An emotional week for the Vikings; Gophers football in a time of transition

Published: Aug 29, 2024 Duration: 00:43:59 Category: News & Politics

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it is your Friday daily delivery I am Michael Rand glad to be back for another day and hope everyone is having a great day out there as well as we head into the weekend and a great weekend it should be looks like sun warm get outside in the water maybe do some fun summer stuff before that though let's listen to this show let's do this show um Ben guestling from the Star Tribune joins me here in just a few minutes talk Vikings um it's been a heavy week for the Vikings culminating today with the funeral for Kyrie Jackson the rookie cornerback who was killed tragically in a car accident earlier this month a lot of Vikings coaches um heading to his funeral today um Ben and I will talk about that the emotional toll that's taking and what it means on the field as well um for the Vikings who suddenly find themselves down not just their um you know not just his roster spot but um McKai Blackman injured earlier this week out for the season with the torn ACL how that impacts them on the field even if this is not by far the most important part of the story uh we'll get into the quarterback back situation as well some kicker stuff special teams everyone loves kickers and special teams we'll talk that as well um so stick around for that in just a minute got a twins thought at the end of the show after reading a piece today by Bobby Nightingale Jr and after reading a piece of email from a reader a good thoughtful uh email from a reader listener um I'll do that the end of the show first though what I miss let us talk uh go for football at the jump here Randy Johnson covering go for football uh covering Big 10 media day down in um Indianapolis everybody's favorite Gathering Place everybody's favorite conference uh conference meeting point um lot lot going on in Indianapolis PJ Fleck talked on Thursday Randy Johnson and I will talk um more about this next week as the Gophers start practice but some remarks from PJ Fleck caught my ear and I thought I wanted I wanted to run through some of them I'm going to play one of them the longer one I'm going to read you a couple quotes from Randy's story that kind of helps kind of frame up where he is where the program is where college football is frankly in 2024 and Beyond so here's PJ fle this was during a lengthy opening remarks to the media um here's Fleck talking about just kind of like where they are after you know a five and seveny year last year some Rumblings you know some strong sense that he might be taking the UCLA job before he stayed here building a house about to move into that here in Minnesota a new house things of that nature and I think in in 20124 it's okay to love where you're at like it is okay to love Minnesota it's okay to love the position that you're in and I think we share that actually we're actually building a house that's finally finishing after two and a half years and and we're moving in in two weeks which is great timing for a football coach to be moving his house so I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing got to ask Heather because uh I probably won't be around to do to pull my weight on that one uh but we both believe in the student athlete experience and uh I love that about working uh for Mark Cole so as we transition into this new world of college football uh I just wanted to say something about our program that you know we are a transformational program academically athletically socially spiritually the Whole Life program but our world has changed in this transactional world with the nil with the portal with salary caps with obviously uh uh conference expansions um new TV deals but really the university experience is still there and I think a lot of people think the transactional piece now we all have to change into just the transactional piece we don't believe in that uh we believe in having the transactional piece as a piece that allows our student athletes to benefit but you still get this transformational Life program and I think that's really important to talk about because we're still Educators we're teachers and we're mentors and that'll never go away as we continue to move forward now listen Fleck is a good football coach but he is even better at controlling or setting the narrative the slogans the Expressions comes out fast comes out hard with his view of where things are in 2024 after the after you know the the off season where a lot of stuff is happening you know major ruling in college football there's going to be you know more paid out in nil through the teams through the schools coming up big money Changing Hands athletes getting paid things like that this is not this is not the college football world that PJ Fleck entered this is even the gopher's job that he took this is even the this isn't even the gopher's job that he had in 2019 his one great great season here they've had other Good Seasons but it's one great season when they won 11 games contended seriously for a big 10 title and for a while even potentially if they had run the table that year a spot in the college football playoff um things have changed the ground underneath all of college football is moving PJ Fleck trying to kind of signal where that is right now but I have I happen to like the narrative that he is selling right now this kind of like you got to appreciate where you are it's okay to like where you're at it's okay to love where you're at and not be constantly wondering about how it used to be or how it could be focusing on the present I do like that narrative two other things he said one of them reinforc foring that one of them making me wonder too if he is trying to manage expectations in the context of living in the present first thing he said about his job security he's now the third longest tenur coach in the