Jaren Hall on fire in Vikings final preseason game

[Music] [Music] regulator Mount up we're coming [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey everybody welcome into another episode of purple Insider and the final pre-season postgame show Matthew caller here with you of course Dane misani of the Pioneer Press as well and that's it Dane the pre-season is over we'll have cutdown day and then we will finally finally play real football and we can talk about real football things but there actually is more to discuss about this game than to tell you the truth I expected starting with jiren Hall so I feel like that's the best place to start but we also have to talk about the wide receivers we saw a lot of the guys that we think are competing for spots what the usage of some players could potentially project the highlight of the entire preseason which was Kevin oconnell on the broadcast uh really terrific and a fun watch and will rard with an exclamation point at the end of this preseason with a 57 yard field goal so let us begin with jiren Hall I thought he looked very good today on point from start to finish while the Finish was not how you'd want it him taking a hit that maybe was a little aggressive for preseason but overall the best version of jiren Hall we have ever seen in the preseason do you think that the Vikings will keep three quarterbacks or that jiren Hall's performance today will have any influence on that decision yes I do because yesterday I went into the day thinking there's no way they keep three there's just going to be too many things Elsewhere on the roster where you're going to need that roster spot um and you're just going to be able to sneak Darren Hall onto the practice squad 24 hours later my Tunes kind of changed and like I don't want to put too much stock into one preseason game because I think we've been trained or we've tried to train ourselves not to do that um I think Len's a good example why we don't do that why we don't put so much stock into one game that doesn't matter where oftentimes backups or third stringers or fourth stringers are playing so I I'm trying my best not to do that with jiren Hall but the way he looked and just the level of comfort he had with the offense I would just be if I was the Vikings a little nervous that someone might use a waiver claim and if they did then all of that work you've kind of put into a guy over two years it's gone and he's on a different team and then you're you're searching for a practice squad quarterback elsewhere or God forbid you know Sam Darnell gets hurt Nick Mullins gets hurt I don't think if jiren Hall has to play in NFL football games during the regular season you're going to be in a good spot but I think there's just enough there with the work put in um and what he showed today I think he was 17 of 25 for 189 yards and two touchdowns looked comfortable progressed well um showed a little bit of Wiggle in the pocket probably should have got rid of that last ball a little bit sooner than he did um but I thought there was enough there today um to if you're the Vikings say it's not worth the risk let's just put him on the 53 um and hope we can sneak a a different position onto to the practice squad um you know when Tuesday rolls around so I thought it was a big day for him I I agree with you I do think it was a big day because he hasn't gotten almost any reps during practice which also speaks well of him that in the last game it was a little bit better and then in his sort of big opportunity if you will uh in this one he played the best football we've seen from him even last year during the third preseason game he had some moments in the first half but then some also some ugly moments in that game whereas this didn't have ugly moments there was an interception that got called back for a penalty from the Eagles that didn't count and there was even a really nice throw to Lucky Jackson that if he drags the other toe that's a highlight re level play and was a very accurate throw from jiren Hall the real question is exactly what you posed which is will someone else pick up jiren hall because he lives in an interesting space in the NFL that I think a lot of quarterbacks do where he is good enough to potentially go out there and play football for your team without it being an entire wreck now it was last year when he played against Green Bay but I think after another year with him that he knows the offense very well he knows Kevin oconnell well he knows this team well and he has enough talent to throw the ball accurately in the direction generally of where it's supposed to go I don't think that he would win many football games if he got the chance and if you had to play him over a long period you would probably lose almost every game you don't want him to be in a position where he has to play a lot and that's that weird space of does he belong as a backup quarterback because usually the way you think of a backup quarterback is could they win 40 or 50% of their games if they got in Nick Mullins is below that but it very least against Cincinnati and Detroit twice Nick Mullins had them in each of those games with a chance to win if one thing goes a little bit better that's what you expect from a backup quarterback and I think Hall is not at the same level as a Nick Mullins where he could go in and give you a chance to win those games but if you go out and get somebody else if he were to be picked up by another team that maybe liked him coming out of the draft and has seen him in a couple of these preseason games and maybe they have a quarterback injury and they say well we want our third quarterback let's go pick up jiren Hall and bring him in because we loved him back in the draft or whatever we see teams do this then you do lose a couple of years of that development you also lose somebody who knows your system and then you have to bring in another quarterback however we are talking about jiren Hall here so if you get to the point where jiren Hall plays no matter who your third quarterback is if it's him if if it's Tyler Thigpen back in the day who was poached by the Kansas City Chiefs you're in a lot of trouble anyway and when you go through this 53 man roster there are are a lot of players who could end up on the field for this team whether it's a backup defensive tackle one more extra lineman one more extra defensive back those guys could actually play in games versus if jiren Hall plays you're at extreme screwed levels and it doesn't really matter so I don't know how they're going to approach it I think either way I would understand cutting him or not because I still feel like if you cut him teams are always more afraid than they should be of somebody else picking your guy up that how many teams at this point are looking around going hey um you know I guess we really need another quarterback I guess that Jared Hall guy would be great for us there can't be too many teams that are looking for a quarterback three and he's not really qualified to be a quarterback too I think he could pretty easily get to the practice squad and then next year you have a legitimate backup competition with him and somebody else assuming that they move on from Nick Mullins after this year and have JJ McCarthy as their starting quarterback but I thought today he looked really comfortable and really threw the ball on time and accurately which is what they've been looking for from him for these uh last couple of years in developing him and that that was just big for him making his case yeah and the fact that we're even having this discussion speaks to how good of a game he had today I think and speaks to kind of how much he's grown over the course of his NFL career to to this point if jiren Hall came out there and and looked like Matt caral today then we'd say they're going to cut him on Tuesday and he's gonna get to the practice squad and you know there wouldn't be any of that discourse and the only reason we're talking about that is because to his credit in his big opportunity as we're calling it he bowled out he performed really at a high level and we can split hairs and say well he was going up against you know this guy or that guy or whatever Cooper de was out there when when jiren Hall and he was a first round pick I know he