about Adam thielen the all-time udfa example but somebody who they let battle it out year after year and eventually uh lacoin Treadwell was not what he was supposed to be and Adam thielen was Johnny on the spot to prove that he could actually play when he got out there so I don’t think that’s a bad take at all I mean if they sign Hunter Renfro okay fine uh maybe that means they’re concerned about jayen Naylor’s health or whatever else but I have no problem I’m with you I have no problem with them finding out because last year that was effective in developing some players that are key to the opp operation find out if you’ve got any more uh Eric asks have we heard anything on the Vikings adding or who will win the wide receiver three spot it’s wide open I mean I that was the last question that I asked to Kevin oconnell before we all went on our summer break and I started playing golf and so forth which uh chipping tips email them to me the driving was fantastic today the chipping not great so tips I need some help on the chipping but uh to your Point Kevin oconnell said it’s wide open it’s a total competition there and it’s hard to even put odds on the competition for who’s going to work out for wide receiver three I mean I think Brandon Powell is clearly the guy who they can rely on and he proved that last year but aside from that it’s just totally wide open I’ve kind of got my eyes on Malik nolles a little bit um but you know other than that like Kevin oconnell even himself was kind of I don’t know yet like he wants to see somebody emerge there um as far as you know that that position because he didn’t really see it in mini camp and and I think that just in general when it comes to mini camp a lot of times we do pick up on some wide receivers and this is where you know maybe if they add someone I’ll understand it because usually we do kind of see some wide receivers if they’re going to thrive then they’ll do it in mini camp or at least at least start to do it like KJ Osborne did Once Upon a Time uh but you know you just never know in training camp they’ve still got Tristian Jackson he’s been there for a couple of years now so if they let that play out I think that’s fine but there really isn’t any sort of update on where that’s going to go other than to just say hey this is a wideopen competition and whoever is going to emerge is going to emerge here um there is let’s see just just to give you I I just called this all the people that are competing for this spot which is why it’s going to be one of the most intriguing in training camp Trent sherfield Brandon Powell Jaylen Naylor Malik nolles jwn Jones who impressed me a few times during um mini camp Ty James Tristian Jackson lucky Jackson and uh well nikel Harry is still on the roster as a receiver but technically a tight end that’s a lot of bodies let’s see if anybody can win the job I’m cool with that uh if you’re just joining welcome feel free to ask us totally random question that’s what we’re here for and also over here is my TV for hockey so I hope you’re doing the same thing top 10 people on the hot seat or under pressure this year you can include coaches and coordinators uh I don’t know if you mean in the entire NFL or if you just mean here oh I think you you probably mean uh the the 10 Vikings that are on the hot seed or under pressure um well I guess I would start making a list of 10 um might be a little tricky is there 10 people who are deeply under pressure on the Minnesota Vikings roster I’m not sure that there are at this point because to be under pressure you would have to have enough of a sample size plus they want something you from you in the future so who is really under pressure on this team going into Camp I mean three three out of your 10 can immediately be the 2022 draft picks number one two and three lsen Andrew Booth Jr and Brian asena all very much under pressure in this training camp to prove that there’s something there that there’s really anything there uh I think anyone who’s an upcoming free agent how about cam bham that’s not hoty but that’s under pressure after a very good year last year and then he becomes a free agent Byron Murphy Jr the same thing kind of a big signing um Tai Chandler would be someone I would say is under pressure to prove that he could be a guy for the future after last year showing flashes Sam darnold is number one the most pressure of anybody even much higher than JJ McCarthy is Sam darnold this year because this is make or break everyone knows that if he can’t make it here he’s not a starting quarterback he’s got the best receivers good coaching all that he should be able to do it um does Ryan Wright count to anyone I think so Ryan Wright’s Under Pressure this is the off off the Dome list here uh I don’t know if Pat Jones counts sorry now I’m now I’m looking for players who might be under pressure uh that might be that might be kind of it I don’t really consider oh how about does Ed Ingram count because this is make or break a little bit for Ed Ingram as he’s had those first two seasons the first year is very rough the second year starts off terribly then improves then kind of regresses then improves a little bit again at the end but we’re still not really sure if Ed Ingram can actually play uh or can be an above average guard he has this year to really show that he can do that um so I don’t know if I’ve gotten to 10 or not but I think that’s a that’s a pretty good list uh definitely would throw in anybody that plays corner I mean Shaq Griffin career as a starter is probably on the line as well so again I don’t know I wasn’t counting but that’s I think that’s a pretty good list uh let’s see Kyle says do you have a favorite top uh 2025 Prospect yet assuming that we picked between eight and 10 Kyle I wish I could do something for you there but I don’t look at the draft prospects until the end of the NFL season I watch college football the same way you do on Saturday when I watch the NFL it’s different from when I watch college when I watch the NFL I’m very locked into everything that’s happening because I talk about it when I cover a Vikings game every single play I Am dialed into and I take notes and I’m writing articles and I’m interviewing and all those things but even on a Monday night football game even if it doesn’t really involve the Vikings I’m probably watching pretty close uh a lot of times we do live stream on Monday so I’ll do the TV over here but then after the live stream is over I’m watching close I’m reading what people say I’m I’m really like paying attention college football is the opposite for me very casual it’s on all Saturday I’m in and out I’m mowing the lawn going to the grocery store doing whatever I need to do because Saturday is my only day off during the NFL season so it’s just kind of Vibes for me it’s not I’m gonna watch every game I’m gonna study the prospects I don’t read the prospect writers and their way too early mock drafts and stuff like that it’s just not it’s just too much for me um so as I watch throughout the season I’ll catch on to a few prospects but normally my draft work comes when the season ends then start to research who is involved and then I start to go back and watch those guys play on highlight reels and read about them and draft analyst opinions and stuff like that so that’s a long way of saying I have no idea but I can say this corner defensive tackle that whoever is that where the Vikings are picking that that’s what they need they need a defensive tackle and a corner no matter what happens this year they’re going to need that uh so whoever the top player is just draft them uh Daniels says do you believe KOC will turn over play calling after this year I don’t believe Kevin oconnell ever in his career as a head football coach will ever turn over play calling period I don’t believe he ever will I think that he will call the plays until they take the headset off of his head and bury it 100 feet deep in the ground Kevin oconnell is a former quarterback who wants nothing more than to be in the headset of that starting quarterback he wants to be in Total Lock step with that guy they want to be on the same page like honestly they were with him and Kirk right before Kirk got hurt was as much on the same page as those two guys ever were with the play calling the understanding of the offense he wants to recreate that with JJ McCarthy I don’t think he will ever uh decide to uh walk away from that um so but that’s that’s the reason that you hire him you hire him to be your Kyle Shanahan your Matt laflor I think Matt laflor calls the plays you that’s what you have them for and that’s why you need Brian Brian Flores because Kevin oconnell is not gonna be a defensive guy never ever ever he is a former quarterback that’s his job that’s what he’s gonna be uh so I don’t think he’ll turn over the play calling ever uh Evan says you and Kevin both said you aren’t buying something about the Packers uh oh Kevin seir right uh what’s one thing you are buying and one thing you aren’t buying about the Bears and Lions uh well so with the Lions it’s still their defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn he gets talked about all the time as if he’s this great coach I have not seen that yet I don’t feel that their defense is all that complex for opposing quarterbacks to play against so they will improve with their personnel but are they improving in the same way that Brian Flores improves the Vikings I don’t think so because I don’t think that they cause enough problems for quarterbacks post Snap pre- Snap to post Snap enough confusion they just don’t