[Music] what's going on everybody Welcome in the Vikings Now by Chad Sports I finally have some good news for you Vikings fans we have just signed free agent quarterback Stefan Gilmore to a one-year $10 million deal so coming up on today's show I'm going to be giving you guys my thoughts on that signing how does he fit in with what Brian Flores likes to do on that side of the football and also talk about the defense as a whole as you start looking at the talent at all three levels on that side of the football there is really no excuse for this group to not be top 10 if not top five in the entire NFL obviously led by Brian Flores and then also I want to give you guys my thoughts on the um Vikings win over the Cleveland Browns yesterday just kind of want to show some love to a couple players who you know I think potentially earned thems a roster spot which originally probably or originally heading into this preseason weren't going to make the team so let tell you guys my thoughts there but first off let's dive into Stefan Gilmore so it is a oneyear $10 million deal and he is heading to the Minnesota Vikings um the biggest connection here with Gilmore and the Vikings is obviously uh Brian Flores as he was actually a part of the Patriots coaching staff when Stefan Gilmore won his Defensive Player of the Year award back in 2019 and you know Stefon Gilmore 33 years old uh played with the Patriots Panthers this past season with the Cowboys was with the colts for a little bit he was actually a part of the 33 to zero comeback I will never forget the whip route Justin Jefferson ran on Stefan Gilmore as I am sure in practice number 18 is going to be talk and smack the Gilmore saying remember when I busted your ass on that whip route in the greatest comeback of all time when he just put his foot in the ground uh and he made him look silly that that's probably the biggest play I think about in uh Stefon Gilmore's career in terms of what the Minnesota Vikings but you know Stefon Gilmore he's going to add some veteran experience he was still very effective with the Dallas Cowboys this past season um even though he is getting up there in age and listen the Vikings needed this like if you look at the defense as a whole I think it is a very good unit like I love what we've done at the edge Department you know even though we did lose denil hunter we kind of won a little money ball route and we just pick and show as a lot of you know different styles of players who can you know live up to the denil hunter you know production that he was putting out there I mean I love grard I think he can be a true top Edge rusher on a unit then you also got Andrew van GLE who's you know his versatility fits in perfectly with what Flores likes to do and then you know you hope the young kit Dallas Turner if he pops year one like you're talking about this group and probably top seven top 10 in the NFL type of conversation and you know obviously still got some question marks on the interior of the defensive line but hey Bo RoR playing well uh you know obviously I don't assume him to get real reps during the year but you still got Harrison Phillips Jerry Tillery Jonathan board like you got serviceable defensive tackles and then I love the linebacker group like I love Ivan Pace I love what Blake Cashman uh does on the football field and I think they compliment each other very well but then you got to the cornerback room you're kind of just looking at it like this is almost a practice squad level quarterback group but now that you had Stefon Gilmore it doesn't put all the pressure that um was originally on Byron Murphy to be that lock down corner I think we are going to see a better year out of Murphy than um we are expecting if they did not sign uh Stefan Gilmore man point being on that is you know all of the expectation all of the weight of that cornerback group was on Murphy to have a fantastic season but at least now he has a running mate in in Gilmore who has done it at the highest level and I think we're going to even see more out of Murphy and plus you have that veteran leadership you have that veteran voice for every single practice with Stefan Gilmore I think that's going to be huge so if you're rolling out obviously the Vikings love to run a lot of you know multiple safety sets so if you're what you say your final 11 on defense is something of the likes of you know grenard van GLE Harrison Phillips let you say Dallas Turner and then they go uh you know Jonathan Bard or Jerry tiller the other defensive lineman and then you go cash pace and then let's just say you got Gilmore um Byron Murphy and then you got two safeties or you could go three safeties take one of the defensive linemen out there like you know the Vikings aren't normally running three quarterbacks on the field a whole lot obviously unless they are in nickel so you know you got two of the best quarterbacks um or two of the better quarterbacks quarterbacks that we have seen um on this Vikings defense in a while in Gilmore and Murphy which is you know fantastic and plus you pair them up with the safety group of Smith bam matelis like this defense as a whole is extremely talented and if the Vikings are going to want to make a playoff run if we want to see ourselves you know playing meaningful football in December January um it's going to be on the backs of the defense uh and I believe in them I think this group is going to have a big time year they're going to need the hold teams to around 20 21 points a game if not less than that and then you got to tell your offense go get three touchdowns and then you would hope that Kevin oconnell and all the weapons you have around Sam darnold are good enough to generate at least 21 points 24 points every single game and I think this Vikings team is going to be successful I'll put this hot take out here and you guys know I'm a very optimistic Vikings fan I you know maybe I drink too much of the purple Kool-Aid or whatever you want to call it but I'm going to say the Vikings go 10 and seven and they win a playoff game I understand how much of a disaster the last kind of couple of months have been with mikai Blackman tearing his ACL what happened to Kyrie Jackson JJ McCarthy the Jordan Addison carded off I hear all that but you look at this group from what we thought about it three months