hasn't had much training camp but it wasn't just a bunch of third fourth stringers out there either so he he performed at a high enough level but I think your point about if someone's signing jiren Hall it's probably not to be their backup is probably a good way to frame this um because at the end of the day it would be someone poaching him off of your you know the waiver claim wire to be their third string quarterback probably unrealistic when you break down because that would take away another roster spot from another team and presumably they have players on the back end that they want to hold on to so they probably is something to what you've kind of said all along which is teams are more worried to lose their guys than they should be but I think that worry is probably just going to weigh enough um with Kevin okono who loves loves quarterbacks and really values knowledge of his system I I think on Tuesday when it rolls around um probably partially because of this game but also largely because of just the knowledge he's had the growth he's made I I think jiren Hall would be on the team yeah when I did my 53 I said no to jiren Hall being on the team just because I thought they'll be able to get him through to the practice squad with no trouble and I think I still kind of think that even though he had this game when there's preseason action we always want to have bigger takeaways than maybe it is like he was always gonna play and the Eagles even though they were playing Cooper Dee they weren't playing a lot of other guys but what I thought was really good for jiren Hall is if we're calling it making his case was that a lot of his good throws were legitimately good throws they weren't there was one to Lucky Jackson where no one was around and there was a swing pass he through to um Dwayne McBride where no one was around and he went for like 20 yards but there were also some very legitimate throws I think my favorite of the day was when he whipped one to nille Harry down the seam and it showed a little bit of juice on the fast ball when he was able to drop straight back hit the back foot throw on time and and hit nille Harry down the seam like that's the type of pass that you would make in a real game that ball is open a lot but it's not the easiest throw to make and he was able to make that hit him right there and I think if Harry had kind of caught it a little bit more upright as opposed to Falling backward I mean he might have run all the way for another 10 yards or a touchdown that's a really good throw the touchdown pass to Tristian Jackson who we need to talk about was another really good throw that's something in Breaking across the middle it's got to be timed out correctly it's got to be accurate and I just want to give jiren Hall either way I don't know what they're going to do with him I just want to give jiren Hall a heck of a lot of credit for this entire time because sometimes when you get brought in as a draft pick even if you're a late round pick and they talk about yeah we're going to develop this guy we're gon to give him his shot and then he actually gets to start a game that Following season and I wondered about this early on in training camp is jiren Hall gonna be broken by this because they went and drafted another guy they brought back Nick Mullins they didn't cut him and you're just kind of qb4 you are way down on that depth chart and then his first appearance in the Raiders game while he did get a game-winning Drive is looked pretty gnarly in that first game so then you get into the next game he's a little better and then this game he was really terrific from uh the entire time that he was in there playing not just in the third quarter not just in the fourth quarter but against the Eagles guys who were trying to make the team and handling it with that type of professionalism the way Kevin oconnell talks about him and he went out of his way through the entire training camp to bring up jiren Hall as a piece of that quarterback room and I feel like like the Dynamics of a quarterback room are important to have a a kid who's pretty mature I know he's only in his second year but I think he's like 26 uh so he's mature he's learned the offense over two years and those three guys along and McCarthy's going to be in there as well have done this entire thing together with the offense and that matters at least a little to trying to keep him around so whether they do go two or three I still feel like you could get him to the practice squad I still feel like if you get to the third quarterback on any team you are in deep trouble with your season and it's probably pretty much over anyway but should he have to be thrown into a random situation you feel like he could at least execute the offense to some extent and it wouldn't be a complete atrocity and he could play NFL football uh but we I think we did see him make progression from where he was um otherwise now so let's talk about the wide receivers yeah uh enough that they were playing all three of them that I considered fighting for one or two spots which is trisan Jackson Trent sherfield and lucky Jackson who had a very good game today maybe toet tap that one and we're talking about lucky Jackson having a great game a good punt return back there are you thinking five receivers are you thinking six receivers what combination of those three guys do you think end up making this team because I don't think we got that answer based on playing time today since they were all out there yeah no I'm thinking six receivers um and I've kind of just felt this like we'll just go through the list Justin Jefferson obviously Jordan Addison obviously Jaylen Naylor did not suit up today because he's he's wide receiver three just an awesome training camp for that guy and then we get into like Brandon pow he's making the team too so that's four which leaves spots for maybe one maybe two um I think Tristan Jackson like if he's not making the team what else does he have to do he's had an awesome training camp all he does is ball out in practice he had a touchdown reception in each game and he just continues to flash and in and he's a guy who knows the system he's a guy everyone loves he's a guy who's had some NFL you know spot appearances here and there uh like I have him definitely making the team so like with every we've seen and if he doesn't make the team I I would be surprised and you know frankly a little bit like what are we doing here because we we take this entire sample size of of training camp in the summer um and if you're just taking that sample size not many players have performed better than Tristan Jackson so that's five right there because if we're going Jefferson Addison Naylor Powell and Tristan Jackson Five and I I I'm landing at six because because of the way they just talk about Trent sherfield like just listen to Kevin oconnell talk about Trent sherfield just listen to West Phillips talk about Trent sherfield and and I think it kind of tells you everything you need to know they really like that he brings a different element to that receiver room he brings a sense of physicality he brings the willingness to block even Justin Jefferson the other day said when asked about Trent sherfield blocking he said well somebody has to do it and he laughed almost implying well I'm not g to do it JJ's a complete receiver he's willing to do all those things but I think Trent sherfield has a spot on this roster just because he offers something a little different um I don't know how functionally that'll play out during the regular season if like Trent sherfield is on the field and you know they're running the ball like you better be a hell of a blocker if you're Trent sherfield because um that might be kind of a dead giveaway that it's going to be a run but I I've always kind of thought he has a spot too so then we're at six they're not going to keep seven but lucky Jackson man he he's he's had a good training camp too he flashes during games um he's certainly separated himself from like all the other like conglomerate of of random receivers that are also on this team so like if Lucky Jackson doesn't make it simply because of numbers it wasn't for like a lack of like good performances on his part um I think even if he Taps the tow today he's probably