Cine, Nwangwu cut! Breaking down the Vikings initial 53-man roster

[Music] [Music] regulator Mount up we coming [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey everybody welcome to another episode of purple Insider Matthew caller here and the Minnesota Vikings have released their initial 53 man roster now let me put extra emphasis on initial because we are going to go through this and there are some areas where I think they're going to need to add so I have come up with eight topics or so that have stood out to me about the Vikings roster but of course I'll be interested in all of your takes uh as well and answering your questions about the roster what could come next what the positions look like now that they have done their cutdowns so let's not waste any time let's jump right into this I think the headline of the day for Vikings cutdown will be that Ken Wong wo got chopped along with lsen uh the latter of course is not a huge shock to anyone but we could talk about how notable it is to cut a first round pick after just his third season and only a handful of NFL games but Ken Wong wo ends up being the headliner here today this does come as a surprise to me because I thought well they won't cut the guy who's one of the better kick returners over the last few years right as a running back he certainly had his moments in the preseason there was the long touchdown run against the Raiders I thought that against the Browns he ran with a little more physicality they gave him a lot of reps in practice and I think that they wanted to determine whether he was somebody that they could trust as a running back in the backfield so he got a lot of work and they decided at the end that he was not somebody that they wanted to keep around and the best guess for why is I mean number one you don't have to look much farther than one of JJ McCarthy's most memorable plays where he scrambled outside of the pocket uh to see Ken wongo getting steamrolled trying to pass protect and I do think that in Kevin OK connell's offense it is extremely extremely important to be able to pass protect uh the running backs stay in a lot on those third downs and you even see CJ ham comes out and is the pass protector on a lot of key passing Downs because that's an important part of this offense and Ken Wong wo was really not capable of doing that I think as far as running with a toughness physicality we saw it just a little bit in that Cleveland game but on a daily basis not really so much he wasn't the type to finish runs at the end and when you watch Aaron Jones or you watch Delvin cook they were running all the way through the play in practice and I didn't really see that from Ken Wong wo there wasn't a motivation in their running that you or that you see from some of the good backs in Ken Wong W's running and when you look at his total production over a couple Seasons it's something like 88 yards on the ground it wasn't that part I was a little more sold on how he was performing just because they were giving him a lot of reps and his numbers were good uh in the preseason but it was really that kick return element that I thought would keep him on the team because this year there should be a lot more kick returns than there's ever been I'm sure that some teams are going to say you know what forget this wild kickoff we're going to send it out of the back of the end zone but at least what we saw in the preseason was a massive increase in the number of times that that guy was touching the football and when I looked through because I thought well maybe I forgot about the kick returns maybe there was somebody who really stood out in the preseason and they mixed in I believe seven different returners in the preseason and the longest return was 28 yards maybe this is now a Tai Chandler job I I don't know who's going to be the kick returner now could be potentially Jaylen Naylor might be a guy that that they used back there they mixed it up a lot in the few times that we saw them in practice working on the kick returns but Wong wo felt like the guy that was an actual Advantage for them because of how good he had been and most teams were just trying to not get him the football uh over the last couple years after he burst on the scene with a couple of returns for Touchdown so he ends up going which leaves the Vikings with just two running backs and Mr CJ ham a fullback and a lot of options with running backs cut around the League this is going to be an area where they have to add someone at running back probably to someone's because they also cut miles gasin as well another veteran and I think you should probably have four and then the fullback and and have five in that room which means that there are areas of this 53 man roster that are going to change but that one did take me by surprise just because Wong wo had been healthy over training camp which was a good sign for him and in the past he is so fast and so elusive that he had been one of the best returners in the league I I did a story with him after his first year where he took me through the anatomy of a kick return for touchdown and broke down the film of one of his returns and the thing I took away was that he had incredible vision for where things were going to break open and of course track speed that I guess wasn't enough for them they must have felt like there's another guy on the roster we'll find out who that is when we get to week one which guys they're going to have doing their kick returning because it will not be Ken Wong wo but I mean if you're Kevin O'Connell and you know that Aaron Jones has a history of being banged up that you're one play away from starting Tai Chandler they don't have a ton of trust over the last two years in Tai Chandler they're probably going to look for a veteran player in the backfield and somebody especially who can pass protect I'll be curious to find out who that is uh maybe in the next couple days here they will pick up another player so again that's why we're calling it the initial 53 and not the final and totally settled forever 53 man roster now on Lewis scene being cut we talked about it quite a bit the preseason game against the Browns meant absolutely nothing uh there were some people who got annoyed with me for saying that after that game it was just the fact of the matter the bigger sample size suggested that lisen is not somebody that you need to keep on the roster that the safety room is so good for the Vikings with the emergence of Theo Jackson that they are in great shape there they did cut Bobby McCain he might be a guy that you bring back as a veteran on the practice squad I would be shocked if they saw if we saw louisine end up on the practice squad I think he'll try to sign elsewhere I saw Ben guestling of the Star Tribune report that they did try to trade him and maybe there was a little conversation about a conditional seventh or something and other teams just decided we'll we'll try to sign him instead he'll go somewhere else maybe he'll get a fresh start and we'll see what happens for there but he will go down as one of the five worst draft picks in team history after being released I don't think uh Underwood is ever going to be topped because he left the team before even playing any games uh but LS scen you know maybe the injury set him back maybe it was just never there to begin with but watching him in practice it was the slowest sub four four person that I have ever seen play uh it just looked like there was an extreme lack of physicality decisionmaking toughness for someone who was a missile in college and I know that this will go back on quaf Mena of course it will the trade down the players they missed it was a bad decision it was a bad decision on draft night to spend a first round pick on a safety when they had so many needs and this is a position that Theo Jackson and Cam bham and Josh matelis emerge at it's an IQ position it's a development position uh it's usually not one that you need to spend a high first round draft pick so it will go down as as bad of a draft pick for qu adfo Mena as has ever been made in the NFL the only thing that I keep going back to is when you watch the mid Georgia you never would have guessed that this would have been the player he turned out to be so sometimes things change it's very different in the NFL than it is in college and Beware of the guy who benefits from playing with all sorts of superstars on uh on his defense because that was lsen and now the experiment is officially over but it never really got off uh the ground I mean it's one of the oddest things I mean even lacoin Treadwell played quite a bit for one season and made some catches and was out there it is extremely rare to see a first round pick totally Failure to Launch and never even really get on the field I think he had eight snaps or 10 snaps or something all of last year so that one is going to go down I mean the whole 2022 draft class uh at least Brian ASA makes the team and is here for now is he here for any longer than this week though uh because they will I'm sure look at the waiver wire and they're going to need to make a cut in order to include a running back so we'll see how that impacts the changes but uh lsen officially the era is over for him now Tristan Jackson and Trent sherfield two of the guys that got the most conversation on this show throughout training camp and sometimes I'm gonna tell you the truth I don't feel like I have to guess everything right I predict games wrong sometimes the draft is a crapshoot sometimes you like picks that don't work out but when it comes to training Camp I like to be on the ball go out to practice every day get a sunburn on this skin and try to ascertain as much information as I can to bring back and so when you get some of these things right it feels good and for these two guys that really earned it it feels good Tristian Jackson had a tremendous tremendous preseason and training camp worked out extremely well and he's developed over the years and he to to me he needed to make it it needs to be a message that if you come from the bottom of the roster and you perform like that that you should make the 53 and Trent sherfield can be someone that I think makes a difference here or there not that he's going to change the fate of the entire franchise this season but somebody who can mix in with Jaylen Naylor and be a role player on this team when they need to run the ball when they're looking for some yards after catch maybe play a little bit of a KJ Osborne type of role I would think that Trent sherfield because of his history in the league he's had some good Seasons before as a depth wide receiver might be a little more of an impact player than Tristian Jackson but I think what the Vikings came out of this training camp with is better receiver depth than we thought even though a lot of it is unproven sherfield has a 30 Catch season to his name that's all Naylor of course does not have anything outside of a handful of catches in 20122 and yet from what we saw it looked like a bunch of receivers with potential to make plays for this team and Sam darnold so an excellent training camp and preseason for two wide receivers that now act as what I think is pretty important depth for the Vikings jiren hall does make the 53 I had said the other night that I thought it could go either way he really really played well against the Philadelphia Eagles I don't know if that was a determining factor or not uh the Vikings still could look at some other veteran quarterbacks who are getting released I saw Tyler Huntley is probably going to get released from the Cleveland Browns he played a little bit against the Vikings I don't know how they might feel about Mike whites who also got released uh there's probably a handful of other ones that they might take a look at uh other than you know to keep jiren Hall but they've developed him over a few years and I thought that he deserved a lot of credit for the way that he came out because he he just had so few reps in practice as they were trying to give all the Reps to Sam darnold and JJ McCarthy that Hall was standing there watching for the entire training camp and when he got out there for the first preseason game you really felt it like oh this guy's really knocking the rust off and