seem that hard to figure out and maybe that’s Aaron Glenn being a little Antiquated being a guy who played in the early 2000s and so did Dan Campbell and like do they really know what’s going on right now with the way NFL uh defenses are just designing their pressure packages their coverage you know deception and stuff like that so I not buying that the Lions will suddenly sign two or three players and have a great defense uh what about the Bears well I’m buying that the Bears are in a very good position to be better than they’ve been in a very long time eventually am I buying the Bears as being a great team this year uh that I’m not so sold on not so sold on their offensive line their running game is pretty me uh their secondary is is quite good I think but they have one guy up front who’s really exceptional I’m not sure that they have more than that I guess I wouldn’t buy the Bears as anything more than the three seed in the division it’s really 2025 that I would but I think that most people are not setting the bar super super high maybe the one thing is that I’m not buying that Caleb Williams will be a super super quick adaptation um to the NFL like I think that he is going to need more work than a lot of other um quarterbacks because of the way he played uh he did well from a clean pocket but when he got pressured it was a real struggle when he got pressured and uh I think that if that’s what’s happening in college then that’s what will very likely happen in the NFL as well okay now here that’s a good random question great job there here here’s another very good random question you guys are good at this this random question thing uh um let’s see Mel malill uh sorry if I pronounce that wrong it’s kind of hard to read on my screen give me your all-time top five NFL linebackers okay so linebackers all time now this is what’s hard about linebackers a little bit is does an outside linebacker count does Lawrence Taylor count as a linebacker he’s more of a pass rusher but I would say he does so Lawrence Taylor’s the all-tim Mike single Terry Ray Lewis Junior sea um who’s after that I mean there’s some old school ones like Jack Lambert uh Jack ham Derek Brooks would be another one I’d probably throw Derrick Brooks in there I mean if it’s my if it’s just my five and then maybe you get Brian eracer one of the things is uh sometimes it’s like was the guy a little overrated because he was a hard-nosed line backer maybe that’s eracer but I doubt it he was pretty darn good uh so I think I gave you six or seven there but those are the first ones that come to mind for making a top five and Derrick Brooks is maybe uh when he was playing unbelievable and so you know kind of got lost a little bit in history with those great teams and then finally got rewarded last year so I think that that’s Lawrence Taylor single Terry Ray Lewis Derek Brooks and who was the other one that I mentioned um oh Junior SE Junior seal one of my all-time favorite players Junior SE see including Lawrence Taylor do we include people like Derek Thomas More of just a pass rusher I think so that’s where that outside linebacker thing gets a little a little bit tricky uh Viking Jerome asks uh any change in Levi Drake Rodriguez or any chance I assume you mean for Levi Drake Rodriguez making the final roster oh yeah oh there’s a chance I mean when you look at that defensive tackle group it’s okay it’s maybe better than it was last year but how much different is it really uh they’ve brought in Jerry Tillery who I thought looked pretty good in mini camp but that’s still mini camp and he doesn’t have a great history uh jquan Roy will be battling against him he made some noise last year Jonah Williams is a guy that they signed but you know Harris and Phillips this is not a deep excellent group of defensive tackles it’s kind of just a bunch of guys so if there’s something there for Levi Drake Rodriguez then he’s gonna have his chance uh but he’s battling really the way that I made it in the 53 I I think I did have him making it you know who’s the wild card there a little bit is James Lynch since we’re doing a random podcast James Lynch is coming off the ACL injury but they decided they wanted to bring him back and that must mean that they liked him enough he was good against the run in 2022 Levi Drake Rodriguez also I’m not usually afraid of Levi or of like losing a guy like Levi Drake Rodriguez because seventh rounder usually they don’t get picked up by another team but with him he might have had a lot of interest as a priority free agent so if the Vikings do try to sneak him into their practice squad he might get scooped up I think they had the same concern about Andre Carter when they put him on the roster so I’m going to say that uh there is a good chance that Levi Drake Rodriguez makes it the coaches seem to really like his mentality so yeah I I I think that there is a good shot for him uh let’s see Angel Dust senior uh asks do you have hopes that Jay Ward develops into a special teams Ace or more I’m going to say uh that I do have hopes for him last year it was kind of um like didn’t get a whole lot of opportunity and he was a special teamer last year but I don’t think that that means that he won’t have more chances this year I wasn’t paying very close attention to him because of the quarterbacks and so forth in mini camp to where he was playing and was he moving around and so forth but he does have versatility to his game an aggression to his game that we saw sometimes to a fall in preseason last year this is a big training camp for him because a player like that if you can find a niche for yourself like this guy fits in in certain positions on the defense or this guy fits in as a nickel Corner in these early down situations but we take him off the field after that that’s really the key to making it in Brian flores’s defense is to prove that there’s something there and then to do well within that role and expand from there that’s what we saw from Josh matelis uh but yeah I mean I want to see what’s there for Jay Warden he might be that guy that plays special teams for two or three years you kind of forget about him and then all of a sudden he’s there and he’s playing because it’s unlikely that Harrison Smith plays a lot more years after this so someone like Jay Ward could be that waiting in the wings guy they could move Josh matelis back to the regular safety position they could let cam Binum go depending on his contract uh so I think that you know drafting a guy like that in the fourth round means that there are expectations uh melil asks is Harrison Smith the Hall of Famer if so why I did a 3,000 or so word story on this last year where I talked to Duron Jones Anderson Deo Anthony Harris cam bham a bunch of different people about Harrison Smith and his Hall of Fame case Josh matelis I think too and I believe that Harrison Smith belongs in the Hall of Fame if you look up defensive backs in theall of Fame who have six Pro bowls there are very few who have six or more that are not in the Hall of Fame if he were to get to Seven then that’s super rare air for Harrison Smith but six still puts him in the ballpark of a lot of the best defensive backs ever the other thing is too defensive backs are criminally underappreciated by the Hall of Fame and that could be the challenge for Harrison Smith that he didn’t have a championship and look should that matter probably not that much much but it does historically for making the Hall of Fame that if you have a a championship it means you played in front of the Hall of Fame voters in National games and it on TV and a playoff run and they’re going to talk about you a ton you’re gonna probably make big plays in the playoffs he just hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to do that uh in the postseason not really his fault at all but that’s the fact about Harrison Smith I think he belongs but he will have a very tough time actually getting there the other part of it too not a self-promoter at all I mean he could actually be if he wanted to Harrison Smith could be one of the best broadcasters in the NFL I am sure of that from all the years of talking to Harrison Smith one-on-one or in press conferences or whatever I know that he is one of the smartest football people on Earth and that he could really be great at it he has more personality than you think uh but I don’t think he’s going to do that that’s just that not who he is so if he were to become a broadcaster and everyone fell in love with him then he would get opportunities to be in the Hall of Fame it’s just the reality of how it works look JJ rck if he’s not doing his podcast he’s not on TV he’s not coaching the Lakers you can guarantee that uh so it does make a difference John Gruden comes back to the NFL after being on TV so that would be my suggestion for Harrison Smith when you retire go be on ESPN for a few years they’ll put you in the Hall of Fame after that uh deserving but I don’t think it’s the most likely thing maybe 50-50 shot at best uh I shot you 99 what former Vikings player were you really pulling for but things just didn’t work out for them Chad BB was one for me personally yeah I guess when when you talk about pulling for I never root for stuff because it’s just not in my nature whatever happens kind of happens but uh when I think of players who either I thought were going to work out or that I know that that guy was good enough but didn’t get a chance or got injured or something like that you know who actually comes to mind is Jerick McKinnon and it’s not that Jerick McKinnon didn’t work out uh he was a decent player