on the outside looking in just because they can't keep seven receivers maybe they'll they'll Shock Me and do it um but I think it's six and I think lucky Jackson's probably the odd man out there the biggest thing with Trent sherfield aside from the toughness element that he brings and he's got a lot of catches throughout his career he has played this type of role but also if you look at his special teams history he has played a ton of special teams whereas Tristian Jackson has a lot less actual NFL experience than Trent sherfield has so that toughness element and that strength element shows up in having to tackle people sometimes having to block people sometimes because if you're not the punt or kick returner you're doing a lot of the grindy gritty work that Trent sherfield has been willing to do throughout his career to keep him on an NFL roster I think that's been big for him even staying in the league and that's something that I imagine Matt Daniels is going to want but it's not like he can't catch the football I mean he's had a 30 Catch season before in his career so if they do stuff where they want to run the ball and have Trent sherfield blocking but well they can also throw him the football and we've seen him make a number of catches to your point about trisan Jackson so of course the best camps we've ever seen have come from sfon Diggs and from Justin Jefferson but in this category of the battling for back end it's number one I have never seen a guy have such a good training camp in preseason who's battling for a four five six spot as Tristian Jackson and I agree with you if this doesn't get it done then this all means absolutely nothing and they decide before training camp who's making the team and I did think it was telling that Kevin oconnell on the broadcast said that he was somebody that they identified back with the Rams in 2020 and they actually brought him to the Rams he was on their practice squad the Vikings ended up picking him up when Zimmer was here and he survived the Zimmer and all the way to now this guy's been in the league for like five years fighting this fight to finally get his chance I'd really like to see it happen he is one of the most liked players on the team uh I think he matters to that wide receiver room they all seem to root for him a lot Justin Jefferson excitedly talked about him the other day as someone who they're all kind of rooting for and cheering for but the guy makes plays he gets open he tracks the ball well he's somebody that if you had jayen Naylor go out no one's going to replace Jefferson no one's going to Place Addison those guys are freak first round draft picks they're in a different category side note Kenny picket wow you really owe Jordan Addison for that first round bonus that you got because Kenny picket is awful what are we talking about how was this man a first round dra oh yeah he because Jordan Addison caught everything that year so the little hand quarterback from H pit uh did not look like a first round draft pick at all today but Jordan Addison really good aside from that though what Jaylen Naylor does Tristian Jackson also does the kind of fast downfield guy ball tracking stuff and I think that there's different roles there for everybody so there should probably be six and I also don't think that lucky Jackson's a guy you would lose to anyone uh he looks like somebody that you could keep around the practice squad just going kind of through the positions here the offensive line Tyrese Robinson Michael Jurgens I didn't I didn't think there was any sort of big takeaway from the offensive Lin so you kind of nodded that you agree there how about on the defense uh lsen still out there in the last snap not exactly the impact game uh he had against the Cleveland Browns he committed I think two penalties missed a tackle in there it wasn't actually Lewis seene that raised an eyebrow for me that was still playing in the fourth quarter because I expected that I did not think what he did last week was going to change anybody's mind after a three-year sample of seeing him Jay Ward though playing deep into this game that made me wonder if Jay Ward is going to stick around in this defensive back group did you have the same thought or other takeaways about the defensive uh snap counts yeah um I guess we'll start with Louis seen like this is kind of a weird very very online like reference but there's this meme with Tyra Banks like yelling and it's it's a scene from America's Next Top Model where she's yelling at one of her contestants saying we wanted this for you we all wanted this for you and I think that's what Vikings fans are feeling right now with ls scene because everyone wanted him to string together another awesome performance and as we kind of tried to put water on that fire last week like he would have needed to have like 25 tackles today and three pick sixes to like I think really push himself over the edge I'm only exaggerating a little instead I think he had like two tackles he was basically invisible had a a very like egregious Miss tackle and Then followed it up with the pass interference penalty I think it's done for him I think we can stop talking about him I think your point about Jay Ward is correct I've kind of felt this throughout training camp that they're just they want it for Jay Ward the coaching staff wants it you know give him every opportunity bumped him down from safety to Corner pretty much exclusively has played corner for the last three weeks he got a pick today on a tip Ball but like the fact that he's out there I think probably means he is in that conversation of okay like you tell me which guy like when all the coaches stand on the table and say I need this guy like I think someone is going to need to ride pretty hard for Jay Ward um because I think there's other guys out there Dwight mcln who probably are ahead of him at this point with where they think you know they could Ascend to at at their point you know at different points in their career the white MCN had a great game last last week and he had a sneaky good play this week it was a fourth down and he just aggressively kind of comes in off the edge and he and he makes it physical tackle in the back field to force a turnover on Downs I think if you're Brian Flores you like seeing that this guy is a guy that you have talked about who has good ball skills well he's now he's showing the willingness to kind of go up there and be physical at the line of scrimmage I think Dwight ml's ahead of Jay Ward and the only other thing I thought that was a little bit interesting was that a Caleb Evans played kind of a lot um I are we sure he's not like a surprise cut candidate because like if you are going through the list of players that are going to make this team at cornerback you obviously have Stefan Gilmore sha Griffin Byron Murphy Jr but like then you start to get in that group like Brian Flores loves veterans he loves guys that have proven this Fabian Maro seems pretty safe to me and then if you're you're you keep going down the list like if it's if you're only keeping five and it's between Caleb Evans and Dwight mcln well maybe you just take a shot on the younger kid who who you think's a little bit more moldable I would still be a little bit surprised if a Caleb Evans was cut but the fact that he was playing in the preseason finale like that stuck out to me a little bit and and I I think it's possible that that it might be the end of the road we'll see here on Tuesday and if I saw it correctly also Fabian Mar was out there is somebody who has played a lot of football in his career and they were still putting him out there in this preseason game now I know you have to play Someone Like You can't they have to play him but they could have started Jay Ward at corner and just said whatever let's just see how he could play and instead marrow was out there which made me think that they wanted to get a tiny bit of a look at a couple of things with him and maybe how far along he is with the defense but there is a discussion now in the cornerback group of is it gln and Evans or marrow is mln still going to get cut and they hope to get him through to the practice squad because MCN didn't come out there until the other guys were already out there but that might