by the third preseason game he looked much more comfortable he made some very nice throws and I think that when you handle it professionally there have been quarterbacks in the past who thought that they were big Superstars because they did some stuff in the preseason and then went to Twitter and started talking or whatever about how they deserved more opportunity jiren Hall has been a pro from the beginning of this whole thing they're drafted McCarthy they're bringing in somebody else he barely got opportunity last year and the way he's handled it looks to me like someone who can be in the league for a long time or end up going into coaching or something like that so A a good guy to have on your 53 because he knows the offense and could at least go into a game and manage the offense if they needed him to I think there's more confidence in that now after another off season and the way that he dealt with the preseason getting so few reps and still performing well against Cleveland and then very very well I thought against Philadelphia so they stick with three quarterbacks they're may be a little Twitchy after last year and what happened with uh all the quarterback injuries and wanting to keep three guys that are familiar with the offense next on my list Taki tyman you guys loved him and I thought I don't know and this could be by the way an area that they still cut from uh but tyman is a big old nose guard that reminds you of the pat Williams's of the world that just stuffed the middle of the line I wouldn't even say lindal Joseph because he probably got after the quarterback more than tyman will but he did a tremendous job in the preseason I felt like this was probably a guy that could get through to the practice squad but as well as he played in the preseason maybe they thought we better keep him on the initial 53 because he might not make it through as other teams look for run stuffers and this is something that they tried to have with kyrus Tonga and they did in 2022 and Tonga was pretty good but he just didn't ever seem to really fit with uh Brian Flores last year didn't get in the game a whole lot so tyam Mani now has a chance maybe to carve out a roll for himself if he stays on this team and Jaylen Redmond again another guy don't know how long he's going to be here as they make some moves pick up other players but a good story nonetheless coming from the UFL fighting his way here having a really good preseason and again it felt like what Kevin oconnell was doing with some of these players is saying you know what the preseason it doesn't matter overall but if you go from the bottom of the roster and you outperform some veteran players you're going to make it and they did have to cut some veteran players here to keep tyman and redond they moved on from Jonah Williams who they signed from the Rams I thought he might make it James Lynch who was trying to to come back from the ACL just never seemed to really stick and then one of the biggest disappointments of all of training camp in the preseason jqu and Roy fifth round draft pick last year showed a little bit of strength you know maybe the ability to get a push on the quarterback last season and then got hurt a couple of times came back and there just wasn't anything there uh hard to say like you never really know if a guy will take another step or not and when you're drafted in the fifth round and he was talked about as somebody having a little bit more of a ceiling if you're drafted in the fifth round and you're expected to make progress and and he just didn't so there a bunch of guys just passed jqu androy and he ends up uh getting let go here in favor of tyman and Redmond but those guys clearly outplayed the three players who had either been veterans or had already been on the roster uh so cool story for both defensive tackles we'll see if they stick around for a long period of time but more notable maybe that know jqu androy that that's the end of the road for him as a fifth round draft pick that showed a little bit of potential last season sometimes it just doesn't happen they don't take the next step that we talk about and tyam mani and Redmond simply outplayed him uh Gabriel Murphy who got off to I thought a great start to training camp gets on put on IR didn't get a chance to play in the preseason games got banged up has I believe a knee injury maybe was reported for Gabriel Murphy and Andre Carter another guy that just failed to make progress and Carter may end up on the practice squad I don't know if they'll do that for jqu and Roy or not Carter seems like a guy that if nobody else picks him up that they can put on the practice squad but you know he had nine pressures in 103 snaps in the preseason he did make a handful of plays but what I expected from Andre Carter and I think some of you probably asked me this at mini camp like does Andre Carter look bigger and I didn't want to say definitively no because I just I don't know I didn't get close enough to him but as he was actually out there playing and through training camp he didn't look bigger enough I mean normally The Edge rushers in the league they look like Dallas Turner where they're incredibly flexible and super fast or they look like denil Hunter where they're freaking jacked like crazy and Andre Carter just never fit that billing I think he had one season in college that was really excellent and I mean maybe that's just a combination of things things fall in his way uh matchups that they were facing but we never saw that version of Andre Carter I didn't think he was atrocious it just was a guy out there as opposed to someone looking like a Difference Maker again he could end up on the practice squad and they could end up trying to continue to develop him but I think what they're saying here is if if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out he very rarely wowed me uh during a training camp now some guy that did and made the team another one where you're watching something I'm bringing it up on the show and I'm saying you know this Dwight mcln guy just like every day keeps showing up keeps making plays and I wasn't 100% sure he was going to make the team because it is a crowded cornerback room and this is another one that could get chopped from but Dwight mln had a great preseason and training camp as an undrafted free agent really stood out he was a player similar to Ivan Pace where maybe his athletic scores were not exactly what people want from that position I think he was only something like 45th percentile by relative Athletic score which normally the top corners are way higher than that but the 's a skill for making plays and Dwight mln has that skill uh he did it against Philadelphia he did it in the joint practices where he had an interception and it just seemed like he was always involved throughout the entire training camp and he ends up making the team and they kind of needed that because there's not a whole lot of youth movement in that cornerback room but Dwight mln ends up being that guy and that's the funny thing about the draft right they draft Andrew Booth Jr and Lewis seen with with a first and second round draft pick and then they stumble into Theo Jackson who looks like a guy who could have a role uh Josh matelis had been a special teamer he is a similar version to what Kyle Hamilton does for Baltimore and Dwight mcglothern is easily better than Andrew Booth Jr and looks like someone who could develop into a potential role player or maybe even a starter I mean who can predict uh what's going to happen out of the draft so some guys failing open the door for other guys to succeed like Dwight mln and we will see if they stick with him on the roster as they add other players but I think he very much earned it with as good as he was during training camp in the preseason uh two more quick things one is uh both rookie linemen Walter Rouse and Michael Jurgens stick Tyrese Robinson was cut and if you remember it was oh Dani also ends up making the team Dalton Ryner was put on IR uh so that might change at some point but your offensive line includes a couple of draft picks and this draft honestly looks quite good and that's the funny thing about the draft the 2022 draft couldn't look much worse and the 2024 draft looks like you got a quarterback an edge rusher a couple of linemen to develop a kicker like and they didn't even have that many picks who can ever predict what's going to happen in the draft but I think now that it's set the Vikings have okay depth at offensive line but until Ryner comes back if there's some issues with the guards it's Dan fi is your next man up and his history is not particularly great as a starter maybe a little less depth there than we thought Tyrese Robinson seems like a guy that they could end up putting on the practice squad and the last thing where will they add the running back room makes the most sense to me I think it's possible that if they really liked a linebacker who was out there that they could cut Brian asima and bring in a linebacker that defensive tackle position as nice as it is uh they could chop someone like Jaylen Redmond uh we could also see Jihad Ward made the team but I mean maybe they could go to another Edge rusher if somebody else got let go that they really like although I think Jihad Ward did a really good job throughout this training camp in his role so there aren't too many spots that you could see them adding maybe punter if they don't love what they saw from Ryan Wright but Ryan rri his holding and I know this is like as deep in the weeds as it gets his holding for will reker that matters that relationship between the holder and the kicker is a big one and if Will rard is making every kick in preseason in training camp maybe they want to keep Ryan Wright because he does have the big leg and because he's a holder so tell me if you disagree I think running back is really the only spot potentially backup quarterback maybe linebacker that they could add but this roster probably is what it is going to be so all right throw me out your questions your comments uh you have left a lot of them so I'm going to scroll up uh maybe only a little a little ways here uh to start answering your uh your questions all right why not I'll go all the way back up and try to work my way down so we got all the time in the world this is kind of the last big thing to happen before the season we're gonna have a press conference on Thursday with quacy daensa Kevin oconnell we'll break that down but this is it this is mostly your roster that will be the Minnesota Vikings 2024 so thoughts feelings emotions and uh what is next for this Vikings roster uh Kerr ploppy says that's a great place to start uh wild we couldn't get any draft capital for these two seen less surprised but Canen I Out imagine could do some damage in the new kickoff system yeah a draft capital I think when teams have a sense that someone's going to be released they're not going to give up anything for that player I mean it's kind of like if I know that you're going to put something in a yard sale I'm not going to buy it off eBay from you and that's maybe how it feels here with like we know you're going to cut Le scen so we could just sign him if you're the Carolina Panthers or something some team that might be interested in anybody who's under the age of 25 a rebuilding team that's just throwing darts trying to pick up anybody uh when it comes to Kenny wongo I I have to imagine he'll be picked up but most teams have their kick returner at this point in the season and so they're unlikely to spend any sort of draft Capital but that one was a surprise to me because Wong wo does have that one special skill uh Jake says love the Underdog Story mln and taiani making the team they've done a good job with their undrafted free agents and this again is kind of where it comes back to I said this last year about the 2022 draft and I'll stick with it I don't care where they come from as long as you find them uh is it a sustainable model to get udfas to fill your spots instead of first and second round picks no of course it's not but you don't have to apologize if someone like Dwight mcglothern turns out to be a good player you don't have to give him back just because he was a udfa so you it's sort of like the