for them but I always thought that he could have been better if he had had more opportunities better running situation in 2016 and I think he proved to some extent in Kansas City he comes to mind as someone that I always thought this could be an rb1 he is a F catcher he’s a blocker he’s a very good blocker he’s a smart player and he’s got that explosiveness but it just never seemed to come together or he was never really believed in I’ll give you another guy that falls under that same category cord darl Patterson is somebody that I mean he was the best kick returner maybe ever just pure kick returner not punt returner but kick returner and he should have been getting the football in his hands as 2015 20 2016 in in 15 who is Teddy throwing to outside of Stefan Diggs just starting to emerge Mike Wallace they really should have been using Cordell Patterson to get them easy touches and easy yards and they just didn’t do it and uh as far as I think that your question’s maybe a little more directed to guys that never did anything like Jerick and Cordo did um uh Town Bower that that’s a deep pull you want to talk about random how about that tashawn Bower was lanky big giant guy I think he may have gone to LSU so of course the denil hunter thing popped up but in training camp and practice tashawn Bower was so good at times that they cut Brian Robinson for him in 2018 and decided to keep Bower it it just it just never happened and I don’t know if it was opportunity or whatever but Bower had um you know he had a lot of things kind of go against him during his career uh he had lost some family members right before he started his NFL career he just had you know some tough times to go through and was I believe an undrafted free agent would have been a good story just uh didn’t didn’t happen uh Daniel says what’s the most boneheaded NFL play you ever saw live or on film okay uh well two nominations from Kevin oconnell trick plays you guys know what they are pitching the ball from the tight end to the quarterback no why no that that’s just no that’s just a bad one don’t do that uh throwing the ball to Kirk Cousins how about that one that was also bad there was no reason to throw the ball to Kirk Cousins so that’s two right off the bat uh how about this in 2019 the Philadelphia Eagles playing the Vikings they decided to run a trick play to have their kicker throw the ball that was also a really terrible decision and uh did not work out I think it was the end of the half was probably at the end of the half they decided they were gonna trick the Vikings and have Jake Elliot maybe throw a pass so it’s mostly trick plays that I’ve seen live bone I’m trying to think of some of the craziest stuff that I’ve seen I mean the Vikings have done a lot of crazy stuff how about I mean boneheaded is is uh I didn’t see this wasn’t there in Tennessee I had just moved to Minnesota I didn’t travel to the opener in 2016 but Marcus Mariota throwing the pick six to Eric Hendricks was insane like they were winning the game they were driving they had a chance to just put it away and he throws it right to him oh I’ll give you my all-time favorite boneheaded play of the Kirk Cousins era and I’m sure there were many over you know other quarterbacks and everything so I’m not just you know putting this on him but against the Seattle Seahawks Kirk Cousins threw the ball overhand backward 2018 I’m sure you guys remember it it was either Sunday night or Monday Night Football he drops back he kind of panics a little turns around and throws it overhand to latavius Murray who somehow grabs it and runs for five yards and was taken down why any person would throw the ball overhand backward is completely Beyond me but I did see another time in Buffalo where that went even worse and I can’t remember if I was there or not and and if you’re talking about on film there’s all sorts of crazy stuff I might have been there or it might have been I might have been just doing postgame for it Matt Sims not Chris Sims but his I think it’s his brother Matt Sims was a fourth quarterback for the bills and he was getting sacked and decided to just throw the ball and he threw it backward and it bounced you can find this play on YouTube it bounced like 14 times backward and went 30 yards backwards as he was getting sacked uh that’s why he didn’t play in the NFL for the Buffalo pills uh Michael says why not trade for Brandon iuk I would love to have Brandon iuk as a Minnesota Viking don’t know what they’re going to trade for him or why San Francisco would give the Vikings Brandon iuk trust me if they trade Brandon iuk it’s to the AFC they would be nuts to trade him within the the division he’s one of the best receivers in the league H can you afford the number one most expensive wide receiver and the number two or three most expensive wide receiver in the league I don’t know about that and what draft Capital the first round pick for next year but you’re getting more than that for Brandon auk and they don’t have a lot other than that they don’t have a second and third for next year right so in theory I am always in favor always of more wide receivers more weapons let’s go uh but in this instance I just don’t think it’s plausible that San Francisco would give him to the Vikings they they seem to cross paths all the time the Vikings at 49ers they’re going to play is it week two that they’re gonna play one of the early weeks of the Season I’m not giving him to a team that I’m gonna play absolutely not uh let’s see Kyle says uh what draft prospect you thought was going to be an absolute stud miserably failed or didn’t live up to expectations mine was Ted gin or Sammy Watkins well if we’re just I mean if we’re talking about ever there’s probably a lot um but as far as Vikings go let me think about well I’ll start I’ll start with h two from the 2016 class and then I’ll look at the um the list here and see if I can dig up some other ones hold on let me type in draft history if I can dig up a few other ones for you uh I’ll give I’ll give you my favorite well you you guys have heard me talk about Josh Rosen before as far as quarterbacks but I really thought before I was even in media Jake Locker was gonna be great I loved how gritty he was how tough he was that all the football coaches talked about how oh this guy’s a great leader he’s a battler he’s a fighter so I thought oh he’s gonna be great he ran with the ball he was a lot of fun in college but he was not a good NFL player so as far as the Vikings go I’m G have to think about this but when I first got here I really thought and you guys are going to laugh at this that laquan Treadwell was going to be a total GameChanger that that’s what I thought I I was convinced that laquan Treadwell was going to be a tremendous pick for the Vikings because he had been so good in college you look at his numbers in college that was coming off of that injury was fantastic he was like go up and get it guys hey like slow Moss or something here uh didn’t work out McKenzie Alexander was kind of another one that sort of worked out but after watching M Clemson my thought was wow they’ve got this great corner to build on and the one that failed miserably that I was and again longtime fans of uh my old show and then this show will remember this quite well really thought that Irv Smith was GNA be great he in 2019 fit into that backup role so well uh that he was like a wide receiver three for them he could go down the field a little I remember watching the film of some of those 2019 games and just saying look at this and he was even good in 2020 he had a stretch at the end of 2020 where he started for Kyle Rudolph I think if I’m remembering this correctly and he was really good and then 2021 that injury happens and it was never the same just never the same with Irv Smith so that’s the one that’s the Viking that I was most wrong about that I felt looked really good in practice and in small sample sizes never came to fruition uh Scott says I assume this is in response to the Brandon iuk wide receiver 3 is just a decoy what do they get 30 targets well when you have T.J hackinson it would be difficult to spread out the ball to that many people if you also had Brandon auk but no wide receiver three is a big deal I think in an offense like this that’s going to throw 650 times wide receiver three men and when it wasn’t great last year with KJ Osborne it affected them uh that there was an injury Osborne had to be slid up on the depth chart didn’t work out and it suffered the offense suffered because Osborne didn’t have a great season um I know Jake Reed didn’t get a million catches in the three deep but he was really valuable H for the Vikings back then wide receiver three or your third weapon is very important in today’s offenses because teams are good at taking number ones away when you get to facing the playoff teams best defenses in the league they can do that uh and you have to have multiple weapons behind it for the Vikings though they clearly view TJ Hawkins in his wide receiver three they line him up like he’s wide receiver three he lines up I think only about 50% or less of the time as an actual tight end so you know I I think that he’s really the guy that they look at as that position and we talk about the depth chart if we were just talking about it in who will have the most targets one two three four it’s probably Jefferson then hackinson well per game because I know he’s injured per game uh maybe even Aaron Jones and then Addison or Addison and Aaron Jones could kind of go that way depending on how many snaps Aaron Jones gets but that that’s how