mean the opposite of what we think because a Caleb Evans being out there as much as he was raises an eyebrow where you go this is a guy who's played in the league now for several seasons we've also seen by the way uh this coaching staff and this general manager cut an entire draft class because the was a 2021 class that had Kell M Wyatt Davis and they they just cleared all those guys out that was the uh air Smith Mar set and after Camp they just said no you're all gone you're cut it's like that you talk about the memes the Homer Simpson cut cut cut you're cut uh same kind of thing that might be the same with this 2022 class Brian AWA still out there playing a ton of reps at linebacker even though they've got a couple other linebackers that they could have uh that they could play more and I still liked Dallas Gant again I I think he's a guy that they want to make sure they keep on the practice squad but he's made plays in every one of these games even though he doesn't get a ton of opportunity in the actual practices because you're playing your other guys I would be surprised if they cut asima but he sure played a lot I'd be surprised if they cut Evans but he sure played a lot today and we know this from Kevin oconnell that that traditionally has not been a great sign for you and now with ston Gilmore have one extra spot there somebody's not getting on the boat in that cornerback group and I'm not exactly sure who it's going to be but if they cut a Caleb Evans I would understand it because last year he got off to an okay start was playing all right but then the way that he collapsed at the end of the season and what we've seen from him in training camp and I know the type of receivers he's going up against so it's not fair but also when you play in the NFL you play against guys like Justin Jefferson and Jordan like a lot of teams have them you're going to face Nico Collins and Stefan Diggs and tank Dell and Brandon iuk presumably and Debo Samuel you're gonna face all these guys and if you're just getting roasted all the time as he was throughout training camp uh I guess I I would wonder if they saw that and said you know what we're just gonna try again next time with young corners and stick with all of the veterans uh how about um Andre Carter was out there a ton he was getting a sack at the very end Andre Carter came along with a lot of intrigue last year as the undrafted free agent guy you know who else got a ton of work was Levi Drake Rodriguez but I think it's for different reasons or maybe it's for the same reason because Andre Carter is a development type player who is supposed to be raw and they've brought along Levi Drake Rodriguez needs reps they they praise the heck out of him I still think he's going to make the team uh but Andre Carter I'm not as sure there was one time where had a really nice strip sack to start the second half but there were other times where he needed to stick somebody in the Run game and they just pushed him out of the way and kept on moving what do you think at the back end of that outside linebacker group uh with Andre Carter playing as much as he did I don't see it with Andre Carter like I don't see a a a way or a road for him making the team just because when you get to that back end of the outside linebacker room that's like number 51 52 53 on the roster so you're you're kind of splitting hairs between other positions that might take precedent you know over the sixth Edge rusher so like I think Jihad Ward's making the team for sure and I think Patrick Jones is making the team for sure and I think they might just be content to roll with five there and I've kind of felt that way throughout Camp um watching Andre Carter like it is hard in in in training camp to kind of decipher like how good of a practice an edge rusher defensive end has had and Andre Carter has made number of plays throughout the preseason which matters like he was involved today and I think last week he was involved on a on a play that was maybe a safety but ended up not being a safety um I think Brian awall got the tackle in the end zone in Cleveland but Andre Carter generated the pressure he is a guy who Kevin McConnell has kind of gone out of his way to praise you heard it on the broadcast today too when Kevin okell was miked up he was talking about Levi Drake Rodriguez but he was also talking about Andre Carter and that goes back to the sometimes if you just listen to what these guys are saying they'll tell you so maybe Kevin oconnell likes Andre Carter I just can't see a way that he makes the team given you know the the numbers crunch that that you're going to be under on Tuesday but I do think that he the fact that he's playing so late in the preseason finale isn't as good of a sign as it is for Levi Drake Rodriguez or doesn't mean the same thing I'm with you with Levi Drake Rodriguez he's a seventh round pick who you know you need to see more of because you didn't see a lot of him at Texas A&M Commerce and you don't know what he can really do so him getting a lot of reps is not the same as a guy Andre Carter who you invested a lot in as a udfa last year and it never really materialized and now you're still trying to see what you have in him late in the preseason finale those two things don't mean the same thing to me and and and I think it might end with Andre Carter getting caught on Tuesday but I I the voice in the back of my head still thinks like well Kevin okono keeps mentioning him so if he keeps mentioning him he must like him a little um is that going to be enough to tip the scales I guess we'll see here in in like 48 72 hours that is always the hard thing to figure out why is the guy out there is it because he is a developmental player and they think that he just needs these reps and they'd love to see him get some confidence and if all goes right I mean think about the guys they have at Edge rusher Andre Carter is not playing this year uh special teams he could play a lot I've seen him out there on a lot of the kickoffs and things like that which could be a Difference Maker I took it a little bit more the development way even though I have felt the same way as you where I didn't see impact play in training camp all that much but he has had some good moments in the preseason game I guess I've got that one circled as I'm interested to figure this out and another thing too is that we all wrote the story about Gabriel Murphy making an early impact as the udfa and look they're doing it again with these udfas and then Murphy gets hurt we haven't heard Boo about him since uh and Kevin oconnell has not talked about whatever injury it is for Murphy he's kind of deflected that one which I think is interesting because he's usually if it's a non-serious injury willing to say hey guys don't worry too much about that one or if it's serious they'll say yeah we're pretty sad that this guy's going to be out for a long time and it hasn't been either one with Murphy which makes you wonder what's happening there but that makes me think that Carter makes the team because you would have your your core Four Guys Jihad Ward started this game I still have him on the team uh he was in in some of their third down packages against Cleveland which made me think he was just playing to get a few more reps in there at a certain position position that he could even be somebody who mixes in on a certain type of package and then Carter would be the guy after that and I'm not sure who else would take that position unless they have you know a thought on Murphy coming back but they would have had to have done a lot with very little with Gabriel Murphy as far as H seeing what he brought to the table and then putting him on the 53 but that's one that we're going to be watching very closely now let's talk about this kicker let's talk about this kicker will rard had one heck of a training camp and one heck of a preseason his only miss deserves the finger quote Miss because it's not really it just got blocked when everyone fell down but when everyone did not fall down he made every kick and they sent him out there for the 57 y bang right through with the 57 yarder I mean I think that will reard had a dream scenario training camp and preseason when you draft a kicker I know that all of us including me said I don't