uh God shuts a door and opens a window that's kind of what it's felt like with some of these like asima not good Ivan Pace good okay and you deserve credit for getting the udfas and identifying them because I think that this team views that market as somewhere where they can really succeed in and they've done that uh so if that's something they're going to do going forward spend a lot of money in undrafted free agency put a lot of effort into it then they will end up Landing guys like you know tyam mani and mcglothern guard guy nice to see you always paying attention to guards around the league Wyatt Davis was cut by Cleveland the sixth NFL team to cut him before his 26th birthday that's one of the weirder failures that I can remember Wyatt Davis was talked about as a potential first round draft pick going into that draft he ends up as the uh third rounder that I gave and this is how silly we all are on draft night I remember giving Wyatt Davis a A+ as a pick great pick getting a guard here you need this position this guy played for Ohio State and then he wasn't in shape in his first camp and we knew it was pretty much over from there uh Jake says directing this toward guard guy they the the expert in the room of course not me on guards uh but I'll answer it anyway do you think that Ingram will keep the job the whole season I do think that he will keep the job for the entire season because I don't think that they want Dalton Ryner to be starting with his deficiency in run blocking and of course he can't come back until he comes off of ir but if Ingram plays the way that he looked in preseason Dalton Ryner will come in they will get frustrated eventually we did not see a Next Step from Ed Ingram and I I think there should be some concern there that's why they brought back Dalton Riser that's why they put him on the right side is that they're seemingly nervous that uh Ingram is going to be pretty much what he's been or Worse going forward so that's I think if we're talking about the biggest concerns on this entire team outside of of course Sam darnold it's the the right guard position and guess what we live in a flat circle over and over again the right guard position right uh Matt says I'm glad quac is moving from players who have had more than their fair share of opportunity to prove their worth refreshing well that's right and and that's the way that they should do it they should look at who performs the best in training camp and not their draft status and this is something that uh Brian Flores has been adamant about and the results are there they do not care where someone was drafted it's do you Taki Tai Mani play better than you jquan Roy and if that's the case and that's what they're going to do and not having an ego about that is is important and they did give you know they did they did give lisen a lot of opportunity as I thought that they should have considering he was coming back from that leg injury but if it wasn't gonna happen this year it was never gonna happen uh Zumer Kev five safety defense could be could be at least four at least four what do you call Jay Ward Jay Ward made the team special team specialist flexible player uh I mean do you call him a safety or a corner but he gives them a little bit uh of an opportunity to play him at nickel if they need to or outside or safety but they could make it a a five safety package yeah that could happen uh hanis I think is how you pronounce it says I'm surprised Ken survived last season and is cut now after looking reportedly improved in the running game me too that's why it was the surprise cut and maybe they have someone in mind that also might be the case is that if there's somebody else who got cut that they want to bring in then they may have just said all right we've got somebody else we like better at kick returner in this new system or just as well as kick returner remember when Tai Chandler did returns he was pretty good too and he's just not an effective running back but I think if there was anything that really got him because he did play well look at the stats I mean he ran well against Cleveland he had the big run against the Raiders as far as training camp runs and this is where sometimes you just have to admit that from the sideline we don't really know and with Ken Wong wo they're looking back at the film every day knowing which hole he was supposed to hit where he was supposed to run looking at how physically he would be running in practice and they're grading the players every practice uh and I can't tell that because they don't tackle and so I don't know what hole he's supposed to hit I would have to know the play and know the blocking scheme and but I do I did notice there there was just a kind of a lack of physicality there from Ken Wong wo and especially in past protection that I think would be a pretty big problem uh Roma uh says Andrew Bruth Jr made the 53 in Dallas good for him you know I don't think Andrew Bruth Jr was a bad player I think he was a bad fit I think he was talented I just don't think he fit with what Brian Flores wanted to do and maybe Mike Zimmer will get something out of him that was the guy that I kept kind of holding out a little bit for hey maybe he'll kind of Click maybe he'll get it and I don't even think he played bad last year when he got in it just seemed like there was not a connection there with the way that Flores wanted to play uh Shane says Frank Gore Jr cut from the bills uh maybe uh now could be an option I yeah I saw the game and he was really good uh but there's somebody right there's somebody that they must have in mind could come in and then here's another one yeah latavius Murray why not latavius Murray he's still out there in shape you know he is he could probably learn the playbook in two days and come in and play as he's done for a couple of teams that's the type of guy that uh I think they should be looking for is a veteran who can back up and and maybe Frank Gore Jr is somebody that they want to look at but uh a veteran that might be able to come in and handle all the duties of the running back position rather than just being someone who's blazing fast and can't do anything else shout out to all the people on Madden 2003 that played with Trung candidate who had 97 speed and you all know players like this from Madden 97 speed their rating is terrible but whatever you're gonna run with him it's fine and you start him in the back field uh that happens all the time uh Mr Nice Try says first time on a live podcast welcome Mr Nice Try great to have you along with with a very large audience right now so welcome thank you everybody for popping in if it's your first time make sure you subscribe also check out the newsletter over at purple insider.com uh Mr Nice Try says happy for tyman surprised about Jonah Williams getting cut a good day for the 24 class yeah and I think that udfas deserve to be talked about as draft picks in a draft class obviously they weren't picked but they are the draft class because that you as a front office have to go out and make the effort to get those players so when you find a tyman when you find someone like Gabriel Murphy we can't forget about or Dwight mcglothern those are like draft picks because you got them from the draft class and you deserve credit for Ivan Pace Jr so when we look back at last year's draft don't just go to draf history.com and go yeah okay it was this guy and this guy you have to include that they got a key starting linebacker or a cornerback here and they've done a really good job with that uh Ben says pass protecting running back Robinson got cut by the Saints somebody who can pass protect is going to be important I think when they make that decision if they were to bring in two more one on the younger side and one on the veteran side that would make the most sense to me somebody like Frank Gore Jr that might have some upside and then someone with a little more experience uh tool restoration says uh RoR people were talking him up yeah Bo RoR got cut that's not a surprise to me uh he was a guy that was playing late in preseason games but he will very likely be on the practice squad I like the potential there to maybe end up as a special teamer a situational player in the future he's got good athleticism he's a physical player but when you look at this Edge group and who they have where are you going to put him I mean you you usually have to have a spot for somebody or even a potential role it would be hard to find a spot with an edge group as deep as this Patrick Jones is a proven player in a situational role Jihad Ward is a proven player in a situational role but RoR is not a guy you're likely to lose I I don't think another team is gonna pop in and uh steal from the Vikings when it comes to Bo RoR um Scott says kick return is basically an inside Zone run now Ken is useless there yeah we'll see we'll see what that actually ends up looking like um right I I don't know what it's really going to look like once they start because every team was protecting their actual information on the kickoffs no teams were showing what they were really going to do that's what Matt Daniels told us he said you're not going to see the real kickoffs in the preseason but fair enough though on Ken Wong wo maybe you want somebody with a little more running back ability uh Kurt ploppy says this feels like uh the cord Patterson Cuts I foresee a bunch of special teams highlights for K yeah uh Cordo Patterson was just not resigned but yeah you're right that Cordo Patterson was tweeting bring me back to Minnesota give me a role I want to play for the Vikings and they never brought him back and then he went on to have a pretty darn good career after that uh cam Acres what did Cam Acres make the team I thought cam Acres may have made the team in Houston someone will have to correct me if he didn't cam Acres looked great in preseason and I just I I don't know why they didn't bring him back it must have been a medical issue or something because I I felt like cam Acres brought a lot of juice to them last year he had some burst and I know what he was coming back from uh looked really good doing so in Houston but he added an element of toughness in the back field that I liked and thought could have mixed in here uh but best best of luck to him in Houston when a guy goes through injuries that bad I always hope that they come back and and are able to play well and looked like he was going to uh or is going to in Houston Shan says Duke Shelly gone good night sweet prince maybe on the practice squad a guy that certainly was loved by fans and deserved uh everything that he got for the appreciation of how he played in 2022 this is the thing about Corners that's so hard to figure out are they good or was it a small sample size where they were in the right place at the right time that's how it felt with Duke Shelly he just made a couple of plays on the football at the right time rather than him being someone that you could rely on long term but he will never be forgotten breaking up a pass against Buffalo That Could Have Ended that game and uh instead they end up uh you know winning that game because of Duke Shelly how crazy is that uh perine for rb3 that could be I was a little surprised to see him cut yeah there's a there's just a number of guys out there that uh could end up being the the Vikings third running back but that is something to consider when we're going through this roster is that they're gonna have to fill at least one of those spots maybe two and how are they going to do that and maybe they'll put somebody else on the practice squad so they can always call that player up and keep three I don't see them going into a game with only two running backs in CJ ham Walter says look for offensive lineman out on wavers yeah I think that they're actually in an okay place from a depth perspective on offensive line like you're always looking for offensive lineman but you're unlikely to see uh an offensive lineman that you're going to use as a starter that you pick up from waivers you're usually just looking for backups the starting lineup is what it is you're not finding a replacement for at Ingram unless it's Dalton rise there who would you move on from as far as you know the backup lineman feni has been around