Big 10 uh this is coming up on his eighth season with the Gophers he said I will not win enough games at some point every head coach won't win enough games at some point it's a coach that seemingly understands that even as he lives in the present even even as he says it's okay to love where you're at right now he understands that's not entirely up to him they went 5- seven in the regular season last year yes they made it to a bowl game and won a bowl game more on that in a minute um but that was not a good season by the standards that the program has set by the standards that they had set by where they were you know with four or five games left in the year controlling their Destiny in the Big 10 West now things have changed obviously the Big 10 West is no longer the the schedule they had that that was forgiving that gave them a chance to compete with the four pack 12 teams coming in with the elimination of the divisions the schedule's a lot harder it just flat out is you look at their schedule you can see them like chip and I talked about earli this week chip Scoggin talking about how they could be a better team this year and still win five games again just because the schedule is that much tougher I think he recognizes that he's not on the hot seat this year I would not argue that he he is or should be on the hot seat this year after one season of a dip where they go down um where you know they're not on that you know the years before that they'd had a bunch of you know nine win nine win 11 wins in the in the seasons where it's you know the non-co seasons they'd had a run of Good Seasons good um some sometimes great Seasons so one bad year shouldn't derail that even two you know two years that fall short of expectations if you feel like you're building up shouldn't derail that but it does feel like this is the year before the year if it's another year like last year where just wins and losses Flatout wins and losses you don't achieve what you want to you could see the seat getting hot in 2025 and I think he realizes that he's saying you know we're not going to win enough games at some point I recognize that I get that at the same time the last thing he said this is about 2024 he says the narrative around our place right now is well what are you going to do after the disappointing year we just won a bowl game there are people here just trying to get to a bowl game for the first time in decades talking about the big 10 and we won our fifth in a row it's disappointing but what we said at the beginning when winning becomes disappointing we're we're doing our job even better because there's going to be es and flows yeah I think he's managing expectations right here right like he's saying that was still not you can call it disappointing last year but we won a bowl game and I'm going to say yeah you won a bowl game because you got it in as basically one of the very last teams because you were in good academic standing not because of how you were performing on the field now being in good academic standing is important right that's good that is something we should celebrate that is something that is definitely part of his program and will be you know harder to sustain I would imagine as players even become more transient as this becomes more of transactional like he said before can they keep that experience going can they keep players here so that they stay on that track so they get that experience a lot of things coming together at once in college sports in college football in this golpher program I think PJ Fleck is trying to make sense of it all just like we are I think he's trying to live in the moment to appreciate this for what it is even as the ground moves underneath him under moves underneath anybody who follows college football I don't think he's quite figured it all out yet nor do all of us have it all figured out at this point but I think 2020 4 is going to be an important and interesting season for his program Royal Credit Union smart checking accounts offer no monthly fees and no minimum balance enjoy Financial Freedom when you open your Royal Credit Union smart checking account online at rcu.org slgo checking insured by ncua let's bring in Ben guestling writes about the Vikings of course for the Star Tribune um Ben we did an access Vikings podcast a couple days ago felt like that might suffice for a little while then immediately after that like Christian derasa extension Duke Shelly resigns um which proves to be a precient move because the day after that Makai Blackman is lost for the season with the torn ACL Jordan Addison talk for the first time Wednesday um they they don't mind throwing a lot of news at us right away in Camp do they no they do not it's it's kind of off to a rip roaring start to this point and uh yes maai Blackman news last night uh first day of the acclamation period goes down for the season with an ACL um that certainly adds to the day also I think adds to their list of problems because yeah uh Duke Shelly was brought back in part because they needed depth there um that's obviously an effect of Kyrie Jackson's death I think they needed help there regardless of that and now not having mikai Blackman I think that continues to be a pretty major area of need so yes that's not not the news they wanted to start Camp that's for sure I hate you know we have to but I hate talking about cornerback depth and just like we how we just have to say oh yeah and by the way it's it is this way because Kyrie Jackson died it just feel like such a weird aside it's true this is the football impact of it but like there's no good way to say it other than just to say it but that is definitely impacting what they want to do at that position right now yeah it it it is and it reduces the loss of a life to a spot on a football roster which is a body yeah I don't like yeah it's it's it's trivial and stupid and um you know not fully capturing the loss that happened there