love it I know it's a sixth round draft pick so I'm not going to assault anyone over it but the history of drafting kickers isn't always great I think Kade York was a fairly high draft pick he just got traded you saw this with Roberto aguo there's been a lot of them that have been drafted and haven't worked out but as of this moment as of this moment he had maybe the best training camp in preseason that I have covered from any kicker start to the very end with him kicking that 57 y today and I don't know where the questions came from about the leg strength because people made him sound like he was late career Gary Anderson if you need a 42 yard field goal you're great but if you has to kick it from Far you're screwed that is not what we've seen in practice and that certainly wasn't the case there that one was good from 60 plus yeah 57 yard hard field goal to cap it off and he just bangs it home it's a microcosm of Camp so far and I think the point about never draft a kicker like I generally skew on that side and that school of thought as well like don't draft a kicker you can find one Brandon Aubrey from the the Cowboys they just found him like he played soccer and he's he's out here kicking 70 yard field goals but if you're going to draft a kicker like if it's really awesome that he had maybe like you said the best training camp that you can remember of any kicker and I think I would agree with that like there's a lot of times just to set the scene of training camp where we're standing there on the sideline we're watching a quote unquote kicking competition unfold with whether it was Dan Bailey or Ki vedvick or you know Daniel Carlson in the past and it's just okay like some days it's like wow this guy's really good and some days it's like they missed four field goals today I think by my count will rer missed four field goals in practice all training camp it was there were two missed field goals what is say Saturday yesterday in the rain um it was Thursday there were two Miss field goals Thursday they had like a scrimmage type of thing and it was pouring rain he missed two field goals there he also missed two field goals like the first week of training camp they were like 50 yard like bombs that that he didn't bang home but other than that I think Kevin seer's been doing like a like live tracking of every single kick will rikard's Taken I think he's like 32 of 36 which is significant like that's a big sample size all the kicks he's taking throughout training camp and he's nailing them I do need to see it in the regular season to fully believe it but there's no reason that you walk out of this training camp feeling anything but great about what the Vikings have with them you know at kicker right now and you can't say that very often about this franchise so I I think it's significant I thought it was fitting that you know the whole thing we got to see it culminate with the 57 yard field goal today um I I think they have a kicker that is going to be around for a really long time and I'm sure if things go sideways someone will cut this clip up and and I will be on freezing cold takes but I I don't care I'm willing to go there he's he's special I I think he's he's going to be someone who we look at as as a guy who could probably have this job for for for a while trying to figure out based on training camp at preseason if a guy's going to make 87% or 92% of his kicks is pretty hard but I think what we can clear out from an outcome is him making 67% of his kicks like seen enough to be able to say this guy is an NFL kicker at at very least with just his pure talent for lacing the ball down the middle of the uprates over and over and over and over again in training camp his accuracy from 50 plus is exceptional they should be able to trust him going out there and the rest is hard to say I mean we knew and Greg Joseph was a fine NFL kicker for the most part he had some Yips on those extra points but he had a good training camp one year I don't think it was this good but was pretty decent and he went out and had a pretty average season Daniel Carlson we saw miss a lot in training camp back in 2018 and that carried over pretty quickly as well so I'm I'm willing to say that it's not absurd to suggest that will rard can really do this at an NFL level and that they should have some confidence in him and we're going to see what the Gap is between the real games and now the pressure certainly goes up from the fourth quarter of a game like this against Philadelphia to actually playing in Philadelphia or actually playing at US Bank Stadium when everybody needs you to hit a 57 y to win a game but the return's very good on will reard and we'll have to see where it goes from here they should just walk out very very happy now uh I want to get to some questions comments so if you want to throw some in I'm gonna scroll through uh in a moment but we need to discuss the highlight of the preseason oh my gosh hands down best moments of the preseason were today when Kevin oconnell was on the mic I thought this was a tremendous idea from Vikings entertainment to get him on the microphone and I figured that ok Connell because he just loves explaining and talking about football and he's really good as a talker that this would be great but what I didn't anticipate I thought he was just gonna walk away give the headset to somebody else just do the interview and answer PA's questions no he's coaching the game I did not expect him to continue to coach the game and it was just tremendous the challenges he's taken us through the hit on jiren Hall where he's trying to mute the microphone we're hearing him talk to the referee we're hearing him get worked up and then him saying all right guys this we gotta watch number 47 on the other side that linebacker of 57 he's the one that could blow up this play oh we didn't get that block like watch that I I need Kevin oconnell coaching the game and broadcasting all the time that was a great idea super well executed and I thought it brought us inside the game as much as anything that any broadcast has ever done it was phenomenal it was it was awesome television and that's not something you say very often in the preseason finale after halftime but I had this that moment circled from the moment it was announced this week because you just knew he was going to be good he's so good at talking he's very eloquent with the way he can describe football but he even exceeded my expectations with how good he was you know at times because I thought it was kind of a tossup it's a you know this or that debate for which was better like was it better watching him just like call plays in real time you know say hey watch what's gonna happen here like everyone fell in love with how Tony Romo was doing it like when he was kind of the the the darling of of media broadcasting but Kevin okon was like a step further like in the way like the intricacies that he would describe Tony Roman would just guess I think it's going to be a fade here and then it would be and everyone's like oh my God like Kevin oconnell is giving high level breakdowns of what's happening in real time to people who like will never have this like throughout the season obviously so it was such a cool moment but I thought the coolest moment was probably just watching him interact like with people that are around him in his like action ual space like his Arena um I thought there was going to be like you a moment where he just took a step to the side and said yeah like let's I'm miked up I'm gonna hang out here on the 20 like no he he was right in his Arena the whole time and I thought it was tremendous television I tweeted it when jiren Hall got lit up on a play that probably should have drew a flag at the very least it's like don't do that if you're the defender like guy comes in like a missile and and Nails him you know in in the red zone and I thought Kevin okell was going to swear on camera instead he says give me a second guys basically rips his headset off and goes over and and talks to the referee I thought that was really cool it was cool to see it kind of in real time because we see it you know occasionally in practice we can see him get fired up but just like to to to get a real peak behind the curtain of what it's like to watch him