he's played a lot of football there's experience there Jurgens is a draft pick you want to see him get a chance Walter Rouse I thought had a really good training camp and preseason Rouse is a big giant dude I don't think that he's really a great run blocker yet but uh definitely when it comes to uh the pass protection he was he was very strong so he's somebody that they can probably develop as a swing tackle over the next couple of years and maybe eventually a right tackle depending on how Brian O'Neal ages we'll see on that so Rouse had at a good time there I don't I just don't know who else they would move on from in order to bring in um anybody else that was cut from another team I think that they're in a pretty good spot there now basketball guy says thinking that Evans is traded and replaced by the 53 by a third running back now that could be because last year I was looking at the cornerbacks and how many they kept and I think it was only five cornerbacks last year and they're keeping right now six so could they move on from a Caleb Evans in a trade I I could see that I could also see that there would be interest maybe around the league in a Caleb Evans he started a lot of football games he has been at times through stretches a decent NFL corner I would never say that he's been a star and playing the football is clearly a problem for a Caleb Evans but he has athleticism he has length I think I'd rather see him around for another year on the team but somebody's gonna have to go to bring in another running back and maybe potentially more so you're right that it's possible that they decided to hang on to him to try to make a trade at some point here that's a a good observation I don't know if they would be able to trade Wade brings up aswa um I don't know if they'd be able to trade either one of them it's always hard to get Draft cap at a lot of teams at this time of year but asima if he gets cut then he'll probably be replaced by another linebacker I don't think that they would want to go into the season with only three linebackers uh Dave says quit calling Ward a corner he'll get torched in the NFL fell well he played Corner throughout all of training camps so what would you like me to call him that's what he did and he did get beaten on one pass play down the field by uh the Raiders but overall he graded out just fine by PFF for preseason I didn't think he was getting smoked throughout every training camp practice it's really hard when you're playing against the Vikings wide receivers but he practiced there a lot he's been both he's been a safety he's been a corner he's somebody that in case of emergency that you would be able to play but you know if he's playing Corner then that's what I'm gonna call him as well I mean to me he's just a versatile player though and I I don't I can't tell you how he would play a corner in the NFL aside from what I saw in training camp which I thought he was okay he was actually a little bit better than what I thought he was going to be in training camp considering that he had not done that in the NFL uh just put a guard in the back field guard guy is really on his game here today in the comments uh Kumar says not to excuse the bad draft pick but if quacy drafts Kyle Hamilton in 2022 how much better is the defense I would wager not much better Am I Wrong well Kyle Hamilton is a tremendous player so if you got him instead you would feel really really good about that but I think what you wouldn't see is Josh matelis and Josh matelis has become the Vikings version of Kyle Hamilton I think Kyle Hamilton is better than Josh matelis by his skill set his draft status speaks to his physical ability maybe is a little bit better maybe a little bit more in terms of coverage but what we saw from matelis was a borderline Pro Bowl Talent from last year somebody that could rush the passer cover tackle make plays got at least one interception almost had another one against the Chiefs I mean Kyle Hamilton is one of those foundational players to a defense that is a star in the league so I wouldn't say that it's okay that they didn't draft him the same if Jameson Williams who was the guy that I wanted but that's another thing about how the draft works if they draft Jameson Williams maybe they don't draft Jordan Addison and Addison's been the better player uh if they draft Kyle Hamilton maybe we don't find out what they have in Josh matelis or even ham bham took a big step from last year they might not end up needing I I keep bringing up Theo Jackson he had just such a tremendous Camp I don't know if he's a big difference maker but really matelis is this way um so I think that um it's one of those things where just you know sometimes it works out in funny ways uh skull City Blue says is it taboo for a reporter to challenge the GM on that draft now that he's finally been cut I don't mean to call the guy an idiot just if he considers the whole first round a bust we did talk with uh quy dafel men in the offseason about that 2022 draft and I think it was maybe chip Scoggins who asked a couple questions about that and I think what quac lamenta at that time was holding out hope but certainly when we talked to him on Thursday that is going to be a subject of what happened in that draft class absolutely no it's not it's not taboo to challenge the people in charge for anything like reporters we always just ask our questions I think sometimes uh fans want us to ask them in more aggressive ways they want us to demand answers because I guess they do that on TV sometimes I don't know usually we just ask in a polite way and we get the answers we're looking for but in this case I don't know what more light can be shed on it the logic was and I didn't agree with it at the time and you could go back and listen to those podcasts I remember ranting about not liking the approach to trade out of the area where you get stars and that's where we're talking about Kyle Hamilton that top 15 is where you get Stars don't trade out of that uh because the back end of the first is just like bust after bust after bust so I was never for it but I think I understood the logic trade down get more draft Capital try to rebuild the secondary that had been so bad under Zimmer at the end that was the logic it didn't work out especially with a change of defensive coordinators who played a completely different system on the back end so I understand what happened the guy just couldn't play when they thought he was going to be a star and he looked like it in college but um you know this see you know uh Kieran says I'll never get over them not taking Hamilton I mean if you're never going to get over them not taking a player in the draft I've got some bad news for you about Steph Curry Steph Curry might be the one you should never get over Hamilton Hamilton would have been great in this defense absolutely would have been phenomenal they should have drafted him they should have drafted Jordan Davis these guys would have been contributors and you live and learn I guess because in the next drafts they took a wide receiver that was right there didn't trade down and then in this one they pick a quarterback they pick a guy that they traded up for SO trading out of key spots may be something that we don't see again after this from qu adafa I just think when you look at the draft reports on Lewis scene who could have ever figured it would go this badly I mean with lacoin Treadwell that one felt risky but this one I mean it felt like as safe of a pick as you could have had that's just sometimes the draft for you uh Tai says are we doing great with undrafted free agents or our drafts not good or a combination of the two hard to argue with Pace no I think they're actually doing good with udfas because as you mentioned with Pace that guy can play and I also think that mln and Murphy can play based on what I've seen and that just comes from if you take enough shots on guys and you pay the most for the udfas you're getting the best pick that some of them are going to click and usually what happens is like with Gabriel Murphy he and I have the same problem short arms but you know what if the guy can rush and knows a lot of moves and has some quickness and physicality he can overcome these little arms that he has and be something in the league is he gonna be miles Garrett no but I think what Brian Flores looks at is what can the guy do well what can Ivan Pace do well what can Dwight mcln do well he's probably not gonna be darell Rivas because he doesn't meet the physical ability but can he fit in a certain type of scheme and and I asked Flores about that about the udfas he said it's all about fit they only look at udfas that they believe could fit into a spot so uh with their team with their defense with their culture and I think that's a big reason why uh someone like Dwight mcgl or someone like Ivan pace is able to fit here Marco says I too don't care where the talent comes from but some of these udfas are making the team because High uh draft picks went bust yeah I I actually do think it's unre related I I actually do because Marco says it's not unrelated I do think it's unrelated because the way that these guys have played has been worthy of making the team that someone like Dwight mcglothern he outplayed other people too he outplayed Duke Shelly he outplayed other Corners that were trying to make the team as well he didn't just outplay Andrew Bruth Jr and you know somebody like Taki tanii I mean he yeah you're talking about a fifth round pick but he also outplayed two veterans and he ends up making team that way and Gabriel Murphy who I think would have made the 53 had he not been injured and gone on IR he was playing at an extremely high level you're GNA keep those guys anyway you would have just ended up having instead of a udfa uh you would have had both of them um you know what I mean you would have just kept both on the roster and cut somebody else that didn't perform well so I do think it's unrelated because these guys have earned it they're not just keeping random dudes they brought in free agents to replace guys in the these uh this roster and they ended up just using these udfas instead of the free agents uh Marley says didn't uh Jay Ward commit like four special teams penalties last year he negated a blocked field goal and a massive punt return I believe yeah there was the offside I think that he had yes that is true um if he does it again that'll be pretty bad but I don't know I don't know what to say to that uh Jay Ward for them played I think 300 Special team snaps I believe he was at the top of the team in special team snaps last year and he can play multiple positions so they're going to keep him on the team I mean you're right that I I think he did commit a couple of penalties well what are you gonna do don't do it this year uh life is about the odds says you said quacy dafo Mena is not on the hot seat when I brought this up having udfas make the team doesn't mean that the team is better it means the draft picks yeah you guys keep making the same point that I don't agree with I I just Ivan pace is a good NFL player like every team who is good has udfas do you guys know Adam thielen was an undrafted free agent was he a good player or was he making the team because the rest of the guys were bad it's the NFL man like you have to be good to make the team they're not just like I don't know throw anybody on there Duke shell had played in the league before so Dwight mcglothern had to beat him out I watched Dwight mcgn be good at practice I'm not crowning him but he gets the crown for today for making the team you watch Taki tanii play he was good he was very good he was better than Jonah Williams who has been in the league I don't think that it's the the only reason undrafted free agents are making the team is just because other players went bust I think it's because these guys can play and especially somebody like Ivan Pace who was a well above average linebacker last year you could have said the same thing last year well the only reason he's playing is because Asam is not good um but then he played really well uh so we'll see we'll see if these guys become anything but there are lots of undrafted free agents through the years that have made it and have been good uh Anthony