obvious but but you know football is it goes on and they did make the plan you know for the year based on okay we drafted him you you assume you know barring something like that that you're going to have those players and then you have to respond to it when you don't um you know injuries are of a different nature but yeah you now deal with that with Makai Blackman as well where um they were probably expecting him to compete for a role maybe a starting spot and you have to go back to I mean right now it's Duke shell and the uh two members of the 2022 draft class that are kind of in um make or break years yes Caleb Evans and and Andrew Booth so um I would think they would look for another solution there xaven Howard comes up a lot we'll see if that is something that comes together but uh yeah there's uh for a lot of different reasons a need in that spot and um the football side of that is certainly a pretty significant component of the whole thing well and the the flip side of it the more personal side of it that's certainly more important will become front center again Friday the funeral right and a large contingent of you know the Vikings um you know coaches Personnel groups stuff like that heading heading out to that right yes uh Kevin oconnell quiso fensa Brian Flores Dante Jones Matt Daniels so basically all of their coordinators uh than West Phillips all all of the coordinators that would have interacted with him I think would probably be way to say it um position coach obviously was was his position coach Kevin oconnell and quens of course who drafted him so uh large showing from the Vikings they're flying out there for the funeral and I think Wes Phillips will kind of be the uh the the head coach on the scene that day makes sense still going through practice I I believe their contingent is flying back Friday I'm I'm sure they're probably taking a private plane um out there so they have probably a little more control over their schedule than if you're flying commercials certainly uh if you're flying in and out of Minneapolis right now I don't think they would want to be uh putting their hands on the schedule of the predominant airline in this market who Charters the Vikings season but no you probably don't want to be resting on that at the moment so uh yeah I believe they are flying back Friday but I I don't believe they'll be back in time for practice so um but yes they are they're going to be out there to pay their respects to Kyrie Jackson to um to be there in support of his family and um you know it'll be I think a pretty somber day it's not something that anybody's expecting to do um you know first week in a training camp but yes that's um you know I I they felt it was important to be there and I I certainly commend them for that I think it's a a nice gesture on their part to do what they're doing and uh yeah that's where they where a lot of the decision makers will be on Friday on the football side of it we we talked about Duke Shelly coming back it strikes me as odd this kind of like progression right because I thought he was pretty good for them yeah in 2022 like you know is this is kind of like you know the Thirsty person in the desert and then you see like even a small glass of water right like that was not a good year for quarterbacks not a good year for quarterback play they had donatell defense things like that but I thought he you know especially in that Buffalo game the New England game had some real highlight plays says he never wanted to leave Vikings certainly seemed like they had a need last year like why and but then you know maybe the the thinking at that point is hey new scheme new system does he really fit into the Flores defense well he's back now so he must like why what was the kind of Disconnect between bringing back Duke shell last year and then now bringing him back this year well it'll be interesting to hear from Brian Flores on that we haven't had a chance to do that yet but yeah I mean my initial thought is just that it was not as good of a scheme fit I mean you want Corners probably that are a little bit bigger in Flores defense and that's probably more important this year even more so than it was last year perhaps because they're planning to play more man coverage so why is he back now that question Still Remains he's not any taller he's not any bigger no I don't think so no he's not um great of growing he grew four inches no we saw him yesterday he's days of growing four inches in an offseason you know that probably stops when you're 14 or 15 or something but um yes he he was the same Duke Shelly um excited to be here he said he felt like home uh certainly wanted to be back here and I think yeah I mean he's he's going to give you what he has and he definitely is the type of Corner that likes to challenge receivers even if he's not a big guy he likes to play physically likes to get up in receivers faces so I think in that sense it fits but yeah you may end up in a spot where you say well let's let's look at our options here because you have to and yeah um I wonder if that was part of where they landed here I'll be curious to hear Brian Flores weigh in a little more on that which we'll get a chance to do here fairly soon um yeah it it I don't think it solves the whole problem but uh certainly a guy that they have liked and have seen good things from in the past and we'll see kind of what he's able to do in this defense because they need options there in a in a pretty big way I think same day they brought him back the bigger news was the Christian darasa extension four years up to 113 million you reported which if he hits all those markers could make it the the highest you know the highest value um contract for an offensive lineman now you see Trent Williams holding out with the 49ers so good to get good to get that done I guess and not get in the same situation although it' be a little bit different because what they had darasa still had