they view it so third target is very important there just wouldn’t to your point there wouldn’t really be enough room to get the ball to everybody with Brandon iuk but I would take my chances if if someone could said you could just have him and not have to give up all future draft capital and sign him to a $28 million contract well you know okay but it’s just not really feasible uh Marlin says Sam Darnell will have a great year book it okay could happen uh it’s something that on the golf course we’re talking about talking about it with former players talking about it’s the most interesting thing in training camp of course is that there’s a rookie quarterback but one in onea are could this Sam darnold thing be a thing and a lot of people that you talk to a lot of people even in the league will say I think the guy had a bad break and I still like him so and if I talked to people that said look just don’t call me about this I don’t buy it it’s not happening don’t that happens sometimes or I’ll have a stupid idea and I’ll you know what do you think of this to somebody that I know and you know no no no no no let’s not go there but something like this the feedback I keep getting from everybody that I ask most recently Rich Ganon is no I think something could be there so would it be shocking no um it wouldn’t if he starts for the whole season it wouldn’t be shocking but I also am trying to be reasonable based on Sam darnold’s history and not come on and tell you that Sam darnold’s gonna have this top 10 season just it is possible though uh random question who is your favorite Viking of all time so if we go we would have to go before I cover the team uh no favorites when covering the team other than you know good interview you like players with good interviews and stuff like that like latavius Murray is my favorite player to interview put it that way um Patrick Peterson also if we were making a Mount Rushmore of great players to interview latavius Murray and Patrick Peters would be two that I would put up there with no question Adam thielen also probably up on that list and I’d have to think a little bit harder for the fourth player because there’s a lot a lot of great really smart players who are awesome to interview so there that’s one question uh but those three stand way out Thelen Patrick Peterson and latavius Murray as far H Terence Newman was up there too I enjoyed talking with him but as far as historically if we were going back before it’s when I was a kid when I was just watching football uh there’s there’s some that are big stars like John Randall it was cool to have him on the podcast if you missed that go check it out talk pass rushing with him because he was a legend when I was growing up uh you know Randy Moss everybody liked but I’ll give you a deep cut favorite Viking player that I used to use all the time on video games and was never actually that great in the NFL that’s David Palmer David Palmer punt returner running back wide receiver you could do anything with David Palmer put him at any position on a video game and that’s where I got a lot of the appreciation for players way back in the day watch football on Sunday play with every team in the league on a video game use David Palmer all the time I would trade for him because he always had great speed and great agility but the Vikings just didn’t use him that much uh let me scroll down a bit here um so Evan meant uh when I we were talking about Under Pressure the entire NFL so I answered it as a viking Under Pressure like Mike McCarthy you said yeah Mike McCarthy is definitely up there uh I’d have to I’d have to think about this for a second it’s a good random question though so let me see if I can come up with a couple here of players who or I’m sorry coaches who would belong Under Pressure players would be a much longer there’s so many I mean every year is year to year with players I think sha McDermot in Buffalo is one where they’re selling this sort of on the-fly rebuild but the expectations are extremely extremely high for the bills every year that they have uh you know Josh Allen is their quarterback they moved on from Stefan Diggs which I’m sure some of you were like oh yeah they did it but they won four division titles with Stefan Diggs so don’t make the stupid voice just yet because he made a huge difference in their offense and if they move on from him and then it doesn’t work out it’s kind of like the Vikings where you moved on from Diggs and then missed the playoffs the next two years while his team won their division kind of tough to say ahaa when he was somewhere else winning the division I know it led to Justin Jefferson that’s very important the point just being if you’re the bills and you move on from a player like that and you say no no we’ve got this draft pick receiver we’re good to go and that doesn’t work out and Josh Allen is unhappy and if Shawn mcder defense that’s been so good for so long falls off then he will be under a lot of pressure this year Robert Salah that one goes without saying is Shawn pyton Under Pressure I don’t I don’t know they just gave him the entire franchise H let’s see I mean is Jim Harbaugh probably not in the first year uh Kevin stefansky you win coach of the year you can’t come back and win like three games coach of the year is kind of been a curse in the past because it sets the expectations high and then if you just a point then you often get fired Doug Peterson in Jacksonville is under pressure quite a bit you got to win now with Trevor Lawrence after you sign him that huge contract you’re right about McCarthy Brian dable for sure um is Nick serani in Philly because of the nature of Philadelphia we probably think well they made the playoffs but there was a lot of scrutiny for him down the stretch for last year there’s probably a few more but that’s where the most pressure I think exists uh does Atlanta Dennis Al does or or I’m sorry New Orleans does anyone even think about New Orleans when we talk about NFL teams and coaches and all that do we even discuss them they’ve just sort of faded since Breeze into being another team in the league okay Todd is offering quite a challenge here because I closed the window uh I think it was slowing down the internet a little I closed the the the window that was reloading and melting my computer that had the depth chart for the Vikings so nine offensive linemen that are on the 53 okay off the off the top here darasa brandle Bradberry and of course Ed Ingram at Right Guard and Brian O’Neal so there’s your starting five David quesenberry will be the swing tackle uh Dalton Ryner then who’s after that Walter Rouse that’s eight and Dani Bang there you go there’s your nine offensive lineman would be surprised if it’s anybody else uh maybe Michael Jurgens their seventh round draft pick could beat out Dan feny that’s going to be hard to do feny has a lot of experience so I’m not even in training camp shape just reeled off the entire offensive line depth chart that’s why that’s why I’m here that’s why I do this uh Matt says aren’t you watching hockey Matt um says Matt’s a big hockey guy uh do you have a strong feeling about the college football tournament over bull games I like the tournament but it feels odd having bulll games being assigned to tournament games I have always been in favor of a college football tournament uh who was it years ago Mike Leech years ago went through it and talked about why it makes the most sense division three does it that way and I don’t mind that I don’t mind the bull games because what did they mean before even if it was a big game oh this is the orange bull what’s it for fifth place H you know uh I love the idea of teams playing in playoff games that’s what we do in America if this was soccer and sometimes don’t certain soccer leagues I’m sorry I know nothing about soccer but I think some soccer leagues still is just whoever has the best record NASCAR used to be this way Whoever has the best record you’re the champion well that’s the most Fair way to do it really or to play the World Series the way they used to back in the day where Whoever has the best record n Al and NL you guys play world series that’s the most Fair we all know that’s the most fair but in America we want playoff games so I want playoff games give me the tournament it would it the larger you make the tournament the more possibility for total Madness so make it as large as you need to make it and Whittle it down to have two teams that win their sides of the bracket I’m good with that I also don’t care about any sort of history or sanctity of college football because it doesn’t care about it’s just complete Madness all the time so go crazy Todd asks do they keep four quarterbacks or is Hall out they will not keep or I shouldn’t say guaranteed I would be very shocked if they kept four on the active roster no one is picking up jiren Hall if you cut him so he will be if he’s still around if he shows that he deserves to still be around or could be a future backup for them because darnold’s not going to be the future backup to McCarthy McCarthy’s going to be the starter Nick Mullins could stay as the backup for a long time if he wanted to be like a Doug Peterson in Green Bay for Brett Favre where it’s like your favorite backup guy you could do that if you want to but more likely they’d want jiren hall because he’s going to be very cheap for at least two more years put him on the practice squad this year hope he can be the backup The Following season if he struggles in training camp move on it’s no big deal as a fifth round draft pick go from there uh is the