you know on the sideline you know when we're in the Press Box we can see like he looks animated here he's going to challenge this play um but we can't hear the the discussions that are actually happening um so I I thought it was it was really cool I would love if they did that like once a preseason I would Circle it on the calendar because I I thought he was awesome I think that's something they need to continue to try and capitalize on moving forward you're not going to get in the regular season obviously it's too important um but there's a real opportunity there and he was really good at it the only feedback I would give them and I would have done the same thing so this is not a criticism but once it was going the way it was going don't even ask him questions yeah stop talking yep just let him do color analysis down from the sideline just just call the game and then let him talk because trying to mix in hey what do you think of Tristian Jackson what do you think of Matt Carell I thought that made it he couldn't really get a complete answer out because there was always something popping up and that's what I mean I didn't know he was going to be continuing to coach the game but him coaching the game and just talking you through what he was seeing he took us through how it works when there's a challenge that he's talking to Ryan Cordell who's their pass game coordinator and their game management specialist I think is his official title so he's up in the box and Kevin says over his headphones hey what happened there was he did he get there and then Ryan Cordell is saying down to him no you know he didn't get there we got to challenge it throw the flag so of course we always are criticizing coaches for their decisions on throwing the challenge flag but this is a full coaching staff effort of how they go about it and I think that's one of the things that a lot of people make their brands on criticizing coaches and stuff like that and we all we all do this in in games but you see how much of an effort for the full coaching staff it is you also got just a little taste of the chaos that's going on because he's talking about and I loved every moment of this by the way he's talking about these what Ivan pace is like out on the field get him off the field like where's our where's our coach that's supposed to keep these guys off the field there's so many things happening and for him to be able to hear the calls in one ear hear PA in the other ear and focus on both things was so impressive because I don't know how you do that I can I could not do that I mean my wife who does play byplay she has a producer pop in her ear while she's doing play byplay tell everyone to go to break and stuff like that I don't even know how she does that much less to hear the actual broadcast and Wes Phillips and be able to say all right here's what Wes is calling here here's what we're trying to accomplish on this play you know those types of things that was something that I've never seen before on a broadcast and I think that the Rams did it I just didn't catch it with McVey but it it offered a window into all the things that are happening at once all the people who are coming over and saying something to KOC here's what we got going on different guys they're trying to get in the game different things they're accomplishing and I even love the part where he said you know I'd really like Ryan Wright to be able to pin him down there because uh possession matters and ball position still matters and I also thought after Ryan Wright shanked one that it might have been on his mind I'd really like you to bounce back here because I think they're still on Shaky Ground with the punter and I also wonder if they're going to look at any other punters uh who get cut down but that type of stuff is there's only one person who can give it to you and it's the head coach of the team this type of insight and for them to be able to pull that off the audio was good which I wondered about sometimes you see coaches in in-game interviews and you you can't hear them or they're not paying attention and so for him to do that and it seemed like he was putting in the effort like I'm going to actually take you through What's Happening Here uh that it was just great from top to bottom yeah it was so good and like I app appreciated how he wanted to give Insight like sometimes with coaches you get it where it's like how can we say the least but like he would even like when asked about Levi Drake Rodriguez immediately steer it back to football like he was steering us back to the good stuff on you know in real time and one I think that's probably how his brain is wired like during like the actual game like when he has calls in his ear and he has questions being asked like the calls take precedent so he probably wants to talk about what's actually going on in his brain but I I thought it was cool just watching him totally be willing to like let the guard down and give us that insight and I thought it was if if if fans haven't seen it like it's literally worth going back and watching the entire third quarter because it was that good um and I don't think we ever say that about these on the- field interviews that happen during games no disrespect to Harrison Smith but you didn't have to go back and watch him talk to to PA last week when he was on during the game against the Cleveland Browns camena same way Justin Jefferson same way they they they caught him in a cool moment in week one where he got to watch his best friend catch a touchdown but other than that it wasn't high level like we you need to go back and watch Kevin oconnell was and I I'll stress it again like they got to figure out a way to do this again like next preseason every preseason game like Kevin okon doesn't care about the preseason like he does but I'm saying that a little bit tongue and- cheek but like I think you could get him to do this I think you could convince him to do it because I think he enjoys this a little bit like he's giving play calling duties to West he's obviously coaching the football team but I think there is like an Avenue to make this not just a one-off thing I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did because I want to see this again and uh I think it matters to Kevin oconnell and he said this before and I I think I know this to be true that it matters the connection between the team and the fans and I think he felt like this is an opportunity for me to bring the fans who are watching a little bit more inside of my world and inside the game and every coach is going to say we love our fans but when you do something like this and put in the effort and not just try to blow off PA and answer stuff off of whatever qard or what you know really do it though really engage in it I think it does say that he cares about the fans feeling like they have that connection to the team so uh A+ across the board um that's I I think that they should absolutely do that again let me get to some questions comments for about 10 minutes or so I I think it would be absurd to go more than an hour on a preseason game when it's 85 degrees out and the fair is going on for everybody so but a look at this talk about the fan we have a huge audience here right now which is amazing how how Jacked are every single one of you about football it's almost here it's almost here we're almost there but we're but I I can't make you stay for more than 10 minutes on a nice day like this that would just be wrong so let's get a few questions in uh or comments Sean says I lean toward letting Hall go to the practice squad would suck to lose him but there are uh too many uh defensive end interior D or even wide receiver that need to be protected that's that's my view point Dane no disrespect to uh jiren Hall I think he was great today and he's handled this like a complete Pro but there's just too many other guys that I could see either developing that you want to keep around or just making an impact this season yeah I agree with that I like my takeaway of like do I think he's gonna be on the roster is kind of through the prism of like how do I think Kevin oconnell is going to think if I was putting together a roster I would just take the risk because I agree there are people in that tier of player where