8 BIG questions for 2025 Minnesota Vikings!
Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. I just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. I will ride with this group. Seriously, man. Please. And away we go. Happy week one, my friend. Happy week one. How are we feeling? Oh, are you kidding? I am ecstatic. I’m Thursday night. Thursday night, we will have made it. And then um a week from yesterday, you will not have another day until uh until the new year at some point in time until February where you will not have an NFL game on Sundays. Glorious time of year. Yeah, this is uh and of course like for the Vikings, you have to wait and wait and wait until Monday night and you have to wait till Monday and then wait another day until Monday night. But I think it’ll be worth it. Vikings and Bears a week from today. Soldier Field, Monday Night Football. So for this episode here on this Labor Day, we have it started off as five key big questions about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. It has ballooned to eight now. So we have eight questions about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings that we will attempt to answer here. Real couple quick things. You mentioned Thursday night. So that’s the that’s the kickoff to the NFL season. And uh we’re holding a purple daily unplugged event at Running Aces just north edge of the Twin Cities. Up 35. Massive parking lot. Awesome place. It’s a Purple Daily Unplugged event on Thursday night this week. 5:30 check-in, 6:30 podcast starts. It’s free to attend, but we do ask the people RSVP. So, when you uh when you arrive, you’ll get a $10 gaming voucher at Running Aces and $15 in food and beverage plus a horse racing program. So, uh if you’re interested, scor.com/unplugged. That’s scororth.com/unplugged. and we’ll see a bunch of you on Thursday. And a shout out to Quick Trip starting us off the right way this week, Jud. 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Which quarterback, past or present, do you think JJ McCarthy will play like in 2025? So, just for some parameters, you could say, I think he’s going to be 2012 Christian Ponder and he’s just going to be along for the ride and he’s going to be a handoff merchant, etc. Mhm. You could say 2018 Patrick Mahomes. He’s going to be one of the great firstear starting quarterbacks in the history of the NFL or just some comparison in between. Who comes to mind when you think about how you think McCarthy is going to play this year? So, I actually did uh pick a Vikings quarterback and I picked a season that was now uh 10 years ago and I picked 2015 Teddy Bridgewwater. Okay. So, this is a very, in my opinion, young starter. Now, uh, Bridgewwater had gotten some experience in 2014 when Matt Castle got hurt, but this was his first full season as the starter. Threw for 3,231 yards, completion percentage of 65.3. Uh, averaged 7.2 yards per throw, 14 touchdowns, nine picks, a little bit higher than you would like. He was also sacked 44 times. Again, a little bit higher than you would probably like, but that team went 11 and five. They made the playoffs. And I think Bridgewwater was more than along for the ride, but I also don’t think that he had to um drive the car every single time. I think he just had to avoid getting in accidents and he did a pretty good job. Got the team to the playoffs and they should have won a playoff game. So, I think that’s a very realistic ask. I think that the play calling and the head coach here are probably better than what the the Vikings had in 2015. And in 2015 with Teddy, it wasn’t bad. I just think that Okonnell’s probably a step up. So yeah, I I settled on what I think is an apt comparison and I don’t think we would complain if JJ McCarthy starts like that. Of course, the expectations then go up from there. Yeah, super interesting. Uh I I kind of love this. On one hand, I do think the productivity of Bridgewwater over 16 games, only having the 14 touchdowns, only throwing for 3,200 yards. I do think this offense, even if they do lean into the run, is likely to lead to more passing productivity with McCarthy than uh than 2015 Bridgewwater. But they, you know, Adrien Peterson led the NFL in rushing yards and rushing touch. They leaned on the running game. Yes. And the Vikings are going to try and do some of that. Yes. They also had the fifth best scoring defense in the league in 2015, holding opponents to 19 points a game. So, the offense was smack dab in the middle, 16th in scoring. And so, that was kind of the the thing for Bridgewwater. It’s similar setup for McCarthy, which is you’re going to have a top five defense. You’re going to be able to lean on a running game. So, don’t go crazy. No need to do anything