two years left on the the four the fourth and then the fifth year option right yes which is what made this a little bit of not a surprise but the normal step of how these things go there was no hurry yeah no there was no hurry oconnell said it and darasa even talked about it uh when he addressed it on uh on Tuesday I believe but you know the the thing he talked about was I guess it was on Wednesday that he talked Wednesday they're already running together it's happens Camp it's been a long Camp already Yes it has yesterday was a long week um one of the things he said though is that watching what happened with Justin Jefferson last year when he tried to get a deal done with two years left and it didn't happen in part because there's no real trigger to do it he thought well these things take time I'm not sure if it's going to happen I mean ordinarily the Vikings in my 13 years of covering them I'm trying to think how many times they have done deals two years out uh Harrison Smith got one I think the big surge of players in 2018 that they wanted to kind of get in front of all of it there might a couple of like an Everson Griffin or a lindol Joseph okay in there um it's not often uh that guys get deals done a year early so in part darasa is thinking well this is going to be a lot of money this is going to be a lot to figure out so am I G to get this done two years earlyer or we're going to wait a year and they come to a price that everybody agrees with and everybody's happy with and yes if it if he hits all of the markers in it he will be the highest paid left tackle in the NFL he passes Pine Su in Detroit who got 28 million a year uh earlier this off season so yeah big deal for him um big for the Vikings to get him locked up he has had some injuries still has not played a full 17 Game season had 15 last year which I believe is a career high so they still need to see probably a little more durability from him to say that we are getting our full value of this deal but they they obviously love his physicality they love what he does as a pass protector certainly one of the higher graded pass protectors in the NFL and he's also a guy that can get out and get in front of a screen and get in front of some of the run plays that they want if they want to run outside as well and we've seen that at times during his career I can remember I think it was a screenplay where he just obliterated I think two guys on the play and uh yeah he has the athletic ability to do that so when you have that and you have Brian O'Neal on the other side it's like let's let's make sure we have all of this locked up so that JJ McCarthy can basically grow up knowing that you're going to have the same tackles for at least the next several years of your Development in Minnesota ironic given how hit and miss the first round picks were how hit and miss the offensive line was in the Spielman era that Dara was his last first round pick right yes yeah yeah it's it's it is funny because there were so many years there where they either hadn't done it uh well I mean because I we would write this every year it was yeah and I can remember the statistic it was since 2009 when they took Phil lool they have not used a pick higher than the third round on an offensive lineman and then they take Brian O'Neal in 2018 to and that streak right Bradberry in 2019 is um darasa is 2021 well I'm I'm missing one Ezra Cleveland e Cleveland yeah second round pick I believe in 20120 that sounds right yeah and he was traded away they initially planned for him to be the left tackle but then quickly moved him to guard where Riley Reef stayed at left tackle a little bit longer and then they take darasa in 21 so yes the Investments on the offensive line Ed Ingram was a second round pick as well so there have been a lot of investments in that group and did all of those guys hit um over the years no um I guess Spielman probably would be quick to tell you and if uh if we were talking to him I'm sure he would point out the fact that they still have three starters on that line that he drafted all grief he took over the years so uh we can give him that um I think the fact that they got the tackles looks like they got the tackles right and yeah got the tackle right get it right that's a good Spielman line too get it that's right yes going back to 2014 yep yep um that was the the phrase they all rallied around on the second day of that press conference after putting him on the commissioner's exempt list I did I did a video remix I did a video remix that year of how many times they said get it right and I don't think it was very well received by the Vikings probably not um that that whole week was uh years ago this fall 20 yeah that's right gez okay um sorry we got derail that talk yes offensive line it I wouldn't say any of those guys were disasters right like you know even the guys that didn't quote unquote hit like you know Garrett Bradberry for All We complain about him getting bowled over by all the interior rushers by the Bears and Packers over the years has you know he's a still a starter in the league Ezra Cleveland is still playing in this league um you know O'Neal and and um darasa of course they they hit on and you know it's you know it kind of is what it is with some of those guys but Ingram is still you know still in the mix at least like you don't hit on all those guys I wouldn't say it was a it was a it's a better than average probably track record for those for that group well and the thing with darasa to point out too is that he traded back in that draft I mean yes to3 14th 14 back to 23 and that was the draft where they there were all of those pass rushers that Zimmer liked it was like Phillips and quidd pay and there was another one in there I mean just look at the guys that went from 14 23 there were a lot of players that Zimmer liked and he talked afterwards about like I'm going to take his phone away if he tries to trade back one more