you are cutting down between you know 52 53 54th man like that could probably make a bigger impact now and later um for you know this franchise as a whole so if I was choosing I would put jiren Hall hope to sneak him onto the practice squad I just think that the head coach at the end of the day loves his quarterbacks loves and values knowledge in the system and so that's why I'm going to have him on uh Zumer Kev says do preseason wins speak more to coaching or depth the answer for me is neither uh I have never cared about a preseason record I never will care about a preseason record uh when they went 13 and four I think they lost every single preseason game and had they lost all of these I would not have even brought up the score I think did we even bring up the score so far today it doesn't matter at all this is entirely about what the preseason says about the certain players and it's about confirming things that you see in Camp like rker kicking field goals when he's been very good in training camp and maybe trying to figure out and uh unearth what they're thinking about certain guys for cutdown day but it's not about results very much for me uh definitely not at all and I don't think that it says anything really about whether you have good coaches or depth I I that's just the preseason is so meaningless to so many coaches including we're talking about Kevin oconnell being on the broadcast like is he trying to win the game I guess like he was trying during the moments he was on but if he had lost I don't think he would have been heartbroken to uh have lost the game I've never seen him upset after a preseason loss before or any other coach um these are exhibitions to try to get a look at some depth but and I also don't think it speaks to depth because uh the first line of defense all of your starters they will determine whether you win or lose all the football games in the regular season and your second line are not even playing that much in these games those guys will also have some role and it's it's a smaller one but some role in how you play in the regular season but those guys are only getting a handful of snaps during these situations actual meaningful backups like Jaylen Naylor who is a rooll player wide receiver three that guy's sitting today yeah and so I can't I just can't take any part of this seriously from a results perspective I kind of usually like to focus on what it means about a player or two like we've talked about with Jaren Hall yeah and I think jiren Hall is a good example of why preseason doesn't matter like do the Vikings like the fact that the score was 26 to three did they like that they won the game yeah I'm sure they were happy but if jiren Hall looked like he did in the first half and Matt carral came in and threw nine pick sixes and they lost by 50 I think they'd still walk away feeling pretty good about this preseason game because what they saw from jiren Hall so does not matter I think everyone within that locker room would agree does not matter who cares about the preseason results I mean all that matters is what you see on the field in the exhibitions that we talk about couple things regarding the wide receivers Janet says can sherfield take a tight end spot um Chris says maybe trade Powell and gets draft he says draft picks that would be incredible if they got draft picks for Brandon Powell and uh zomer Kev says I assume they want theer Thomas to stick around so just in order there um they could put TJ Hockinson on IR to return this is something new that you can do you used to have to have the guy on the 53 then you could put him on the shorter term IR now you can do it on Cut Down day so you can keep him it's like having a 54th player they're going to do that I'm almost sure with hackinson so in a way sherfield does sort of take up a tight end spot having six wide receivers and they could push that decision on the receivers down the road I would not trade Brandon Powell I like Brandon Powell we ran into this a few years ago when Madison was Cook's backup which is the right role for him where he people wanted to trade him I don't know like what we think we're getting back for trades for a guy like that but you'd rather just have a veteran player who's good and who can play for you who could be your punt returner he could be a wide receiver in certain situations you're not getting anything for him a conditional seventh players like that are everywhere across the NFL and as far as theer Thomas practice squad is a possibility I know they talked about him quite a bit I didn't see much from theer Thomas this year that made me think oh yeah you have to find a spot for this guy really anywhere but maybe practice squad ends up being the thing for him yeah I could see it there Thomas sneak into the practice squad you don't even have to sneak into the practice Squad you could cut him and sign him to the practice squad without anyone putting up a fight I think they like him enough I think he could stick around um I think lucky Jackson and theer Thomas would be a couple of good practice squad receivers for you could give you a nice look but I I don't know how strongly they actually feel about a guy like that I think they like him but they don't think it would break their heart either to kind of just say like thanks for the past two years buddy um going back to Brandon Powell real quick I think fans just like the the idea and this probably comes from like the culture of playing Madden growing up or 2K like where you just think you can trade guys you don't want for like Assets in the future I do this sometimes like on when I would play 2K I'd be like well let me trade my 10th 11th and 12th man for a first round pick in 2026 and then the computer AI is so dumb they would say yeah that sounds great um real humans are smarter than the Madden video games we play no one's giving you any of value for Brandon Powell and if they're willing to give you a seventh round pick like Brandon Powell is probably more valuable than that conditional seventh round pick based on all the things he does so yeah if someone was like we'll give you a third round pick for Brandon Powell I think they would rush to the phone and make the deal um but that's not possible okay let me ask this though if there is a position where they look for help whether it's picking up somebody else's player that they drop or look for some sort of trade what position do you think that would be at offensive line I think that if there is a surprise cut interior lineman who's played a little bit of football or has some experience under their belt I think they would bring that guy in to compete with Ed Ingram for that Right Guard spot um Ed Ingram was playing football last week you know against the Cleveland Browns I think they want to like get Ingram I think they've put a lot into Ed Ingram with hopes that he could develop into something but I still think that there are question marks about Ed Ingram so if I don't know I couldn't name you a guy but if a a guy with x amount of game started under his belt gets cut on Tuesday I could see them deciding to at least you know do some Recon on the guy maybe consider bringing him in because I still think the interior offensive line needs a little bit of help it always needs a little bit of help it's a recurring theme for this franchise pretty much since I've lived here over the past 15 years um and it's a theme once again this year so yeah offensive Line's probably where I look if they decide to bring in you know a guy that that that gets cut on Tuesday on day one of training camp it looked a lot better for the depth of the offensive line than it does right now um because you thought that well Dan FY and Dalton Ryner will be solid veteran backups who will maybe push Ed Ingram but Ryner and FY both banged up and we just didn't see a whole lot of either one of them and then the backups you Tyrese Robinson his head his moments uh Michael Jurgens I think has looked okay out there but may not have the strength at this moment to play in the NFL for more than a game or two that's going to need to be developed over the next couple of years if they're very short at that position especially if you need a backup center and if they're going to cut pheny or even if they keep him around