that’s going to lose games. And they start they they finished 11 and five. started seven and two that year uh with the defense mostly holding teams in the teens. So, um I’m going to give you a kind of a a similar era. 2017 Jared Goff comes to mind here. Sure. That was his second year in the NFL just like it was Bridgewwater’s second year in the NFL in 2015. And it was Jared Goff’s second year uh first year in the McVey system because his first year was the last year of Jeff Fiser who got fired. And I think they went like 0 and8 in the games that Jared Goff started as a rookie. Didn’t work out. But the Ram So you’ve got this he’s learning the McVey system and playing in it for the first time, which is what McCarthy is going to be doing. The Rams had a good running game with Todd Gurley at the time. Uh a good defense that allowed just 20 points per game and the Vikings last year were at like 19 and a half points per game. and Goff winds up with 3,800 yards, 28 touchdowns, seven picks, only 62% completion. So, the accuracy was not quite dialed in yet. And the Rams wind up winning 11 games riding a defense, a running game, and a young quarterback that was able to operate in that system. They actually led the NFL in scoring offense despite not having a thousand yard receiver, despite the the the young Jared Goff as the quarterback. So, um, maybe the answer is somewhere between 2015 Teddy Bridgewwater and 2017 Jared Goff, but that’s what comes to mind for me. Yeah, I think the most important thing in trying to find a comp and not being overly optimistic, but also not being um uh down on McCarthy potentially, is this like to me the sweet spot and now this of course in both cases was a 16 game regular season, but to me the sweet spot is like the 11 wins and a playoff birth. How do you get there? And I don’t think it’s realistic in JJ’s first year as a starter to say, well, he’s going to have to play be unbelievable. But I do think it’s very realistic to say one, he can’t crash the car, and two, he’s going to need help from his coaching staff as well. And I think both of these cases are the quarterback was given an assignment that was maybe somewhat difficult, but certainly not impossible. So, nobody was saying you got to come out of the gates and be um 2009 Brett Favre. And I think that like that’s the sweet spot. And of course then if you get to the playoffs, what can you do there? But that but you know in the cases of all of these QBs including McCarthy potentially is if you think about it I think once you get now through 17 regular season games by the time that you get to the playoffs it’s not too much to say okay you’ve got enough experience now where we probably have to trust you more in playoff games in certain situations. So to me it’s like the start and what are you looking for on opening night and for the first half and then can you eventually increase that ask as the experience grows. Yeah. Okay. Uh key question number two here. Three players on the Vikings roster whose stock is going to rise from where it is right now. Why don’t you give me give me three and then I’ll see if I’ve got three written down here. I want to see how many we match. Okay. Now, you know what’s funny is I went through this thinking that I would for sure get an offensive guy involved, but I feel like the stock of most of the offensive guys is properly rated. You know, they’re either really, really good. They were signed with high expectations. So, I’m going to go I’m going to give you three from the defensive side. And I’m going to start with this is the least surprising one. Dallas Turner. Dallas Turner is coming off a season in which he played in 16 of the 17 games, three sacks, one pick. He did not start a game that was because of Grinard and Van Ginkle and he played 300 defensive snaps which is okay but it’s not a ton. I think his stock shoots up for sure. I I was impressed enough by what I saw and I know that there were some comments about his preseason games when he did play but I think we both saw enough in training camp practices that you saw a guy one who I think gets it now he gets the assignment and two he looked in great condition. Yeah. So, I don’t put a lot of stock in Well, he didn’t show me a thing against the Texans in the first preseason game. I put way more stock in what we saw in the training camp practices. Yeah. I I also had Dallas Turner. His stock has to rise. If it if it doesn’t, then there’s going to be a lot of questions. So, are you worried in training camp? Um, not yet. No, but we’re like one bad month to start the season away from me starting to worry a little bit. But if he had looked if he had looked like he wasn’t being used as much or hadn’t looked as good in the training