Minnesota Vikings News Dump (8.2.2025) | Micah Parsons? JJ Strikes Back. THE CLOSER

Minnesota Vikings News Dump (8.2.2025) | Micah Parsons? JJ Strikes Back. THE CLOSER

[Music] What’s going on, Jerome? It’s beautiful Saturday. Birds determined and stuff and it’s time for another Vikings news dump. So, uh later news dump Saturday. Yeah, the brunch news dump. Sorry for everyone who’s backed up. So, whenever we have like a late news dump or we we don’t have a schedule from the day before, I I always joke that it’s because, you know, daddy was out living his life, having a good time. And sometimes is that, but also sometimes it’s just I I’ve always been a terrible sleeper, you know, throughout my most of my adult life, right? And I found as I get older, maybe it’s starting to affect quality of life, you know what I mean? Uh so the the summer I’ve actually made a concerted effort to get better at sleeping and it’s sort of difficult, right? But uh getting into like a whole sleep hygiene routine and then actually dedicating the hours to sleep, I feel like I’ve gotten better. I mean, and I I it’s it’s noticeable and it’s something that I want to keep up, but also I know that it’s it’s absolutely going to go to hell in a hand basket once school and football start. though. It’s okay. So, anyways, long story longer that that’s one of the reasons why sometimes news dump is late. That’s what happens. But Vikings back at practice number eight on Friday. And hey, it finally cooled off in the great state of Minnesota. It’s not 90 and humid. It’s like 75 and partly humid. But, uh, Cand’s like, “No, no, no, no, no, no.” All right. So, wildfires next couple days. Air quality smells like a campfire everywhere you go. It’s probably not good. They probably shouldn’t have practiced outside yesterday, but you know, that’s a lot of revenue to say no to, but uh the Vikings practiced outside yesterday, but so JJ McCarthy, this is a photo taken when it was not hazy outside. It’s like a hazy IPA out here. Some of those campfire IPAs. I don’t know if that’s a thing. Sounds plausible, right? Uh but Will Raget Sports Illustrated did a great write up about his practice on Friday. Uh the a the the the daily JJ McCarthy write up. The theme of JJ McCarthy’s training camp has been ups and downs. There are more ups uh early on and more downs this week, particularly during Tuesday’s practice. But even if there was some inconsistency, Friday may have been McCarthy’s best day since he put on a show last Saturday. Practice started out nicely for the Vikings number one quarterback. His first throw in a drill with three receivers going against three defensive backs was a dime to TJ Hawinson that the veteran tight end couldn’t pull in. Hawinson overall is having a really good camp too. I would say that Hawinson and Addison are just really playing above the rim right now. McCarthy’s next throw was a perfectly placed a deep ball to the Thomas Wolfpack. Later in that period, he rifled the ball was zipped to Hawinson for a completion. 11 on 111 action didn’t start as smoothly for McCarthy who threw a ball behind Jaylen Naylor. Speedy was just too speedy. It happens. Uh, and then he threw a defle deflected pick to Jackson, which seemed to largely be Addison’s fault. Uh, but Theo Jackson had himself a day. More on him in a bit. But he he found Hawinson again and connected with Addison for a big gain down the right side sideline against the first team defense, which was largely dominated so far in camp. And that’s the thing, too. It’d be one thing if every single day JJ was get just getting pounded, but it’s not. JJ definitely has highlights against a very good first team defense. So that that definitely is something that makes you feel better about the situation. Uh one thing we’ve seen from McCarthy is the ability to bounce back and shake off bad reps. He missed a couple throws in the next period, then connected with Addison another chunk gain. Uh in a red zone period, the McCarthy uh made an impressive throw uh on the move to find Lucky Jackson in the back of the end zone. Lucky Jackson has been running with the twos and sometimes the ones. That’s something to monitor as well. But overall, like he’s absolutely right about McCarthy’s ability to bounce back. And you you you do see this sometimes with quarterbacks where if everything is perfect around them, I mean, they’re fine. But once a bad moment, a bad snap comes about, they they sort of quicksand and it’s just you’re done, right? But McCarthy, I feel like it is the the stoicism. I feel like it is his his mental approach to the game where it’s just like, “Okay, every single play is one play. Let’s do the best we can on this play. Let’s get 2% better every day.” And they’re they’re all cliches and they sound a little corny for sure, but they work. They absolutely work. So, you know, prop to props to Jay McCarthy there. Also, this is from the other day again because there’s no uh haze in the photo, but Dwight Nathan, one of his interceptions just I I love seeing this defense getting so fired up, right? You see everyone out out there, you see Hassie, you see Jeff Akuda, you see Murf, just every everyone is just I I love that the defense celebrates when they have good moments against the offense. And the offense may not like it, but like Kevin Okonnell said, there there’s one way to shut the defense up. All right. But I I just I can’t wait till the regular season, man. I can’t wait to see this defense just celebrating in the face of Caleb Williams week one Monday Night Football. It’s going to be good. Also, Theo Jackson also for real. Two interceptions and he he’s got a fantastic nickname. It’s the closer even though we know who the best closer in baseball was. We know just Joe Nathan didn’t have a cool theme song. That’s it. But Theo, you know, being tested to replace Beey basically one for one. I feel like there is a scenario where Theo Jackson ends up being better than Cam Binham. I I I truly do. And all the respect in the world to Bezy, I love him. He’s my continent man, even though the