tight end Reyes uh a lock for the practice squad if I’m not mistaken I believe that Reyes qualifies I could be wrong but there’s like an international exception so you can put somebody uh on your roster on the practice squad but they don’t count or something like that so that would make him a lock this this is how Mort bow ringer around for several years um but yeah I think that he can I think he could be that guy so if he shows anything then he can be that guy I’m I’m gonna have to check on that but I remember that somewhere that rule um because he was a basketball player and he I haven’t looked into his whole story he is enormous by the way like stands way out but he was a basketball player and was new to football just try just decided to try it made a team it’s crazy crazy story Hunter says what do you think the Vikings record is within the division out of six games I will give you the hottest take I possibly can blazing hot you prepared for it you got your water three and three they’re probably three and three I usually pick them to go three and three in the division this is a a hard year in the division but I I also watch the way they compete with you know Green Bay last year the first time when they had their quarterback and then Detroit both times with Nick Mullins where they were close Chicago just screams split one game Caleb Williams looks good another game he doesn’t but you could take two from Chicago but they have to go to Soldier Field I don’t trust Soldier Field three and three that’s what I would go with I it probably needs to be better than that to make the playoffs though maybe by a smidge uh Vikings Jerome uh what really is West Phillips role well offensive coordinator uh when the head coach is the play caller just stands around and um just uh practices his chipping like I need to do no I’m just kidding that it’s it’s a lot I mean number one uh it’s the game planning so the head coach cannot do all the game planning all the time so Wes Phillips and his group quarterback coach other assistants offensive analysts whatever they work on the game plan throughout the week and of course Kevin oconnell is involved in this but a lot of so say just for example and I don’t know how every job is distributed but just for example all right Wes Phillips this week you’re going to be responsible for all the third Downs maybe that’s what it is I again I’m not 100% sure who’s picking each and every play but that means studying the film of the opposing team studying the data of the opposing team talking through with the staff and leading those staff meetings in uh designing the plays for all the third Downs just for example I think it’s probably much more extensive than that but just for example and then you go into the meetings and West Phillips is leading the meetings with the entire offense where he is showing them on the film here’s what we did last week here’s what we’re going to do next week here’s the plays we’re going to run here’s the assignments here’s the details all those things it’s a very big job still I mean Kevin oconnell wasn’t the play call with the Rams and still landed a head coaching job so it’s a still an enormous role for Wes Phillips it’s just that when you’re not the guy calling the plays no one ever really talks about you but he’s important uh Bob says some of your favorite sports movies one thing I will say about sports movies is that I don’t like ones that are fiction and dramatic because I okay the team wins at the end or something tragic happens or it’s kind of depressing at some point and then I’m supposed to be uplifted at the end but often times I end up thinking that play wouldn’t have worked or you know whatever reason I too cynical or or here’s another thing too that real life Sports offers all the drama that I need so I don’t need it to be fake I don’t need it to be made up this is probably a terrible opinion because there’s so many good fictional Sports movies I just don’t care for them all that much comedies I really do enjoy so something like major league love Major League one of my favorites uh the water boy um what’s the the golf one where he’s punches Bob Barker everything comedic The Replacements is really silly but has some great references Little Giants I I like all the sports comedies basball was particularly absurd but not really a whole lot of the dramas hooers H you can have it feeli the dreams it’s fine I don’t know it’s okay whatever especially ones that actually happened those are other I’ll just watch a documentary about it I’d rather watch the 30 for 30 than watch someone pretend to be someone else I was actually watching today JJ reck before he became the head coach of the Lakers was talking with Jamal Crawford former wolf about this new show where they run through the the crazy times of Donald Sterling with the Clippers and they were talking about all the things wrong with it and I think that’s my biggest problem so Moneyball for example there’s some stuff in Moneyball that’s just blatantly inaccurate and you go well why how did that even happen how did you guys get that wrong in this movie and I I liked Moneyball okay but it wasn’t for me I would rather read the book or just hear Billy Bean talk about it we have so much access to that stuff so it’s the sports comedy though you cannot recreate uh the water boy for example you can’t recreate that I haven’t watched that in like 20 years so if it’s out of date now then uh you know it’s out of date uh okay let’s uh let’s keep sliding down great questions I was wondering if there would be any audience for this evening considering there’s a Stanley Cup Final going on but there is and you guys are are great so uh let me carry on here Matt says which current Viking is most likely to become a coach someday Josh matelis hands down easy not a hard question at all uh Josh matelis is one of the smartest people you’re gonna come across and he just has that thing you know he’s he’s that football IQ that presence to him he could lead the meetings in special teams and defense he’s just really really smart he understands the whole picture and that’s how he could play all those different positions he’s a guy that I could see having no other job except for football for his entire life um Garrett Bradberry is someone that might make a really good high school or college coach I could see that uh Brian O’Neal has a real coach’s presence to him or maybe he’s just six7 H but he’s he’s just a great talker real great you know leadership uh you could see him commanding a room of kids looking up to him or something like that I don’t know if it it’d be on the NFL side Mattel strikes me as someone who could be like a demo Ryan or something like an NFL coach Harrison Smith could if he wanted to I don’t know if that’s a role that he’s going to actually want um who else I might have said Alexander Madison before uh but obviously he’s not here anymore I don’t know about Aaron Jones if he wants to he’s got that vibe to him usually what you can see is the combination between this guy loves the X’s and O’s of football and he’s also got a presence he’s also this natural personality that people are going to gravitate toward and that’s why you know it’s kind of an easy answer Jordan Hicks would have been somebody that I would have mentioned last year but that’s why it’s an easy answer for Josh Matt Tellis CJ ham probably ham doesn’t like to talk because he’s a fullback and fullbacks don’t talk but he knows everything about football special teams coordinator CJ ham I could see it uh Jared says we need to reject the idea that Pro bowls should be used on a player’s resume for Hall of Fame not saying you’re wrong about Harrison Smith just hate the Pro Bowl thing let’s use Pro Bowl teams if anything no look I am or all all pro teams you said uh sorry um I’m with you of course I’m with you uh personally I would use the PFF data to decide if I had to decide between player a and player B I would just look at their data and and not just grades but everything if you look at the data of Harrison Smith it suggests that he should be a Hall of Famer Pro bows unfortunately which are not fair and I completely agree with you have become a long and this is why pro football reference has this thing called the Hall of Fame monitor it does a great job of capturing who’s most likely to be in the Hall of Fame but it does it by all Pros Pro bowls championships and then whatever markers that they’ve reached statistically in box score stats now that’s not pro football reference saying this is the best way to do it it’s saying this is how people do it and my hope is that that is changing and that the next wave of guys who go to the Hall of Fame will go there because of their analytics that the numbers are going to say that they belong there uh and and that will be the reason that they go and we GNA see that for sure for for offensive lineman PFF has totally changed how we view offensive lineman it’s the first thing everybody looks at how many sacks pressures what was your grade those things will put you in the Hall of Fame and it’s a great way and it’s nothing’s perfect but it’s a great way of actually having numbers to tell us who the real great players were and not just the most popular or not just the best on on winning teams because sometimes a guy is on a winning team and he’s not that great but he gets a lot of run because he’s on a winning team and he gets talked about a lot and uh sometimes guys get buried who are really good players uh I agree with you 100% that Pro Bowl is not the best way to decide that Harrison Smith should go to the Hall of Fame