Harris was one of them they brought in Tom Johnson one year he was pretty good this happens all the time in the NFL with undrafted free agents there's only seven rounds so some guys fall through the cracks uh Stephanie nice to see you Stephanie I know this uh will um I know this will vary greatly but how oh veryy I yeah uh but how much of a shock do you think it comes to the players who get cut or do you think uh there are some who kind of expect it yeah I think there's probably one or two guys who are very surprised that they got cut especially if you signed as a free agent but I think that most of them do see it coming it depends on I think that what players don't like is when they're misled at all in the process if coaches say yeah we're g to keep you around and then they don't then players are pretty upset but on Cut Down day I think you go into it with a high level of certainty which outcome is going to end up happening there's not too many guys that I think are totally shocked uh Dave saysi glad that they kept Hall can't believe all the Talking Heads surprised by that I'm not surprised by that I which which Talking Heads are we talking about Dave you you seem to have some uh some animosity Dave to your comments um I I am not surprised that they kept Hall I was 5050 on it I could see the argument either way I could see them thinking that they need the roster spot and that he would be able to get through to the practice squad because probably no other team was going to use a roster spot on jiren Hall I could also see the other side of that clearly through this year they rewarded guys who played well in preseason and played well in training camp and of course Hall is somebody who knows a complicated offense for for what Kevin oconnell wants and then he earned it with his playing time and I was ambivalent about it like well if if they deci I'm not going to argue with it if they make it I probably would have tried to get him through to the practice squad but but okay uh I thought it could go either way that was on one of my lists of things that could or could not happen and I think I wrote I think that they uh you know might move on not move on but try to get him to the practice squad and they end up keeping him okay there's not really a whole lot of controversy there I don't think uh Marley says uh quacy DOA needs this draft class to work out even if Turner is the only good one he has shown inability to evaluate talent so this is not right I don't think uh Marley I I don't think that see when you're the general manager you're not the one watching all the tape by yourself and then punching into your keyboard I draft this player Boop it's an entire organizational effort to have the scouts and the coaches and you're trying to please a lot of people with this and I think in the 2022 draft what they were looking for was to give Ed donatell everything that he needed and in those fangio systems they typically have an amazing deep safety like an Eddie Jackson or something right and uh who did the the Rams had someone who played really well for them when Brandon Staley was running the same system John Johnson I forget who it was that they had but most of those teams have a good really good deep safety so that's what they were looking for and they were looking for Corners who could play off coverage and read and react to Route combinations which is Andrew Bruth Jr has really good footwork and plays the football well and then it changed and they went and got a new defensive coordinator and I think that left some of those guys as odd men out that's not excusing the draft picks but the point is you're working with the defensive coordinator to try to find out what fits so now they're working with Brian Flores to try to find what fits and he's getting guys that do and there's a whole scouting Department that is analyzing each player and giving you directives on which which type of players they're looking for uh and and and who you should pick right and obviously they must have had very high grades on Dallas Turner so we just want to put this all on one person when it's really organizational and by the way anybody wants to do the homework and look at drafts go through all drafts all teams all the time guess what you're gonna find you're gonna find 2022 drafts that other teams have look at Kansas City when they drafted Clyde Edwards aair but then you're also going to find other drafts that are much better here's the here's what we really know about qu damena that he's gotten this roster from where it was when he arrived to a point where we should think that they are some additions in free agency away from putting a really good group around a rookie quarterback so they could spend a lot of money because they got their cap right and they moved on from a quarterback that wasn't able to take you over the top and if JJ McCarthy is good and if the roster decisions that are made end up working out then quacy doam meno is gonna be here a long time and if those things don't work out then he won't that's the reality of the NFL it's not going to be can you draft can you not draft I don't know like of course could the owner be upset about the 2022 draft well I'm sure they're not happy yeah failure draft no of course it's just that like are we ignoring the other drafts here that have happened and the players that they' found and the free agents that they've brought in it's a pretty good roster that's not there yet but with JJ McCarthy next year and the free agent dollars they have to spend this should be an a very very good roster for next season to start building around JJ McCarthy and there are draft picks and udfas that are huge parts of that especially Jordan Addison as long as he can drive his vehicle from point A to point B it looks like a young star player that they got and this year's draft Dallas Turner looks like another young star player those are two key young Stars potentially with Turner not crowning uh at the most expensive positions that aren't quarterback those are good decisions uh so I just I know that there's a bad draft it's we've known since day one it was a bad draft it's just it seems like a lot of you are are quick to uh want to focus on a couple of bad draft picks more than the bigger picture with the entire roster bad draft picks happen and again no one was more against that draft on draft night than I was it's just this is life this is life in the NFL you have to work around draft picks that don't work out the lsen pick a safety who was immediately replaced with two better players at safety will not be a determining factor for whether this team goes anywhere or not it'll be number nine that's what how they build around him and what he becomes will be the determining factor of whether qu adaao Mena has a long career as a GM here or not that's just what it is um so cam acers did make the 53 in Houston that's great thank you for that really really great story uh Hunter does keeping an extra defensive player indicate KOC could be aware the defense might be the strength of his team or reading too much into it I'm going to go with reading too much into it might just mean that that's where they're going to cut from when they add a running back uh but I I don't think that um it's any sort of indication of how they feel they should already know that by the way because Sam darnold is their quarterback they should already know that they're going to have to do their best on defense in order to have any chance of making the playoffs this year Marley says mln over EV Evans I I would agree with that I think that Evans is probably not a guy who has much more ceiling he's 25 years old he's now been in the league a couple of years um mln can play the football and and that's what's really important I think is somebody who can make plays break up passes be a Difference Maker and if you can't it's very hard to succeed in the NFL a lot of you pointing to uh pery where was he playing was that uh was that in Denver uh that he got cut power back good pass catcher yeah we'll see I I'm I'm curious about why he was cut I know he's bounced around a little bit I saw some Cincinnati people he was in Cincinnati last year talking about him uh Williams says any idea to the extent of Murphy's injury I don't know but if someone is placed on the IR with the designation to return that does give us a sense that he's not going to be out for the year and probably four weeks five weeks uh I think it it was a knee injury but I I don't know he we just haven't um we we just haven't gotten a huge update on him there's been a few questions so uh gazed says could you just talk about the media passively asking questions to the team it's not passively it's just not rudely it's I mean if you watch any of the press conferences uh we just asked the questions in a straightforward type manner there's not yelling or pounding of tables or it's not it's not a cartoon it's not a movie where the media runs up and says general manager answer for your 222 draft piic it's probably going to be something along the lines of with the 2022 Draft when you reflect on that is there something that you can take away from that that was a reason for why it didn't work out and then he could say whatever he wants to say I've just always during my entire career no matter whether it was this fan base or whether it was when I was in Buffalo they always want the reporters to yell at the team and I don't never understand that you don't get answers by yelling at somebody usually you get answers by asking them straightforwardly so that's what I'm trying to do and everybody else we're just trying to get answers uh gazin at again them hitting on udfas and rostering them makes them even more desirable location for top udfas totally agree 100% 100% I heard from someone the agent of one of the undrafted free agents that signed here didn't make the team uh but I was chatting with him at some point and he said that the Vikings were number one on his list by far because he just felt like they were a team that did not just bring in a udfa class stash him in the closet that they would give his guy a real look and that's what they did they added uh a lot of these guys who got a real look and I think that when you aim for undrafted free agents that might have one skill that you like mln plays the football Ivan pace is a wolverine he's just really tough and he has great instincts has this one skill Gabe Murphy has a mu to pass rush move so he's got one skill that's good I think Brian Flores just has this mentality of well let's see if we can do something with that it doesn't have to be perfect it doesn't have to be a star it just has to be someone who is a a possible contributor oh great reminder thank you for uh mentioning that I do have to do the ad read that is appreciated hold on I haven't memorized it yet so I'm going to need to pull it up here but a great point and thank you to Mr niist TR for reminding me by the way if somebody can ask me a fantasy football question at some point anything fantasy foot football I will answer it and then I can do my other AD read for Underdog fantasy please help me uh okay well you're thinking of a fantasy football question a reminder that US Cellular noticed the way that we use our phones has gotten ironic we try to put our phones down for dinner but the menu is on a QR code that's ironic we hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like also ironic which is why US Cellular created us mode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically a phone company wanting people to use their phones less is ironic so let's find ourselves again with us mode from US Cellular visit uscellular.com built for us to get started all right uh running back and punter I assume you mean those are the positions that they would potentially add to and I could still see that with Ryan Wright it wasn't that impressive but maybe maybe uh they could look for someone who could be an upgrade I just think that they were cautious in how much they praised Ryan Wright and even that moment where KOC was on the broadcast in the third preseason game and he was saying like come on come on Ryan Wright pin him down there because that was really the issue we know he could kick the bleep out of the ball but does he have a