time I think there were some animated in the draft room that night and then the next day they take Ken M which was beginning of the end thir round dimmer Spielman relationship um because I see him every day the fact that he was yes he was able to see him every day the fact that he was still able to trade back from 14 to 23 and get his guy was was a good read on the situation now they didn't get a lot else out of that draft but uh he got the darasa pick right I mean really his two of his last three first rounders in Minnesota are Justin Jefferson and Christian and both those guys got massive contracts right this season so there is part of the foundation that they have offensively that certainly was due to rcks felman's last couple of drafts in Minnesota yes and you know arguably the most successful pick of the new regime was Jordan Addison who we heard from on Wednesday for the first time since his arrest on suspicion of vwi a couple weeks ago in California um you know opening up a little bit about how hard it was on him he was in a dark place um didn't quite get all of the this will never happen again kind of sentiment from him but maybe that's honest too maybe it's just saying hey look I'm a work in progress I'm sure he doesn't want anything like this to ever happen again but maybe coming up short of guaranteeing it um caught me a little off guard yeah yeah I think it certainly I mean he had the he got asked you know how can you guarantee this will never happen again I think was the exact question and he said you know taking it a day at a time so that's yeah not you know planting a flag of this will never ever ever happen again but he did talk about I need to make better decisions I'm learning about that in this process I mean players have access to uh car services that basically I mean it's almost like a a private Uber I mean you can call uh car services and they'll pick you up and basically I think they players often are worried about using those and I'm not speaking specifically about Addison here just in general um because it's this thing of is the team going to find out that I called this right is it going to look bad on me that I was in a spot where I needed a driver um my understanding is that doesn't happen with these there's a a layer of the team does not know about the team does not track the records of it that is meant to not put players in the spot where they're reluctant to use these kinds of things so the team B it's good for you it's good for us um use them they're there for you and obviously beyond that I mean Uber and lift are are always options as well now uh there's the matter of what you do with your car those spots but you know you figure that out especially a Rolls-Royce you want to leave that just anywhere no you don't um so there's probably part of that that goes into it as well but yeah it's um one of those things where as he goes through this yeah the decision-making process there is is obviously use the options that you have and he kind of acknowledged that he said you know whatever discipline comes my way I'll face it I'll own up to it um the legal process will play out first I think and then the NFL will probably make its decisions from there and then the Vikings probably react to whatever would happen from the NFL my my assumption is that whatever the NFL does will probably be the extent of the punishment he faces but that may still be a little ways from coming to fruition yeah just because the legal process still has a little ways to go as far as I have understood it from checking in with uh people out in La this week got to gather that information um Vikings are also gathering information on their quarterbacks how's JJ looking couple days in he looked good yesterday I mean we saw him you know throughout the kind of the acclamation practice so it's it's still notation practice what the names they come up with for these things yeah I mean it's just so that it's not as long as a practice they basically put limits on it as part of CVA it's kind of where these things come from but um yeah he made some nice throws yesterday certainly has been working you can see him working on some of the footwork things that they want him to do um without getting terribly nuanced with a lot of what they want him to change in his dropback is make basically just make everything look the same you you don't want to get to the point where Defenders can read your footwork and say okay if it's a quick pass he does this versus yeah IMM media throw longer throw they felt like there's some things for him to clean up there and that's a lot of what they want him to do in this process so you could see him working through some of those things yesterday I think there's signs of progress I'm not a scout nor do I play one on television or on podcast but right um you know some of the things that you have conversations with people that kind of say hey here's what we're looking for you kind of know to look for that and and you see some of the some of the work there he made a couple of nice throws yesterday so I I think it was a good first day for him overall um Sam darnold had kind of the highlight of the day and the Vikings have wasted little time posting clip of it yeah uh the Deep ball he hit to Justin Jefferson which it was an impressive play I mean certainly it was a big time throw you would expect that a guy that was picked number three overall has the arm talent to make that throw so you know I I think you kind of take that for what it is he's not being rushed not um in a full contact live situation but yeah it was impressive and certainly was the highlight of the day on day one Justin Jefferson looked pretty excited about it and uh we'll see where that goes but yeah a could start at least from a a um creating some Buzz perspective for Sam darnold covered by covered by Andrew Booth Jr on the play right yeah yeah sorry also receiving votes at this point for yeah playing time