it’s really the rest of his numbers uh hero killer 69 very interesting name that you have there says uh since you said Justin Jefferson would be a safety if he were to play defense do you think he would play on a prevent defense Hail Mary situation personally I would not do that I would not that would not be a preference of mine to put him out there that has been done uh before by NFL teams where they have put wide receivers out there to try to knock down the Hail Mary the last thing I would ever want in the entire world is for Justin Jefferson to jump up to knock down a Hail Mary and come down and turn his ankle I would feel like a total fool it was like when New England put out Rob gronowski and they they had him play as a deep safety or something and Miami returned to kick or a Hail Mary or something I think maybe Hail Mary for a touchdown and here’s grank trying to make a tackle what what we what are we doing here like a rob gronowski a guy with a long injury of History who has NE history of injuries who has never played defense before and you want him to tackle somebody huh why I mean what not that in a hail Mar you’d have to have him tackle someone you’re trying to have him catch the ball you’re really having looking for someone to knock the ball down so I would prefer it just be corners and safeties who do this for a living they play defense and have them knock it down if a receiver goes up and tries to catch it tips off his hands somebody else catches it I just don’t think it’s all that effective uh Marlin asks who are your top five Vikings of all time not easy for a franchise that has such a history as the Vikings but if you’re not putting Allen pagee and Carl Eller in your list then you’d be foolish so there’s a good start Randy M and then after that it gets very tricky for me John Randall would be there and that next pick is so hard Chris Carter makes an argument for himself but there’s probably for that next position Jim Marshall is certainly deserving even though he is senselessly not in the Hall of Fame as we talk about that um that’s probably a pretty good list for a top five just Randall McDaniel could have a case for it you go back all the way if if you want MC tingelhoff or something by the way brand Tarkington has to be on your top five the it’s it’s a lot of there’s a lot of good players on this team Fran targon when he retired was considered one of the best quarterbacks of all time so he he has to be there who do you knock off for that John Randall needs to be there Chris Carter though Chris Carter gets overshadowed by the other guy Randy Moss but one of the 10 best receivers of all time it’s a lot of good players have worn the old purple I would say a lot of good players uh let’s see malill asks uh what are the three franchises in the NFL to never reach the Super Bowl never reach the Super Bowl um I don’t know that’s more of like a trivia it’s probably has Detroit ever been there Houston has never been there did uh Jacksonville ever go I I don’t think Jacksonville ever went is that the right one you have to tell me if that’s the right answer I don’t know the Texans never went to a Super Bowl right so uh let’s see uh noren says have you discussed Connor Williams I have not very often I mentioned him when at the beginning of the free agency period his agent tweeted out something like hey he’s not going to sign for a while because he’s getting healthy if Connor Williams is healthy and wants to join a football team come join the football team because Conor Williams is an above average guard he’s not just a guy my guess is since they signed Dalton Riser that Conor Williams isn’t in the discussion right now it also that might be a hackinson type of situation where he might not be able to play for quite a while into the season if he’s not even deciding to sign with someone then they might have to wait for uh quite a while so I’m going to say that uh Conor Williams probably isn’t an option right now maybe he will be eventually hero killer 69 uh does Andrew boo Jr make the roster if so where does he rank in the depth chart I’m going to go with yes but if Kyrie Jackson plays well he may be above Andrew Bruth Jr it just seems that those 2022 draft picks are not Brian Flores types he didn’t pick them it was a different defense and he wants guys who could be aggressive and make tackles that’s where Andrew Ruth Jr is going to have to show in training camp and preseason that he’s willing to be physical and he’s willing to make some plays as far as being a tackler he can’t tackle in in practice but you could be aggressive you could play physically in training camp and they want to see that from him I think he deserves another year but he’s at the very back end of that depth chart and may not end up making it uh up north says David Palmer was awesome in video games we used him as a wildcat quarterback direct snap to Palmer was a cool play so the game that I used him on was techmobile 3 which for my money is the best one I know that a lot of people played the other ones more but that one you can create players on and it had that direct snap play and that might be what you’re referring to is shotgun and the running back is off to the right side of the quarterback the ball gets snapped directly to the running back your defense never sees it coming you can run all over the place great play for David Palmer totally agree uh let’s see all day Ed this preseason we will see a glimpse of our new rookie quarterback or will we see a glimpse of our new rookie quarterback I feel we will see a lot of Mullins and Hall and a little of Sam they should there is no reason to not play the heck out of JJ McCarthy in the preseason uh historically Kevin oconnell has not cared about the preseason very much it usually means if you’re out there that you’re not making the team but in this case with JJ McCarthy reps is so important for him and what you can do is you can run a lot of Base stuff so it’s not things that other teams don’t know that you’re running basic concepts but you’re still working on the timing the accuracy and getting those Basics things down on those types of plays that you’re not going to add all the game planning and twists and turns that you do in a weekly basis but you are going to run a simple let’s just say you know double slance on one side or something and if that’s not there then you progress to the other side to the flat and getting that down you can do against competition in preseason he should let’s say sam darnold starts plays two possessions JJ McCarthy rest of the first half and then Mullins or whatever but he’s got to get he’s got to get that out there uh I shot you 99 what’s up with Sports reporters asking the most cliche questions or questions with an obvious answer uh so this is a a misunderstanding a little bit about reporters you’re saying Sports reporters well there’s a lot of different types of Sports reporters with a lot of different types of goals that they’re looking for uh sometimes if it’s a report like myself where I’m looking look people are asking me about the ninth offensive lineman so I’m trying to go in depth here I’m trying to give you guys and and I’m not for everybody because of this I am talking to you about the udfa wide receivers and the back end of the roster because it fascinates me and I like this stuff that’s why I do it this way not everybody does and so sometimes there are reporters who are looking for more of a sound bite to broadly address something uh and and this could you know sideline reporters they have a different role but if we’re talking about like press conferences if you’re on television and you’re looking for the coach to give you kind of a a basic broad answer on something then you you might ask something very simple the other point is too that with questions I don’t look at it as as an art I don’t look at it as a reflection of the person’s intelligence who’s asking the question sometimes you’re just looking to get the answer and however and sometimes the answer might be what the question might be what happened on that play the answer you know the answer sometimes is fascinating the question might be how did it feel whatever it was how did it feel and you might get a great answer you might get a bad one there really is not some catchall I have heard questions that I thought oh this is the worst question why is someone asking this get the best answer and I have plenty of time ask questions myself that I thought great question me and didn’t get anything out of because maybe it was too convoluted or something a player didn’t want to talk about that’s another thing too is I’ve seen this before well why don’t reporters ask more about the X’s and O’s well you we do but a lot of I mean teams aren’t going to give their game plans in the press conference so you have to do it in certain ways in a specific type of way so if I’m writing a story I I’ll give you an example I’m writing a story a couple years ago about punt returning and so I asked all the punt returners and a punter about why it was so difficult and they broke down for me in depth about all the different factors that have to go into that and the punter showed me with a gatorade bottle this was Jordan Barry the different ways that he could make the ball spin in the air those are things those those generalities in a way that they are totally willing to explain if I asked them to draw up their punt return play they would say no so I mean a lot of times it’s you know post game also you’re probably watching more press conferences postgame which are going to be a lot more what happened on that