touch for pinning the team inside the 20 last year he didn't uh Kumar says do we give quacy a Mullan on 2022 he started weeks for the draft all the staff and processes were from Spielman we all need to uh learn and I hope that he's getting better in the draft so yeah uh yes and no uh great Point here John Randall was a udfa that's right you don't have to give them back if they're great if you didn't draft them you get to keep them and they get to sack people or do whatever else no on the uh Mulligan I mean the dra it it happened and they were bad decisions and the trade down here's what you can say though we know that they're bad decisions because they went wrong but if we just use the logic of rebuilding the secondary that was so bad okay that makes some sense right and trading down by the analytics by the trade charts was a little bit controversial for what they got different trade charts thought different things but some people who did the numbers on that thought that they got good value for what they did it's just one of those situations where it went all wrong if Louis Cen is a great player like he looked like in college this guy was the MVP of the national championship game if Andrew boou Jr had been a good foundational corner for years to come both of them were ranked highly by draft analysts sometimes these things just happen I think that we always want to look for an explanation for things that are not explainable uh what did they do wrong something went wrong how about this I heard this great story or read this great story once about someone who got hit by a car and what they were saying in the article was that every time they explained to their friends that they got hit in the car H hit by a car they were a pedestrian that someone would inevitably ask why didn't you move obviously I would have moved right I mean obviously I would have moved if I could have but it people still ask the question it's like well it went wrong so why didn't you do something different I mean there was logic behind it get a safety for donatell who can come downhill and stop screen plays who can go make plays over the top take the ball away Blitz sometimes that was how that system worked they showed too deep and then they would switch sometimes and that guy is usually a really big part of that system that's why they picked him sometimes stuff just doesn't go your way uh Marley uh Matt uh maybe you touched on it before but why do you think they kept Pat Jones over Bo RoR yeah I think it's because uh Pat Jones is a lot more experienced uh from last year with Brian Flores also when they used Pat Jones a few years ago in a situational role he was okay he was pretty solid uh whereas when he had to start and he had to play a lot that's where all went sideways because he's not really a starter he's more of a situational player think about like Steven Weatherly and aaia denbo those guys had their moments as situational players but when they had to start it was just too much too high of a snap count and at least my understanding is they like some of the things that don't always show up with Patrick Jones on paper so think about it this way when you're doing some sort of stunt there's probably a guy who's and a stunt is when they cross when they're rushing there's probably a guy whose job is to draw the attention of the guards and the center and then there's a guy who's supposed to run through the hole and I think they like that Patrick Jones understands all that like he gets what Brian Flores is trying to accomplish and is kind of a selfless player and we saw a little bit of that on tape last year and boor is just a guy who can get to the practice squad can develop there and and be moved up um but not someone I think that's ready to play um came from one of was a Air Force I mean just right I mean not fully developed not ready to contribute and this is a veteran defense that's trying to be uh trying to be really good uh two boys in a PCA I don't know what that means says uh do you still drink Dr Pepper haven't seen you crack one in a while what do we got here my friend got a little diet do I'll crack it for you here we go it's cut down day we're having a good time a lot of you watching right now I really appreciate everybody joining asking questions comments breaking down the roster with me this is always a fascinating day to try to dig into what happened with some players what the logic is what they're going to do next so let's uh let's all take a brief toast diet Dr Pepper here thank you great questions and great comments uh across the board for everybody here today I really appreciate it from all of you uh Mike they're obviously picking Murray over RoR and Carter don't you think he will be given a shot once he gets off IR yes I do yes I do Murphy was a guy they really talked up before he got hurt and it was a little hard for me to see with Murphy he was rushing off the left side and I was standing mostly on the right side during training camp because there's only a little bit of shade that you could get out there so I was trying to stand up against the stands get a little bit of shade and it's harder to see on the other side so it it was difficult for me to try to get a sense for Murphy aside from just what they said and sometimes that's how it's got to be I was really looking forward to seeing him in preseason games where I could go back and look at the all 22 and get a better sense of what he looked like but every time they talked about him they talked excitedly about Murphy as opposed to yeah you know he's kind of doing his job and that kind of thing it was much more of like hey this guy is really standing out and when you look at his production and how he had performed in college it's odd to me that he wasn't drafted because of his arm length it just seems like a weird reason to not draft someone somewhere in the fifth round the sixth round who've seen much worse prospects who had hardly any production at all the draft is odd this way and my understanding of how this happens is what teams will do is they'll put together a draft board of guys that they would take so they've got their board but they've got guys that they have highlighted for we think these guys are fits for us and it's far fewer players than you think it's not 400 draft prospects they Whittle it down to only the number that they believe would fit in their systems with their specifications and if there's some that doesn't fit that they can just slide through for a bunch of teams that say no we only like guys with certain arm lengths and then the Vikings of Brian Flores go I don't care if Ivan Pace has little arms the dude can play and they pick him up this model seems to be working uh groundhog we need an overhaul of our interior offensive line have needed it for three years I have no issue with Garrett Bradberry as the center yes he will get beaten by Kenny Clark yes he'll probably get beaten by Dexter Lawrence that is going to be a thing that he'll never overcome and most centers honestly can't when you look at the PFF pass blocking grades there's not a lot of guys who grade super well in pass blocking at Center because it's often a smaller guy that would be a guard if he was bigger but High Intelligence good leadership like a lot of things go into it but if you are a big giant dude who's a center and you have all those things that are required mentally to play that position you end up like in the all of Fame you end up being Uh Kevin mawai or something or Matt Burke or something someone like really big and and understands the game and can lead the offense and all those things it's pretty rare that you get everything out of the center position but the last two years I think bradberry's been fine uh I think before the final two weeks of the season last year he was something like 12th by PFF he's improved over the years early on his career it was a major problem I don't know know what you have here in Blake brandle I would like to find out they have really really liked Blake brandle over the years so I I guess we're going to see if that comes to fruition and the Right Guard seems to be a little bit uh on Shaky Ground and maybe Ed Ingram takes a step it just hasn't looked that way in training camp and Ryner is on the IR so he's going to have at least four weeks to show what he can do and then if you get to the point where they have to him then yeah there the so the Right Guard still is going to be concerning the center I think is okay and the left guard is just all question marks to me but interior offensive line the bane of my existence I don't think there's been a single season since I've covered the team starting in 2016 where we've gone into the year and I've said you know what the interior of this offensive line pretty solid that's a long time that's a long time uh six shooter Nation gaming uh they're going to address the interior o line after waivers and cuts are done uh but by week three Ingram will be on the hot seat could be they're playing some pretty good defensive lines to start the season the New York Giants they might not have a lot else but they definitely have a good defensive line and then San Francisco right away that's a lot Houston's got a good dline I think Hunter and Anderson at least I don't know what they have on the interior i' have to I'll have to check when they play them but then Kenny Clark the Viking murderer Kenny Clark it's going to be a very tough start to the season for the interior offensive line but I don't know if uh the thing about trying to pick up offensive linemen is if someone else is cutting them that probably means they don't think they're great because they're so hard to find good ones it's just hard to pick up some guy off waivers and say yeah this is our guy he's going to improve our interior normally you're looking for a David quesenberry some veteran who could play a couple games if he had to uh Jason says why does everyone forget about Nick Muse when it comes to the 2022 draft think he's goingon to turn out to be a great draft pick I think he's got one career catch uh and I liked what I've seen from Nick Muse in two straight training camps he makes the team today but one career catch isn't enough to say hey the 2022 draft all worked out for a minute there it looked like Evans and Ingram was going to improve and Evans was going to be a starter and Tai Chandler was going to be a Difference Maker there was maybe a three-week stretch that it felt like this might not be as bad as it looks it now is as bad as it looks there's not a whole lot you could do about it but I do think this is why you have to set up your salary cap to have space to go sign free agents because because you can't always rely on just hitting all of these uh you know all of these draft picks that you're going to miss on draft picks we know who the uh top draft picks that are going to matter the most and none of them were from 2022 you can replace a safety as they've done you can replace a corner as they're trying to do Dallas Turner and JJ McCarthy and Jordan Addison will really be the guys that determine whether these drafts are going to be a Difference Maker in the future or not I still would have picked somebody at the top and not trade it down but you know you gotta you got to throw that in there uh Antonio has anyone asked KOC how he plans to cut down on turnovers that killed them in 2023 so what you can do to cut down on fumbles is you can get down on your knees put your hands together like this reach up with your neck look forward and pray there's really no indic ever in history that there's a way to stop fumbling or there's a way to prevent fumbling uh those are the same thing or there's a way to cause fumbles I mean maybe a team has done it here or there I know that Kansas City under Marty Schottenheimer back in the day was great at not turning the ball over I think the Patriots were for a while because any running back who fumbled they would get rid of it's a random and bizarre thing I mean how about Brandon Howell had never fumbled before in the NFL and somebody just hits the ball and it goes squirting out then the Eagles guy fumbles the ball it bounces away and the Vikings don't jump on it Justin Jefferson reaches out to try to score and throws the ball out the back of