ago when optimism was at an all-time high what did we really lose yes the McKai Blackman injury stinks I I hate that but now you're add in Stefan Gilmore yes the Jordan Addison situation whatever that is off the field and obviously him being carded off with an ankle injury versus the Browns that's unfortunate but you had Tristan Jackson you had Jaylen Naylor step up in the preseason and I'm not saying they are as talented as you know obviously Addison is but they can be serviceable at those wide receiver two and wide receiver three spots it's all going to come down to Sam darnold like if Sam darnold plays just okay football this will be a good football team and I understand Vikings fans I think it's just in our blood to probably you know be a little negative when things get tough because we just naturally think up here we go then is doing it to the Vikings again oh the football Gods you know they love hammering down on Vikings fans I understand that but I I I still think this team is loaded I I think we are still the most underrated football team in the National Football League there's just too much talent I mean even when I'm walking around the chatport studios like I got people coming up to me saying like do you think the Vikings will take a quarterback first overall do I think the Vikings will take a quarterback first overall we are not going to have the first overall pick or I've seen conversation on Twitter where it's Vikings fans talking about what's more likely them to make the playoffs or them to have the first overall pick and we're saying the first overall pick I think we are not giving enough credit to the other 52 people on this roster and everybody is just so keened in on the quarterback and I understand that it's the most important position all sports but also the other 52 guys they help Elevate the quarterback play and when you have Kevin okano you know he's going to elevate it I just think everybody needs a pump the brakes and the freaking negativity I've seen around Vikings fans I mean now we just signed Gilmore the defense is looking stacked they played their ass off yesterday obviously it was a preseason game and it was just backups on backups but I just like what I see I like the mo I love what Brian Flores his philosophy um now I just trus in Kevin oconnell to at least have a top 15 offense like the Vikings offense we're not asking them to be top five for us to make the playoffs if this defense is as good as I think it is and it can be top 10 top seven in the league if you just have the most mid offense in the NFL you are probably still winning 9 to 10 11 games this season so everybody pumped the breaks on the negativity this is some positive news and uh just fired up that Stephon Gilmore is a viking but I do want to wrap up today's show giving shout outs to a couple Players yesterday who I think played their ass off for the Vikings um most importantly louen now I don't want to be negative about about the Louis situation but this kind of looked like the Vikings trying to just get a late round pick for him uh what do I mean by that he played the whole game he led the Vikings in every statistical category on defense and they were running defenses in the second half that were not even I don't even think in Brian flores's Playbook I literally think it was just to up lsen uh Len's trade value so don't be shocked if the Baltimore Ravens trade him for a six round pick this week so serious I don't think this was a performance where it's like oh Len's making the roster now I think the Vikings were trying to up his trade value considering they only have three picks for next season I think this is you know their kind of way of uh you know potentially getting a sixth or seventh for him but you know line did play his ass off if he does end up staying on this team obviously we'll be rooting for him but I just thought the Vikings that was them just trying to up his trade value a couple of receivers here Tristan Jackson looks the part um you know he's bigger than I thought and he's also faster than I thought specifically on that Jet Sweep when he put his foot in the ground I did not think he had that top end speed to him uh so shout out to him I really think he could be a wide receiver three in this league uh he's just got more juice than even a guy like KJ Osborne and his route running is really smooth um he's just he's just been awesome man like shout out to Tristan Jackson now to Syracuse who would have thought and you know he's also a guy that's bounced from practice squad to 53 man roster so I'm always going to be you know rooting for him as he's you know just worked his ass off here in the league but also Jaylen Naylor um you know I don't want to take a Victory lap right now and say oh I was right about Jaylen Naylor but this is a guy I've been holding out on for years as I have always been a believer in him and you know it's pretty sweet when you like you know personally when you like say like oh that guy's going to be a stud and then they don't really get the opportunity for like two years with the Vikes and now we're finally probably seeing his breakout this season I mean it's pretty cool but you know point being with the wide receiver group like even if Addison has to miss time whether it's the suspension or the ankle injury I'm feeling all right about this group I mean you still got dogs there like you and plus Justin Jefferson makes the life of those guys so much easier like Justin Jefferson is like 2007 LeBron on the Cavs where he is just elevating all of his teammates so you will see the best out of Tristan Jackson because he'll be getting one-on ones Jaylen Naylor will be getting one-on ones that's all Jefferson does he just hands out one-on ones for his teammates so uh you know I'm I'm feeling pretty confident about this group uh you you know how about this shout out to Nick Mullen he look good yesterday uh but that's about there or that's about it uh I'll say in the quarterback room and also jiren Hall even though he you know didn't really play too too much but that's the news of the day Vikings signed Stefon Gilmore for a oneyear $10 million deal early morning video um yeah man I woke up to this news I my eyes are probably still crusty in this so appreciate you guys watching see you guys next time SK Vikes [Music] m [Music]