yeah yeah the other I think the other person that will receive votes for playing time is uh the field um not on roster yet I I would be very much expecting that they look for additional help at that spot so I I think you could if you're if you're placing bets on that spot taking the field is probably not a bad option just because I would imagine and we've seen this in in the past where they they kind of add the veteran Corner in training camp if they find one that they like I mean savan Howard will have to see if that is the way that they would go if the prices match up and everything but he has play he has played and played well for Brian Flores before so um we'll see if that ends up being the solution but I would expect theyd continue to look there early in Camp and obviously this is not a question that's based on anything we've seen in Camp yet but could that player be taking a roster spot formerly occupied by LS seen is leisen going to make the 53 man this year uh I would not assume that he will um you know the the tricky thing there is I I mean if if he does I could see an argument based on special teams because the special team stuff now changes a little bit in the sense that you want guys that can run I mean you always want guys that can run on special teams but those guys that can can play a little more open field style right if you are expecting more returns and it's going to be a little more of a a rugby style play I think is the read on it at this point but without having seen it actually play out in an NFL game I could see that and I'm curious to hear from Matt Daniels kind of about where he's thinking you know kind of what he needs as a shopping list on special teams at this point with these new rules with the kickoff I could see that um you know there's always the fact that you're a first round pick which means you tend to get more opportunities because people want to be right about you now qu Del fensa I think to his credit so far has been pretty good at saying and we tried this it didn't work and we can move on from it we'll see if that happens with a first- round pick but um I do see a little more of that in his uh approach than perhaps other GMS that we previous regimes yes yes other GMS that we were referencing earlier in this podcast with their first round picks uh there were first- round picks that did not work that got lots of chances as well so um yeah I think does he make the team there's enough safety here that I think it's in question um I really do I think his best play Maybe special teams I don't know that it's going to happen for him at safety at least as they're currently set up and the other thing to consider is this may be an indirect impact but when you're counting to 53 every spot matters yeah I can't see a way there's not three quarterbacks on the active roster yes just because of the way they're aligned right now yes you can not cut JJ McCarthy obviously yeah because you'd expose him to waivers and there nobody's going to try that um Sam darnold and Nick Mullins I expect will be here um you know I suppose you could trade and I'm not saying this is going to happen for anybody who's listening and looking for Twitter engagement off of it but um maybe you would get to a spot where you'd say well if we need a roster spot we can trade one of these guys okay like in the I mean you have to feel so good about McCarthy that you're to put him in into the where he's either starting or one snap away so if you want to control this process right to the degree that I think they do I think there's three quarterbacks on the roster so makes sense to me what does that mean it means that there's one less spot for somebody else and when you're making those decisions on the final spot those things do come into play where if you take two quarterbacks and then you have your third on the practice squad you have a little more wiggle room I I don't think that's going to work this way this year so it does make something somewhere a little tighter and maybe it's that spot so I I think it's very much an open question as to whether Louis sen on this Team final thing you just kind of you brought up the the new kickoff rules just got to me thinking it's it's a big year for Matt Daniels the new rules new kicker I mean it's it's a lot kind of on on his plate after special teams were not great last year if you looked at the dvoa and stuff like that it was like like offense was okay defense was okay special teams not all that great so how do you think that's going to shake out this year the kicker trying a new SEC kicker that doesn't always work out this is uh attempt number three on ANC kicker um now I suppose the response to that from again the person that drafted the first two would be well that they they both have been to Pro bowls in their career true yes uh one went to a pro bow before he missed a significant playoff kick and was never the same uh the second went to a Pro Bowl after missing three kicks at Lambo field that got him cut yes in two of his rookie year he's been a very good kicker for the Las Vegas Raiders since then um yes the third attempt at this with will rard we'll see how this goes he looked great in the spring I mean he he he checks the leg strength box and then some um I mean we saw some kicks it's like that would have gone into the first couple of rows of the stands if there wasn't a net back there but um yeah how that goes can he do it when it's real pressure and real situations I mean he kicked at Alabama so it's you you think he's been enough big games and and you know kicking for Nick Sabin I can't imagine is the most forgiving environment in the world so um I you know that that's about as well as you can prepare yourself for the NFL but we'll see how that goes when is in an actual situation and then yeah I the the new special team stuff with the kickoff rules is fascinating to me because I there seemed like there are so many different ways that