the end zone I I mean who can who can predict these things I I mean last year they joked about but I'm not sure if they were serious or not whacking people with different things to try to keep him from fumbling there is something really funny I don't know if I ever brought this up at training camp but there's a big boxing glove on the end of a pole I'm not joking and when the guy catches it the receiver and turns up field in a drill they try to whack the ball out with the boxing glove yeah that's that's how stupid this is for trying to pres prevent fumbles so I guess usually it's just like a a hitting coach who gets fired when his team goes on a a down stretch and then the new hitting coach comes in they get hot and then all of a sudden the the team is hitting again and we all credit the hitting coach some things in sports are just unpredictable and that's one of them the fumbles it's unpredictable there's no way to stop it or there's no way to improve it these guys are all trying to hold on to the ball maybe a little more focused I I don't know uh Phil says still would have kept Bo Gant and Porter those are guys for the practice to Squad I just would be totally shocked if somebody sweeps in and takes Bo RoR Dallas Gant or Owen Porter you like those guys because you've seen him but are is another team going to say oh man we have to get rid of our start or whatever not starting but our depth linebacker for this guy who played the fourth quarter of the third preseason game for the Vikings that looked pretty good I like those players I I agree with you of identifying them as guys who had good preseason but if you're the Vikings you'd rather keep players that you think might get stolen from you or just veterans or or guys who are going to make a difference right away but I wouldn't be surprised to see any one of them eventually on the team now we got a fantasy football question and thank you because I had totally forgot about this from Justin in deep leagues who has more fantasy value Tristian Jackson or Brandon Powell Justin how deep is your league I'm thinking pretty deep if we're asking this question but I love it it's a great question I would go with Brandon Powell here Brandon Powell is more experienced he showed last year that he could create some chemistry with a quarterback with Kirt cousins and even though we didn't see a lot of him in preseason or in training camp making tons of catches he got more reps with the ones than Tristian Jackson and he also f FS a specific type of player kind of the underneath guy who could create yards after catch whereas with Tristian Jackson they already have three guys who are like him the route Runner ball tracker type of guy so I would go with Brandon Powell and by the way speaking of fantasy this show is presented by Underdog fantasy the easiest place to play fantasy sports also the fastest growing fantasy app in the industry you got to check out they're pick thems I've been playing around with these quite a bit they're really fun you get a number a stats number you pick higher or lower you do between two and eight of them and with whatever players you you like I was talking the other day on the show about uh Detroit and Alan Ross St Brown and Jared Goff and their numbers like higher or lower for Jared Goff 26 and a half touchdowns so a lot of fun that you can have there and you can earn up to 20 times your money by going 545 sign up with the promo code purple to claim your special pick and firsttime deposit offer up to $1,000 in bonus cash if you sign up and use the code purple it helps the show so please if you get a chance to do that go ahead and do it at Underdog fantasy.com must be 18 or older terms apply concerned with your play call 1 1800 Gambler or visit NCP gambling. org thank you for the fantasy question and uh if You' got some other ones like like six shooter Nation how many fantasy points will Sam darnold rack up in week one guess it depends on your league but I'm going to say that week one is gonna be a battle it was gonna be a it's gonna be hideous right Vikings and Giants a lot of pressure on Sam darnold maybe some big plays here or there I think that's one that they have to win 2117 uh two boys and a PCA hope that doesn't mean anything weird uh says what are your thoughts on Mike allot this year in fantasy I think that Mike allot is always a great fantasy pick back when Fantasy Football was just starting I mean he scored a lot of touchdowns right always a good guy to watch one of my favorites this is the great part about I was just talking with Steve palazolo about old games and how we love to go watch old games because a lot of times you just saw highlights from players and then played with them on video games then you get to watch them play whole games and that's uh like Somebody Like Mike olop it's a good one uh all right let me uh scroll down a little bit farther uh oh good question here from Brian any speculation who handles kick return now great question I don't know I'm going to go Tai Chandler and because it was mentioned earlier correctly that it's kind of a run play now Ty Chandler would be a good pick for this as an excellent Runner with really good instincts for how to hit block I I've been a little bit more down on him as far as his share of the runs because I think Aaron Jones is going to get the vast majority but he sees holes and he's got some power to to his games I think Tai Chandler would be the main guy the other one um maybe Jaylen Naylor they call him Speedy for a reason he's quick I would be concerned about jayen Naylor getting injured they've tried kind of everybody back there um that Tai Chandler in somebody maybe they even go out and get somebody else with some returning uh Brandon Powell makes a lot of sense as well but you also might want to have a guy who could potentially block for you as the other returner so uh let's see Walter says the Packers acquired Malik Willis from the Titans and cut Michael Pratt they sure did uh are you expressing your interest in Michael Pratt I was not all that interested in Michael Pratt at sometimes around the draft Senior Bowl people just want to get excited about a quarterback I never really saw it with Michael Pratt obviously they didn't either if they were cutting him to bring in Malik Willis I think they're fine at quarterback but maybe they could uh potentially go out and look for another another veteran but I'm not sure uh Horse Feathers hope your home was not affected by the storm thanks for your comprehensive conversation about the big cut day yeah uh luckily it was not it it sounded pretty bad actually it's crazy because I walked out of the house last night after if you were watching live last night I was hearing all the things hitting the house I thought it might be hail but it was actually just sticks from a tree but after the storm had passed went outside drove around a little bit and my street had its power but the streets over from me lost power there was a tree down still trees down today hopefully all of you were okay because it was a very very nasty storm um it was funny because my wife never comes down and does anything during the show but the fact she came down was like must be pretty bad up there if she thinks she's got to come down into the uh into the basement but hey uh congrats to my energy in my internet for holding up during that live stream Chris says I'm behind but Kareem hunt four years ago Kareem hunt as of right now I don't think so uh I just think he's probably on the wash side Alex what kind of year are you expecting from Jerry Tillery I am going to guess that he plays something like 500 600 snaps gets a handful of pressures especially on third downs and is just more of a Difference Maker as a pass rusher than they had last last year they he could be a Swingman to that group being a little more effective than it was last year when Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard had to do everything it was such a difficult task that they had last year where it was just every play those guys were out there and they end up with 700 something 800 something snaps that's too much to ask of those guys so Jerry Tillery he had something that they didn't have and maybe Levi Drake Rodriguez mixes in as well but I would guess if we're looking for a statline he ends up with something like 30 pressures three sacks and you notice him enough times for that uh signing to make a difference oh William has another fantasy question a PPR draft tonight who would you rather pick between jir Gibbs Jonathan Taylor and saquan Barkley oh I would go um good question I would go Jonathan Taylor I am concerned that he gets banged up sometimes but I also think that running games that have running quarterbacks tend to have a lot of success saquon Barkley does as well actually the thing I would be a little concerned about there is with touchdowns where Taylor and Barkley their quarterbacks run so they might have some touchdowns taken away but Taylor he's already proven he's a Bellow whereas jir Gibbs is still proving that and Sequon Barkley just not sure where he's going to fit in in Philadelphia if there's anything actually there like in in New York his overall numbers were just okay for the most part Alex says the problem with spending in free agency is that elite players rarely make it to unrestricted free agency most teams tend to lack lock up their franchise players that is true so but when you look at what they've been able to do so far because we have a sample size on this they were able to trade for hackinson and use a second round draft pick and uh they were able to sign grenard van gingle and Cashman and I would not call those elite players I your elite players are going to have to be the guys that you draft your Christian darasa Justin Jefferson Dallas Turner and you hope that you could find somebody else but as far as good players and well above average players that you have to overpay a little bit for grenard Van gingle Cashman are great examples of well above average differen making players so I think there's there's levels to that no one's giving you elite players that's true Christian Wilkins was a free agent so sometimes they end up out there but rarely and I agree with that but very good players who can make a difference those guys do end up in free agency quite a bit because they want to get paid at the higher end and their teams don't always do that um but now that the Vikings are in this position with the salary cap uh they can't uh let's see Sean says I think Cleveland cut Foreman oh really they did uh I didn't see that that might be a guy they might be interested in um if if that's true if they cut him then yes he could I didn't really notice him no I their offense was struggling so much passing not surprised to see that they might want to get rid of jamus Winston he was so bad in those joint practices uh oh gosh some decent backup three wide receivers out there thoughts on terish Marshall 24 years old six with two lanky guy who played with Jefferson I I'm not a fan of Terrace Marshall he is kind of lacoin Treadwell to me just doesn't really create a whole lot of separation and I'm guessing that they were playing him a lot in preseason with hopes that he could maybe get a trade something back I would rather just keep who they have than get Terrace Marshall but you're right that he's 24 it's just if a team is getting rid of a 24 year old who has a high draft stock and everything else that means probably that they're very unhappy with that guy and don't see him as as a future player who could help them so if Carolina is getting rid of a young player I I'd be skeptical that they could be a Difference Maker somewhere else because you would think Carolina would want to keep every young player Kyle who would be the first to go between asima and Redmond oh good good question I mean asima is the fourth linebacker they only kept four linebackers I mean that would make the argument pretty strong for ASAS staying I don't think they're thrilled with him but he plays a lot of special teams he knows the system at this point Redmond being the UFL guy might be hard for him to stick um so I I think the answer to your question is probably Redmond that they wanted him on the 53 because he earned making it on cutdown