but he's still banged up because we saw him at training camp just kind of walking around not doing anything uh with wasn't in the padded practice so are you you know is he healthy enough to play week one is it just a precautionary thing or are they happy with him as far as a backup that's hard to know Ryner does not feel like he's going to be here going forward that is kind of a fall from some we thought was going to compete for a job and never did and Ingram his two preseason games were nothing short of horrendous and I don't know that that projects to the regular season we were just talking about how little they care maybe he was annoyed to be playing out there but that's just a fact of the matter through two games I believe he was the lowest graded pass blocker by PFF through those two games at guard which kind of tracks with the whole rest of his career yeah it I totally agree they need to look for somebody uh okay just real quick have to throw this one out here from sizzl man stop with the kicker hype Gary Anderson made every kick until it mattered did wait what happened can wait can you explain this to me Gary the great kicker Gary Anderson he had made every kick until when what you that didn't happen I don't know what you're talking about if record was Gary Anderson that would be good that would be good one the greatest kickers of all time yeah if I get it I get it I get it I get get it Vikings fans I get it PTSD with the kickers but we can hype up a guy like this guy looks like he's legit and I'm sure everyone will say like I told you so if he's not told you I'm willing to stand on that I think he's gonna be a really good kicker in the league if he was Gary Anderson Vikings fans would be so lucky uh yeah it's one of the best ever um but also by the way just gonna toss this out there you could be born after that happened with Gary Anderson and rent a car it's just that's how long it's been you are old enough to rent a car it it will reard was born five years later this happened I'm not saying let it go because I know that all of you will never let it go who saw it happen in 1998 and um oh yes I do actually know what happened in 98 for any of you didn't pick up on the sarcasm there but but you know who doesn't until you tell them is anyone who's 30 years old even you would have maybe not even been old enough to remember it at this point having actually seen it because I was only 12 so if you were if you were 30 you'd be four that's uh that's where you be right now I I understand how something hurt you but it doesn't really project anything about Will rard or have any impact on will rard unless there are um multiple dimensions and one of them had something happened in another dimension that Twisted Vikings kickers to make them Miss at the biggest times you know what's funny is when Greg Joseph makes a 60-yard game winner or Kai forbath makes one in the Minneapolis Miracle to allow it to be possible everyone's like who cares yeah we don't think about those the clutch kicks since have been fine I think and uh you know I just don't think it has any impact on a kid who's maybe 23 years old who has had a really good training camp let's do this put the final word on preseason and training camp it's over it's all over we're going into cut down day there's not that much Intrigue of cut down day as in Big names that could be gone or big trades that could be made so we have a 95% confidence on what this team is so give me your total takeaway of all of it you said final word I'm going to say four words thank God it's over like thank God it's over and and I mean that like because thank God September 8th will be here before we know it but also like thank God the past two months are over because this has been like an incredibly trying time for this franchise and I think once games start like you can kind of start the process of of turning the page on all of it and I'm not saying like let's forget Kyrie Jackson this season like let's let him like his memory live on like let's like celebrate him throughout the year but I think like thank God it's over is what I'm going with because I am excited for us to actually be able to turn the page and not talk about like how hard of a training camp it's been um and I think the Vikings deserve credit for the way they've navigated this this really really hard training camp which started with unspeakable tragedy but I think like now we get to kind of move forward in a way that you get to start kind of seeing the fruits of your labor for all the hard work you've put in and all the things you've overcome over the last two two months so thank God it's over September 8th will be here before we know it and I cannot wait for that that's a it's a really good summation I'll put it this way the tragic thing that happened with Kyrie Jackson started off training camp in such a way that you could feel everyone carrying that and I think through the entire season they still will be carrying that with them and then I don't want to put them in the same category of just say this happened then this happened then this happened right because a player passing away is in so much of a different life space for everyone is so much more of an impact thing to everyone's psyche and everyone's emotion when you meet a guy he's joining your team he's an exciting young player and then to have him pass away the way that he did that's something that will shake you to your core unlike an injury where you go all right the guy's coming back so put that one in its own it's it's just on its own the other things that happened McKai Blackman getting hurt JJ McCarthy getting hurt those also would have a real shaking element to everybody inside the building and those will be remembered as these bad things that happened during training camps like oh then they lost Blackman and then they lost JJ McCarthy and that was supposed to be your top corner and that was supposed to be your quarterback who was going to come in and be so exciting at some point during the season and that left a black cloud over the entire thing but a lot of other things for them so this is kind of like saying outside of Gary Anderson's kick 98 went fine but this is this is true that many other things for them went the best way they could have gone and I mean the way Sam darnold performed during training camp his connection with Justin Jefferson Addison's banged up but it's not maybe that serious the players that we saw emerge how Dallas Turner looked how some of the players on defense looked being able to add someone of Stefan Gilmore's caliber at the last moment and feeling like Ivan Pace might be ready to take another step the interior of the defensive line getting Levi Drake Rodriguez but also Jerry Tillery had a very good training camp and seeing someone like Theo Jackson emerge and seeing someone like will rard emerge a lot of players have had really good training camps and they are maybe in the best possible position outside of black men and outside of JJ McCarthy but McCarthy wasn't going to swing the win- loss record I'm guessing by a lot Gilmore replaces Blackman aside from that you have about the best version of your team that you were going to get for week one and then Jesus Take the Wheel after that so we'll see what happens but it was kind of a a a two-pronged thing if we put Kyrie Jackson understandably aside like yeah that the injuries were to two of the players you would have said please don't injure that player take anyone else's ACL or anyone else's miniscus but not those guys and that's it turned out but the rest a lot of very good things happened for this team that bowed well for the immediate and for down the road as well so that's how I'm going to leave it and then Tuesday when there's the cut down day it is Tuesday yeah y then uh we'll do a reaction and I think Thursday is when the brass is going to speak so we'll react to that as well and chat with all you guys have plenty of interviews and different things this week so it is an exciting time to be ready for some football Dane misani thank you so much please go do something with your day that isn't talking about a preseason game and I suggest all of that for you guys as well so thanks so much for watching SL listening and we will see you all very soon football