teams could go about this and there there will probably be kind of a best practice that gets formulated throughout the course of season maybe even in the offseason you're GNA start to see teams kind of do the same things because everybody's going to be watching everybody else and seeing what people do um but trying to study film trying to prepare for opponents when you do that stuff trying to figure out your own advantages um how your kickoff returners are lined up on your roster I think becomes a bigger deal again um I like it I mean it's it's unorthodox but the NFL has not wanted to get rid of that play completely and we were certainly moving toward a place where if there wasn't this kind of a change it would have made sense to just get rid of it because and it got to the point where I think the NFL has said only 22 23% of kickoffs were returned last year I mean it basically becomes the Touchback was almost so automatic that you're like why are we wasting three minutes of real time on this play you know coming out of it you know commercial coming out of it commercial probably going into it after the extra point right um yeah I I think in a in a game time perspective it would have made sense to just get rid of it if you weren't going to do something to try to revive it have said we want the play to be in the game the safety concerns they're hoping this will alleviate a lot of those because you're not going to have players running full steam for you know 30 yards perhaps before they are coming into contact with other in basically head-on situations so um I'm not 100% convinced that people won't just say you know what we're going to kick the ball through the end zone and and deal with the fact that it's at the 30 not the 25 right they talk at 35 for a Touchback but they decided on the 30 for now we'll see if that changes if they don't get the results they want because of this but if in fact there are more kickoffs uh I I like it I think it's going to be interesting to see how it develops and just watching how different teams go about it I think is going to be fascinating because it is a third phase of the game that can change a lot we've seen that over the years with Vikings returners and we've certainly seen it done to them right largely by the man that's heading into the Hall of Fame here next week Devon Hester so oh yeah um it does have a real impact in the game and I'm curious to see how this plays out speaking of having a real impact in the game Ben guestling thanks for joining me today talk again soon all right all right sounds good thanks Mike great stuff from Ben just a reminder to follow all of his coverage from training camp Star tribune.com as well as our other Vikings writers and columnists who are out there Ben and I planning to record Another access Vikings podcast next week kind of bringing you up to date on everything else that's happening in Camp yes how's JJ looking all that good stuff we'll get more of a kind of a more of a representative sample size as Camp goes on let us finish with the cooler a couple things Bobby Nightingale Jr wrote interesting piece today about the twins at the trade deadline how this year is different for them in the past they have targeted players at the trade deadline who have more years left on their contract not just looking for rentals who are going to be there for two or three months looking for players who are maybe have a have a defined contract under team control or on a team friendly deal for maybe a year or two years Beyond U beyond the year that they're acquiring them for in the middle of the season so they hopefully have you know some kind of plan sketched out for future Seasons this year is different he says because of payroll expectations next year they're going to have a lot of players who get raises because of natural you know young players at arbitration they already have a bunch of high-price contracts like Carlos kareah Pablo Lopez Byron buckson their top five earners next year will already get them to about $90 million in payroll bunch of other guys getting raises will take them to about the point where the payroll is this year already 125 130 somewhere in that range so with the TV stuff still unsettled they might be looking at more of a rental this year I got someone who's only going to be you know here for 2 months as opposed to someone who's here long term because then you aren't on the hook for salary in 20125 and Beyond another interesting nugget from what he wrote he's got a good piece kind of lays out who they might be targeting you can read that in the Star Tribune and on star.com um he lays out who they're targeting but also you know saying if they're going to acquire anybody they probably have to send out salary in addition to even taking back just a little bit of salary because of course when you acquire a player you're only paying them for the last couple months of the year for what they are making right now so interesting I hadn't really thought of it that way for 2025 and Beyond guys they've acquired in the past have certainly fit that mold um even if even if they haven't been midyear Acquisitions even if they've been you know guys who were deeper down you know deeper in the offseason Pablo Lopez Sunny gray you weren't just looking for one year you were looking for two in most cases and that has been their at the trade deadline might not be their MO this year here simply because of salary constraints that will do it for me today expecting to be back with royy on Monday next week probably taking a little bit of a break in the middle of the week to take some vacation time should be shows at the end of the week I think Thursday and Friday but probably no shows on Tuesday and Wednesday next week but yes royy night on Monday to talk about the weekend and everything that happens from now until then enjoy yours be back at it Monday we'll see you then

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