play because that’s what you’re looking for is just we haven’t broken down the film uh you know we’re not gonna identify all the bunch of schemes and stuff like that in fast motion all that often but I’m just watching the game so you’re going to ask what did you say that think of that call by The Ref this player had a big game what did you see from him like it’s going to be a little more simple then but there’s there’s no great art to it you’re looking for answers you’re looking for information sometimes the simplest question even if it’s cliche will get you the best answer uh let’s see more wide receiver three Kade wants to know uh what would you put the odds at of uh odds at of us bringing in a uh to camp for a wide receiver three spot um some interesting names out there I’ll go 25% that they bring someone in I it just feels like that they would prefer to have um some somebody just emerge rather than trying to bring in somebody washed it hasn’t been a very successful strategy at wide receiver by the way if think about this wide receiver is such a Valu valuable position that if the whole league has looked over all these names that you’re talking about which are there really a lot of interesting names or I don’t think there are as Hunter Renfro is one but hasn’t been good in a couple years the whole league has looked over all these guys and said no we’re not paying you as valuable as the position is I have to believe that a lot of teams would love to have these guys be great but more likely than not they’ve had them in workouts or they know about injuries or whatever off field potential reasons that aren’t out there something or they just don’t think the guy can play or fit into their system you also have to have guys to fit into what you want to do you can’t just throw anybody out there like we do on video games you have to have a reason like they run you know these particular types of routes well or they don’t uh so you have to know those things and analyze those things for fit and as of right now they haven’t shown any interest in believing that any of those free agents fit which is fine because you know I think your odds of having somebody emerge are just as good or better than having the next Jordan Taylor or having the next Taj sharp just come in and not fit and fail uh selling McCarthyism says is KOC really the right guy it feels worse than Zimmer I’m not sure what feels worse than Zimmer uh now Mike Zimmer was a good football coach so let’s give him that that when you say it feels worse than Zimmer I mean Zimmer won a lot of games if you look at his career win percentage it’s very high didn’t win a Super Bowl but won a lot of football games over the years and uh the wheels came off at the end so we remember what we saw last and not what we saw first which was Mike Zimmer overhauling a franchise that had fallen into total disrepair and then turned it into a legitimate Championship Contender for at least three years but you could argue for five years uh in 2018 and 19 they should have been there and 19 they win a playoff game 15 they win a playoff game so over a span that they were going into each year with high expectations and sometimes paying off on them with Mike Zimmer so if you reach that bar where you’re winning 60% of your games and getting into the playoffs over a span of five years and winning playoff games and getting to the NFC Championship uh again this is not to rewrite it as some sort of incredible performance but 2014 to 2019 is a good run for Mike Zimmer after that is when the wheels came off so if Kevin oconnell does the same thing he’ll have succeeded pretty well as far as the right guy for the team the reason I would say yes is the NFL PA survey matters a lot to me that means he has full Buy in from the players who are the most important uh in terms of trying to win games he has galvanized the locker room two years in a row in good times and in bad and not losing the team when things went bad last year is a feather in his cap that the players still gave him an A+ as a head coach he uh has passing schematics that work and from the time that he took over to the time where Kirk Cousins got hurt they scored the seventh most points in the NFL with a quarterback that usually just sort of hung around the top 10 but was not necessarily Elite that’s pretty impressive to me he made an excellent of Brian Flores is he perfect no I don’t think so but when you have someone who runs your franchise at a certain level and proves that they can do this job think of all the coaches who just get fired because they can’t do this at all guys who just immediately like your Matt rules and your Joe judges and Matt patricias remember Matt Patricia they they just kept ke letting him Coach and their franchise fell apart entirely like if you have someone who reaches a certain level then you want to give them a lot of room to operate and I think Kevin oconnell does that as a front door of a franchise he’s very good and uh as an offensive mind as in a passing game I think he’s very good but I would not say that he’s the best coach in the league uh I I wouldn’t put him like way up you know at the very top with the coaches that have won Super Bowls he’s going to have to prove that but you know I mean I I do think that he is of the level that you want let him play this out and look you let him draft McCarthy that’s going to be his Proving Ground he’s going to have to develop McCarthy into a good starting quarterback or it’s not going to work out but I would give him time and space to work uh because I think he’s already established himself as a good NFL head coach uh Doogie not the Doogie I know but another person who goes by Doogie uh says uh who is your favorite Viking free agent pickup of all time time might need some help on this one from the gallery here uh all time let’s see well now just from my time covering the Minnesota Vikings it would be Case Keenum I think Brett Favre was a free agent so he’s probably the best of all time free agency hasn’t gone on for that long so he’s probably one of the best uh Warren Moon I think was traded here was Chris Carter Trad traded here Anthony Carter was traded here free agent trying to think of some of the other great free agent pickups you guys are gonna have to nominate some for me Chester Taylor that’s a good one Ryan Longwell that’s another good one uh but Case Keenum is probably by far the best you know who was really great just for one year was zarius Smith that’s a good one uh Patrick Peterson worked out really well they didn’t win a ton but you know that he was really good but if you’ve got other nominations off the top um then yeah uh do I talk to Jud zulgad all the time almost every day Jud z Oh antoan Winfield of course Antoine Winfield Steve Hutchinson great nominations yes great nominations Pat Williams you guys yes you guys are on point very good work very good yes 100% all three of those it’s probably Steve Hutchinson Hall of Famer it’s probably him Pat Williams is a good one and Antoine Winfield was one of my favorite players when I was growing up in Buffalo and it was crushing when he left so that should have come to mind immediately for some reason I went to Chester Taylor but Chester Taylor was good though he was very good uh but yes uh I’m still very good friends with Juds I’ll get yeah one of my favorite people of all time one of the best dudes out there uh selling McCarthyism says considering statistically dos did better in Arizona come on no he didn’t right what come on where Josh dos we are we are not seriously evaluating Kevin oconnell on Josh dobs that’s no no we’re not that we’re not doing that I’m not doing that that’s absurd Josh dobs is a fourth round pick journeyman who bounced to 11 different football teams came here and did the same bleep that he did everywhere else which was eh oh eh like yeah had a couple good Gam games with Arizona and then a couple bad games and he did the same thing here and he’s just not really an NFL starting quarterback in any way shape or form and then when Nick Mullins came in they almost won three games they were very close to winning three games but that has nothing to do with developing JJ McCarthy nothing at all nothing anywhere close he didn’t adjust the offense enough as if he was supposed to invent an entire new offense in the middle of the Season just that’s just not it’s just not no we’re not doing that uh Tony Richardson that’s good Tony Richardson is good uh have we talked about the best trade this team has ever done uh no we have not yet and I’m thinking Jared Allen that that one has to be up there best trade Anthony Carter Anthony Carter has to be the best trade I think I I say something like that and I know you guys will come through nominations again nominations you guys have a second to think uh but Anthony Carter Miami had drafted him he’ played in the usfl and then they traded something for him and he comes in and has this unbelievable career one of the best playoff games ever in history in San Francisco I mean that’s that’s a heck of a trait uh look t look if you’re we’re just not talking about Josh dos it’s just not gonna happen like we’re not doing you could try but we’re not I’m just moving on there’s there’s no connection between anything involving a journeyman backup quarterback who shows up in the middle of the season and the person that they drafted in the first round it will develop from square one to be their franchise quarterback just you can’t conflate the two it does not matter whatever look go look at the teams that made the playoffs last year go look at the best offenses