camp practices, I’d be worried right now. So like, yeah, I feel like it’s trending where it’s still realistic to say I have expectations there. That’s fair. Yeah. My second one is a guy that came in and surprised a lot last year, and I think he’s not going to start, but he’s going to be part of, well, he could start, but he’s also going to be part of a rotation that he’s going to play a lot. 26-year-old Jaylen Redmond. Mhm. So, he played in 13 games in 2024. Uh, started two, had a sack, only played in 208 defensive snaps, but what the Vikings saw, they loved. This guy looks like he belongs. I thought, again, in training camp practices, he looked good. Um, and right now, if you look at the depth chart, he is the third defensive lineman starting. So, I think his stock actually could go up quite a bit. Jaylen Redmond. Yeah. Yeah. And there’s a real quick path to a ton of playing time with aging veterans that could get hurt or miss time u with him flashing. They also like to rotate. So yeah, it’s the the the last couple years with this Brian Flores defense. It’s not just like 11 guys who are the main starters, maybe 12 with Nickel. It’s like 16 or 17 players that get regular rotational playing time. And he is firmly among that group for sure. Yeah. And and the fact that he came in as an unknown, I think he was a UDFA, correct? Last season. Yeah. Or 20. Yeah. 24 23. Yeah. And the fact that he came in as an unknown and played two 208 defensive snaps is impressive because Flores doesn’t play you unless he likes you. Yeah. He’s he’s actually bounced around a bit. He’s 26 now. But anyway, third guy, Jay Ward. Yeah, he’s on my list, too. Fourth round pick in 2023. actually has played in only 3% of the defensive snaps each of his first two seasons and has been a staple has made the team because of a special teams play, but he’s a guy who we saw used a ton in the preseason and training camp. He is looks to be the first guy up behind Matelis as that versatile can Swiss Army knife guy. He um as far as the as far as the safeties go, I mean Harrison Smith’s dealing with something. He’s supposed to be fine, but we don’t know exactly when. Um, and it that’s a situation where I could see him playing some safety. I could certainly uh if something happens to Josh Matelis, I think he’s the first guy up there. So Jay Ward is my third guy. He hasn’t played a ton on defense, but they like him. And so yeah, Dallas Turner, Jaylen Redmond, Jay Ward. I’ll give you So we matched on two of those. I’ll give you the the one that we didn’t match on. But on Jay Ward, I keep digging down on the question of why is their cornerback room so thin with just sheer numbers and track record. They literally have one established good quarterback on their entire team and it’s Byron Murphy Jr. And then you’ve got Isaiah Rogers who you you like in the 400 snap sample sizes, but you’re looking for a thousand snap quarterback at some point. So you’re projecting there. And then Jeff Akuda, we’ve talked a lot about they’re trying to make Jeff Akuda the Sam Darnold of defense where he’s been a bust for five years and can you bring him into a system and revive his career? But like why would you not? You’ve got you’ve got cap space remaining. There’s a couple of veterans who were on your team last year that Shaq Griffin and Stefon Gilmore. There’s there’s like levers to be pulled and they just oddly haven’t the entire summer. And I wonder if the versatility of Jay Ward plays into this. Not that he would like be a starting outside corner, but I think they really like they like playing three safeties and they like the versatility of Matelis. They like the versatility of Jay Ward. So, do they trust Jay Ward to be sort of a hybrid safety cornerback in some certain situations? Uh, do they trust some guys in that safety room basically to cover the duties of cornerback as needed? That’s a big ass. The thing is, so Jay Ward did get some reps last year in training camp at corner because he played some corner in college and he didn’t look good. So, yeah, I I keep waiting for something to happen there at corner. It just feels like it’s Wouldn’t it have happened by now or would they wait till after week one? I don’t know. Well, they they might uh keep in mind what’s the contractual rule. If you sign a veteran after week one, I believe his salary is not guaranteed if he’s cut. Yeah. So, that might be it. It might be something along those lines. It just feels like that room, there’s no way that that room is complete. Uh, and Fabian Maro, who comes back now and is on the practice squad and is almost certainly going to be a game day elevation, and I think he’s probably gonna play on Monday night. Just feels like something is up there. But Jay Ward