Philippines aren’t on the continent. But the I I feel like Theo Jackson could reach the heights of like when Anthony Harris was really good. I feel like Theo could uh hit that strata, maybe even surpass it, right? So, I I I know it’s a lot of expectations, but Theo’s been uh a well a poorly kept secret amongst the coaching staff and the players for years. Like every single practice, every single training camp, I mean, he’s looking good. So, I’m glad that Theo, you know, got got paid a little bit little bit and also got this great opportunity to grow and show and show off what he’s capable of. It’s good. Also, you know who’s good? Diamond Dallas Turner offball Diamond Dallas Turner out here uh breaking up a pass for Jordan Mason. It’s really really good to see. Uh and I I I do think that there is a world where all three of the edge rushers in Grard, AVG, and Turner are on the field quite a bit because Flores, you know, it even hearkens back to when Flores talked about trying to ration out Harrison Smith’s and Harrison Phillips snaps because eventually it’s like you just want your best players on the field and you’re going to do it. And I I do think that Dallas Turner in year two uh is one of the Vikings best players. So just it’s going to be weird. He’s going to line up all over the place at offball. You know, there there’ll be some looks where they have three offball linebackers, some with two and some with three edge rushers. Sometimes they line up on the same side. Sometimes it’s a weird 46 look. I feel like this is gonna be a fun season. This is gonna be fun season on defense and very bullish on the future of Diamond Der. Evan, he’s a bust. Shut up. Honestly, shut up. There you go. Also, um it’s something to monitor because the Vikings starting three defensive linemen. So, Phillips, Hargrave, and Allen have been lining up that way from right to left, right? So, finally, like we talked about for years, it it does seem like Harrison Phillips is getting a lot of snaps at the five-te spot and Javon Hargrave has been getting a lot of nose tackle snaps. Uh, and even when he’s not truly on the nose as zero or one tech, I mean, he’ll line up as a three tech, but he’ll end up uh, right in Ryan Kelly’s grill or right in the uh, on either side of the A gap. So, interesting wrinkle, right? And Hargrave, you know, does have some experience playing some nose. Uh, did with the Steelers primarily, but mainly he’s been a three-tech. Uh, but I feel like it could finally this could finally work, especially in passing situations, which is probably where this is going to crop up. I I feel like just getting meat and just getting pass rush ability on the field and in in different spots and different gaps. I think that’s where we’re going to look good. All right, so finally finally it’s happening. Also happening. So Michael Parsons formula requested a trade from the Dallas Cowboys. Basically they’ve been stringing him along in contract negotiations. Jerry Jones called him out as well as Dak. And then Parsons wrote like a novel. Not even gonna go into it. It kind of came off as a manifesto, but basically uh he said, “Thank you, Cowboys fans. We’re done. All this stuff, blah, blah, blah.” And of course, whenever there’s a player available in trade to sign, to draft, we’re just like, “Ah, come on. Come on. Come on.” Now, I I I understand the the difficulties here. I mean, the Vikings do have a lot of draft picks, except they’re going to be late round uh late in the first round draft picks, if you know what I mean. 32 overall. And also like where do you play him? Well, first off, Parsons came into the league as a offball out of Penn State before he became a full-time edge rusher. So, he does have some versatility there. Plus, I I trust Florida. I honestly, if you get a player of Parson’s caliber and you pay him, and the Vikings could conceivably do it, I mean, they’re probably going to have to move another piece. Like, they probably would have to move AVG. I don’t think you’re giving up Granard. Maybe they move Pace. Maybe they they do some they they do something, right? Uh but I I I do trust Flores to be like, “Hey, what whatever combination of talent we have, we’re going to get the best 11 on the field as frequently as possible, right? And also, we we know that Parsons looks good in purple inside US Bank Stadium.” I feel like this is a message. I feel I feel it. I feel it. I feel it. That’s all. And we’ll go through more of this later, but it is pie in the sky stuff, but who knows? Who knows? Who knows? Also, it was great uh Vikes fan page. Former Vikings defenseman Jared Allen said on the broadcast last night that his Hall of Fame bust will feature his iconic mullet statue will be unveiled tomorrow. Today, one of the days. That’s something I love. I I I hate when Hall of Fame bus look nothing like the player. So, this will be good culinary hat. Also, how about the chef’s hat? How about the chef’s hat? Or at least the chef’s to be good, too, right? And congratulations Jared Allen getting inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame today. Plus, I I like that there’s only four inductees because that’s one thing that I don’t like about the Hall of Fame ceremony is that the players drone on in for for hours on their speeches, right? And I understand it’s it’s their moment. It’s beautiful, but you got to read the room a little bit. I mean, everyone’s sitting outside in direct sunlight like like grandma’s just sitting there in Canton and getting broiled in Ohio as you’re talking as you’re thanking your middle school football coach. So, I don’t know. I’ve always said, can’t they move this inside? Or this happens every year. Can’t Can’t we just get like a canopy over the stadium or something? I don’t know. I don’t know. Anyways, congrats Culinary Academy. It’s good. Uh, beer thoughts are thoughts. Vikings News Dump for this beautiful glorious Saturday. You guys are the best to do. Skull production value.

Minnesota Vikings News Dump for Saturday, August 2nd.

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