the best passing offenses you’re going to notice something all their quarterbacks were healthy if you’re making a point about how Kevin oconnell handles a quarterback why the would you use Josh dos and not Kirk Cousins who played really well oh no I broke my camera it says my camera was unplugged how did that happen did it run out of juice did it overheat you guys could still hear me let me try to hold on I think it might have overheated it’s hot down here I don’t exactly have a backup camera I got so worked up about the Josh dos take Kevin oconnell did a great job with Kirk Cousins I assume you guys could still hear me okay wait we can still hear me right camera back oh there I go huh sorry about that little glitch there that’s what happens look at my face it’s all red why wouldn’t we talk about how he worked with Kirk Cousins it’s really good right so I was like five minutes away from wrapping up anyway and then I get all worked up maybe I pounded the table or something sorry about that but the point just being that Kevin oconnell over two years worked with Kirk Cousins closely to develop to the point of Cousins being Totally Secure with the offense and operating it at a super high level in a more confident way than he ever had before I would just go as far to say that matters a lot more to our evaluation of Kevin oconnell than what he did with a backup journeyman quarterback who’s looked like that everywhere he’s ever been that’s the point uh Cameron says uh with kickers potentially being in line to get hit more this year on kickoffs will we see more kickers getting added to the practice squad my plan is that they should use kamu gr Hill as their kicker he can kick off he’s done it in an NFL game once before and he’s a linebacker that’s that’s who they should use to your point teams have been doing this a little more in recent years because the uh the the practice squads expanded so if you weren’t confident in your kicker you could always keep another guy and that’s what teams have done here and there I think that’s a good idea they might actually keep John Barker Romo as a practice squad kicker not a bad idea um so let’s see uh Hersha Walker yeah yeah her Hershel Walker yep Hershel Walker not a good trade that was not a good trade at least you guys could still hear me uh dos talk killed G I know you guys are right there was I got so worked up that the camera I probably just moved the table and it disconnected um so I talked about this a little earlier but favorite players to deal with media wise latavius Murray Patrick Peterson Adam thielen they won our media good guy Awards uh I I will say this about Kirk Cousins about as easy for a quarterback to deal with over the years uh was always gracious with his time for one-on ones answered questions sometimes it was contentious and things like that but he never ran away from that and uh worked his way through it with us and we gave him media good guy award at the end is sort of uh appreciate him for everything kind of thing um but Terence Newman Terence Newman was probably my favorite because when I first started the beat other than latavius Murray but in a different way way latavius is just so smart and so easy to talk with that you wouldn’t have thought he was an NFL player because he you never felt like he was big- timing you in any way or I know everything football you know nothing or something but uh Terrence Newman was there for my first year and he really liked to break things down football-wise that he eventually coached you know a bit and he was willing to kind of Coach me up when would ask him questions so I could go over to Terence Newman’s Locker on a Friday and be like hey I’m doing a thing about wide receivers what’s your perspective on that and he would break it down for me give me plenty of time and just really you know give me a lot of knowledge about there was an article I did with him uh about wide receivers and Route running and what made Stefan digs so good and he was talking about diggs’s stride length and how he could break down his route at the top by shortening up his stride and lowering his hips and things like that that you would just get from nowhere else outside of a veteran player like that who is extremely intelligent stuff like that is invaluable to be able to learn from players like that so uh Terence Newman in a in a very specific way really liked to break it down hardcore if you wanted him to so he was good uh media good guy Ryan Leaf seems like it now uh that that’s an observation I’ve had over the years when players are in the locker room and on their teams and competing and sometimes in pain uh playing through things stuff like that they could be totally different years later and so I never hold it against anybody if a player doesn’t like talking to the media that’s okay I would prefer that they did but if they’re if it’s not something they really are comfortable with or even if they give us a hard time sometimes that’s all right it’s not a big deal uh and a lot of times you see them down the road there was a a former player that I ran into who not too long ago it’s radio row who was not friendly with the media when he played for the Vikings and then I bumped into him and we had a great conversation I was like oh how how you been what you been up to what are you doing what are you doing at Radio row we had a good discussion because they’re out of that environment that super intense environment um so you know if there’s somebody that’s not that good of a media guy that’s okay there’s lots of players that can speak for the team what fan base annoys you the most this might be I mean they’re all kind of alike in a lot of ways if I was going to pick one it’s probably the Cowboys because I grew up in an era where and these jokes still pop up where there were a lot of kids that I knew who were Cowboys fans you know where I’m going with this Yankee fans Duke fans okay that’s great good for you you like all the winning teams congratulations so there was that uh aside from that though I don’t know other fans well enough to tell you I don’t follow a lot of them I don’t know how I would know this and what I saw in Philadelphia was pretty stunning behavior when the Vikings played them I knew that was going to happen being originally from the East myself and seeing how aggressive some of those fans can get I don’t think Vikings fans were ready for that when they traveled to the NFC championship game but I also have a respect for Philadelphia fans for being totally insane just when you go there you see the the greatest like deep cut uh jerseys that they’re wearing you see like Jerome Brown out there Charlie Garner I mean you just there’s they their passion is respectable even if for a number of Eagles fans they go a little bit too far but every every fan base has its own type of thing like you guys have all your jokes about hey you you know remember this play or that play or that player something from the past every fan base kind of has that and also every fan base defends its quarterback every fan base attacks reporters if they think they’re too negative like none of that’s really original they have uh you know content creators that tell you the reporters don’t know anything this happens in every fan base so I don’t really get too concerned about uh fans the ones that I deal with here you guys the Vikings fans uh are are particular group um that has its own I think understanding of what you all have been through but then also your passion has allowed this thing to exist so I have a deep appreciation for that uh kft says impressions of Kyrie Jackson and Dwight mgln uh Kyrie Jackson very big Dwight mcln noticeably working a lot with Byron Murphy Jr after practice and that’s about as good as I can do because mini camp uh they both look like they can move and that’s all I can really do for you uh because they have to get imp pads the corners the corners the receivers they just have to get in pads before we can really figure it out but the fact that they were working Dwight mgln in a little bit more uh shows you that there’s some interest there I think and with Kyrie Jackson his size it it could be a factor definitely could be um okay so it’s been an hour and a half and you guys have been awesome and we didn’t have many technical difficulties there just a little bit when I got too worked up but uh otherwise great stuff hey your random questions we’re definitely gonna do this again because your random questions were fantastic so I really appreciate them and we’ll do more q&as throughout the summer this time is always great for me could kind of kick back a little more casual less intense less super super serious and just have some fun so you guys made this a great time I really appreciate everybody checking in having some fun football talk and keep your eye out for more live streams soon in the future we will definitely do them Manny is scheduled later in the week Manny Hill to return to the show we’re going to do a porch podcast again up on the porch hopefully we’ll get some good weather for that and uh have some fun so lots to keep an eye out going forward here and we’ll catch youall later hey and by the way go over to purple insider.com check out my interview with Rich Ganon he was great he had great breakdown of what Sam darnold can do to uh Revitalize or rejuvenate his career so purple insider.com that’s where that interview with Rich Ganon is take care everybody football
2 Comments
OMG someone wanted to smoke weed while golfing?!?! … Grow up, dude.
If they both play this year who will have a better year Drake Maye or JJ?