is a guy who’s been around enough and Flores clearly trusts him that uh, and I’m not sure the safety room is going to stay healthy entirely. I mean, Harrison Smith’s not a young guy. Theo Jackson, who I’ve always liked, still still has some questions. So, I think Jay Ward has a real chance before it’s all said and done to make a positive impact. Yeah. Okay. The guy that uh that I had on my list for stock rising is Tyne Ingram Dawkins. And and there’s a good chance he makes one of the other categories here, too. So, we can we can touch on him more later in the show, but this is a fifth round rookie who was running with the first team defense for chunks of the joint practices against the Patriots. got a ton of playing time in the preseason games. 6 foot5, 275 pound, crazy athlete for an interior defensive lineman. They they love his length, his reach. I think they love his pass rush potential. So, right after Jonathan Allen and Jayvon Hargrave, you’re going to have Jaylen Redmond and you’re going to have Tyne Ingram Dawkins rotating in and having chances to put up productivity. So, I just want to throw him out there as a guy that he’s a fifth round pick. They’ve had some bad drafts in the past, but I think he’s going to be given a lot of chances to do some damage in the regular season. He’s also a guy that um I mean I don’t think I think it’s a pipe dream to think that Jonathan Allen and Jayvon Harrave are going to play all 17 games. I mean, they’re not young. They were hurt a year ago. And if Redmond’s a starter, I would not be surprised if Tyrone Ingram Dawkins is one of your first guys up and he’ll still play a ton. Yeah, that’s uh there’s an interesting thing I’ll bring up in a later category about him that I think is playing itself out and we certainly saw in training camp. Yeah. Okay, next category here. Big key questions about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. three offseason additions that will have the biggest impact. So, they added a lot of pieces. Who are the three that will have the biggest impact? You give me your three and then we’ll see again how how many we match up. Okay. My first one I cheated a bit here because I think they’re tied together. Hargrave and Allen. If I had to pick one, I’d probably pick Hargrave because of his sack total from his position. Um, this is a guy who played in three games last season, but in 2022 and 23, Jayvon Hargrave had a combined 18 sacks. So, if I had to pick one, I would pick him. Uh, but those two guys in the middle are going to be the type of disruptors that Kevin Oonnell has never had since he started here. And it’s it’s the type of disruption that the Vikings often have had in their history. I think we saw and not so much of late in run stopping, but I think we saw uh definitely because the Vikings were a victim of this of what happens when you have that interior pressure. It just it it just breaks you down your opponent like you are instant instantly on top of the quarterback. And so Hargrave to me is huge here. Allen as well. Uh but that interior push which also is going to make I think Van Ginkle and uh and Grard and Dallas Turner more effective as well like you don’t know exactly where the pressure is coming from but I you know a year ago it felt or like the last couple years it felt like the one thing that you you had to concern yourself with a guy coming from the middle who wasn’t a defensive tackle but now you have to concern yourself with the defensive tackles as well. So, I just think this has the real potential to be a monumental change in a defense that Brian Flores had already built up to be pretty damn good. Yeah. The the things you can do running twists and different looks, you can get so creative with your spacing too up front when you have guys like this. And and he missed Hargrave missed a Hargrave specifically. I think Hargrave is a little older, but he has the best track record as a pressure and sack guy. And Jonathan Allen is has been very good, too. But, uh, Hargrave only played the three games last year and then injury knocked him out for the rest of the season. In that third game, which was the last game he played at the Rams, five pressures, a sack, four quarterback hurries. So, you you saw that version of him week three before the injury. All right. He was still that guy. And then in the three seasons before that he had a combined between 202122 Philadelphia both years and San Francisco mostly fully healthy 2023. So three years and he combined for 190 pressures from the interior over those three years and uh according to the PFF sack totals 30 sacks. It’s it’s just something that they haven’t had. as good as these Flores defenses have been, they’ve been doing it and tricking it up