day through the pre-season but he just it just seems so right there that he could end up being the guy that gets cut first or or tyman if they think that they could get him through uh Sue says I only have two running backs on my fantasy football team you guys coming in with the uh with the fantasy football questions um Kiren Williams and Jonathan Taylor picked up Keaton Mitchell and stashed him on IR do I grab another running back thinking of Rico dowle yeah I mean if they're bringing in Delvin cook do you want Rico or not I I don't know and Rico dowle sounds so fake by the way but if they're going to run Ezekiel Elliott and uh Delvin cook although maybe you could make a case that those guys won't be good and then they'll just end up you know having to give way to him Maybe not maybe not a bad decision to pick him up uh but it depends on what kind of League you're playing in with those being your only two running backs and Keat and Mitchell you're gonna need to pick up somebody else I think uh Ben also lives in around my neck of the wood WS it was crazy last night with with that storm that was probably one of the nastiest ones we've had over here I saw a shut down the fair this morning yeesh okay this is funny Zoomer Kev quacy should build the entire team around fan favorites like Bo RoR and go Owens 17 there are just when it comes to guys like Bo RoR there are always the Alexander Hollands the Amir Smith marett that people fall in love with a little bit through training camp and preseason that yeah you would go 0 and 17 if your whole team was those guys but everybody likes an Underdog Story uh you know Bo RoR was a a good player he stood out it's just he's somebody that eventually you can uh move out of the practice squad and then develop and see if there's anything there that's all I'm not saying they should you know got rid of him and and never talked to him again it's just that there are some players you're fairly certain that will up on your practice squad and you can develop them there Josh matelis was on the practice squad at one point Adam thielen did you know an undrafted free agent from Minnesota was on the practice squad at some point that's how it works uh jeriq I think uh huge vote of confidence for gab Murphy yes I agree to use the short-term IR off topic with the Vikings have picked McCarthy or penx if both were available hard to say hard to say uh I mean gosh that is hard to say because I think that they really liked Michael Pennock and if you imagine him throwing the football downfield to Justin Jefferson that is a pretty good look with his arm strength and his arm Talent he really does have a special arm but with JJ McCarthy there was the ability to do much more molding for Kevin oconnell and he was so much younger than Michael penck that I think it might have been McCarthy but I don't know I it was going to be they were going to take whichever one I believe was still on the board but um yeah that's I'm not sure about that I I don't know only they know how they had them ranked I think McCarthy being a guy you could develop more was probably something that they liked but penck was a much better Prospect than the draft anal were giving credit for and the Vikings I think would have been in on him had McCarthy gone early all right Doug says is a team Litter with UD FAS sustainable well it's not well look around the league every team has udfas that are playing roles there's only seven rounds to the draft every year and you're not going to hit on many of those guys even when you have a good draft even the Vikings 2015 draft that was so great there was still a bunch of guys who didn't make it so you can only ever pick two or three guys that are going to make it and then it comes to udfas and free agents I I bet because think about like how many DFAS are we talking actually playing roles on the Vikings right now the answer is not many it's even Blake brandle was drafted it's Ivan pace and who else is there anybody else is it just Ivan pace and everybody else was either a free agent or was a draft pick am I missing somebody I Jaylen Naylor was a pick Addison and this team has first round picks that are out there uh like just Jefferson Christian derasa second round pick Brian O'Neal U free agent Aaron Jones free agent grard van gingle all those guys I'm really trying to think if there's any other undrafted free agent that's even on the team uh that was picked up by this team that's actually going to start so they're not a team that's really littered with undrafted free agents it's just that when you have the ju the position of a first round pick getting cut and a bunch of udfas making it I think I see why people are drawing that connection but Murphy's a free agent Stefan Gilmore is a free agent if anything this team has been built much more through free agency which that's worth asking is that sustainable and I think probably at a lot of key positions but that's hard to do because you can miss on free agents as well as we saw from Dean Lowry and Marcus Davenport so I think it's built much more on veteran free agents than it is undrafted free agents it's just that they've paid the most for it and they have uh landed some really good ones and if you're the one that's putting down the most money to get Ivan pace and he comes here he has the best chance of any udfa to succeed uh Tim says Vikings fans just want their pound of Flesh for the 2022 draft oh yeah I know I know that's what that's my whole point about the whole getting hit by a car thing is that when something goes wrong everybody wants two things they want the people in charge to be yelled at and they want a full explanation and they want somebody held accountable and so forth and I mean you'd much rather have the 2022 draft work out but if the other drafts work out in the free agency then it won't matter as much there's no working around how bad it was of course there's there's no there's no apologizing for it or anything else there's just it's the first draft that they had and since then I think they've done a much much better job and they've made up for it by finding some other players that have worked out in the positions that they tried to draft they're still short at corner for the future and that's going to hurt them they might still be short at guard and that's going to hurt them and the Ed Ingram pick was one that was baffling at the time because a lot of analysts thought he should have been a fourth or a fifth round pick and they took him in the second so the logic wasn't good either I think the last couple drafts have been much more more logical than that one and that's all you can really do is you can just try to learn from a bad draft but sometimes it's just a a random thing that there isn't anything you could do about uh jeriq says uh wondering more today what happened to cam Acres considering how he looks in Houston I know uh the wire at one point the NFL releases a wire with all the transactions and it's said that the Vikings were bringing in acres but then he never signed here so did they bring him in for something and it just didn't happen and then he went to Houston I really don't know uh Trad Catman do you think Robinson has a future I saw some people projecting him to be kept over Ingram I don't I mean they weren't gonna keep him over Ingram Ingram was starting for the entire training camp Ingram was always going to get his chance to start but uh tyres Rob could I really like the way that he pass blocked he might not move well enough to be a great run blocker but he did a good job in pass protection in the in the uh preseason games and I think there might be something there and they should keep him on the practice squad definitely uh Chris says what does a udfa contract look like has to be major cap savings not in comparison to late round picks uh in comparison to veteran free agents some I think it might it's just like a minimum 800,000 I haven't looked recently what that minimum number is for the contract but yes if you hit on a udfa and he's good for four years oh yeah I mean think about that cap difference between Ivan pace and a veteran linebacker that's some that's some major savings hey you're right does Theo Jackson get to count as a 2022 draft pick probably not uh he was a guy that they picked up off of somebody else's practice squad but that makes it look a little better Stephen says do you think Acres just preferred opportunity in Houston could be that might be it or maybe the Vikings were concerned about the health and his Achilles or maybe Houston offered him a little more money uh I I'm not really sure what happened with Cam Acres but they're going to need somebody they're absolutely going to need somebody and that's what we will be keeping an eye on so I'm sure at some point uh there will be uh let's see Rob just jumping in after an hour and 42 minutes J rob where we where we been gonna have to go back and watch the whole thing uh Rob says maybe I missed this but what are your thoughts on another move coming for running back yeah it's it's got to be somebody I don't know peryan has been brought up uh there's been a handful of other names latavius Murray coming back has been thrown out there I I don't know because they're going to look for somebody who fits what they want to do and I think that means a pass protector somebody who can be a little bit on the versatile side as a veteran backup probably not just picking up random young players I like the idea of perine and Frank or Jr who looked really good for the bills the other day if that's what they do but I mean yeah Joe says thank God we're done with all the louisine questions yeah I I agree I let let this be the last day we have to relitigate the 2022 draft we can all move on after that um so uh let's see oh I'm sorry did I even answer the question of Rob's question probably not yeah I just think that they're gonna look for a veteran and maybe a younger player as well to fill out that room uh maybe a younger player to go on the practice squad I don't think Dwayne McBride sticking around maybe I just didn't see much in two years to make me think that so I I would look at all guys with experience that got cut for the Vikings for the running back position um it looked like quite a few running backs did get chopped so that's the best I can do on them very clearly they want more complete running backs than Ken wongu just being a Speedster all right last question because I'm out of voice Charles do you think that we still look better than 6.5 for this season I do I do but Sam darnold's a quarterback back there's just no real way to tell what Sam darnold is going to be when he has the history that he has but I was going through and I wrote about the 6.5 number yesterday purple insider.com check that out but I wrote about that and you gotta be really bad to get less than seven wins in the NFL and I just don't think that their coaching and their roster is bad enough to end up too far uh below that that's how that's how I look at it right now but it's it's a line of demarcation for this team where if they win more than seven games we all move on if uh they win six games or less then there will be hot seat discussions and there will be a lot more pressure on this brass going forward uh so there you go okay need to start making some taco bets yeah yeah uh milkshake bets is usually what it is for for us so we'll keep an eye out on the moves uh going forward if there's something big maybe an emergency podcast I don't know could happen uh at least one more live show I think this week maybe we'll look for Thursday night but I'm trying and maybe the Minnesota Vikings will let me do this trying to play a bunch of golf on Friday so Vikings if you could let me play My Golf and then hopefully we all have a good weekend and then it's football time I still have to book my travel to New York so I got to go do that thank you so much to everybody who watched and listened great great crowd here to discuss this exciting cut down day really appreciate all of you hit the like subscribe use the promo code purple at Underdog fantasy check out the news letter I don't know whatever tattoo my name on the side of your cheek whatever it takes thanks everybody for watching and we'll talk to you all very soon again thanks football