without that organic interior pressure. So, totally agree on on both those guys being handcuffed together. But I think Hargrave a level up from Jonathan Allen even. And I I also think there’s a discussion probably to be had about what impact those two guys can make on the young guys as well because they’ve got all these moves. Like that’s that’s a talent to get through there. Yes, you have to be physical and big, but it’s also a talent of your your moves and things like that. So, I just think it’s not just an immediate upgrade as far as the players go. You know, Ingram Dawkins, Redmond, there’s a lot of guys that can benefit and learn from being in the same room and watching those guys on a regular basis. My second one is Jordan Mason. I I just I think this is uh I think it’s nationally slept on a bit. I don’t think Vikings fans are, but and we’ve talked about this when he was traded for, he ranked sixth in the entire league with 3.62 yards after contact according to NextGen stats with the 49ers last season. He also forced missed tackles at a 37.3% rate, which led all running backs in the NFL with at least 150 rushing attempts. He himself averaged 5.2 yards per rush. There’s this is just the type of back again in in a league now that unless you’ve got like a Saquon who’s just a special talent, Dererick Henry is too, but in a league now that really encourages, to use the word again, the handcuffed backs, right? You got your guy like like um Aaron Jones who can catch the ball and he’s more of a finesse guy and he certainly can be effective between the 20s, but Mason can come in and get you those tough yards. Mhm. This to me for a low round draft pick, a day three pick, this is one of the most important picks pickups that the Vikings made, I think, as far as altering the offense and again relieving pressure from JJ McCarthy. Yeah, totally agree. Totally agree. And I I do think he’s going to get we we kind of frame it up sometimes too much as Aaron Jones between the 20s and then Jordan Mason comes in and the short yardage. uh they were using Jordan Mason very much as a between the 20s and every down back type of guy during training camp. They were trying to throw him passes, which is not something he’s done a lot, catching passes in college or the NFL. So, they’ve they’ve definitely been test driving him throughout the entire summer and uh and training camp and preseason to see what would it look like if he had to if he was like a full-time, which he was, by the way, in San Francisco after McCaffrey went down for a month and a half or two months. He was getting 20 plus carries a game and he was in there on some passing situations and having to pass pro. So, I love it. It should be it should be uh a major major boost to the productivity of that running game in short yardage and uh goal line and red zone situations. What’s your best guess on the split, the percentage split? Yeah, I think I think early you’re going to get a lot of Aaron Jones still. Um, but Aaron Jones, who’s had some durability issues, he’s older and he’s coming off a careerhigh in carries and yards and usage. So, I think whether it’s through just attrition or maybe Aaron Jones gets nicked up a little bit, I think at the end of the season, I it wouldn’t shock me if Jordan Mason has more touches. I think it like to start with I would say like 6040 Aaron Jones, maybe 6535. Uh, but as the season progresses, I would not be shocked if that was 5050 or even a slightly in Jordan Mason. What do you think? Um, I think it’s very clo I think it’s going to be very close to the end of the day to 5050. I also think that that they are going to unless it’s a situational disadvantage to do so, I think they’re going to rotate series cuz like if you recall, I think Ty Chandler got the third or fourth, I think it was the third series of offensive possessions. Mason’s not going to to have to wait for that. And he’s also going, I think, to come in on like third and twos. Like there’s no reason not to use him there. So I think when it’s all said and done, I think it’s going to be closer to 50/50. I also think that if I’m Aaron Jones, I’m thrilled about that. He was pretty durable as far as games played last year, but how many games? It must have been like a handful. He came out of for substantial amounts of time because of a ding here or a ding there. And and then your backup was originally Ty Chandler. And then of course the always available Cam Acres came back. still available, I think. And yeah, but I mean, he’s also a guy that you’re not going to be They like him because he knew the system. Yeah. But I really think this one is going to surprise people from a national level as far as the assumption that Jones is just the guy. Um Jordan Mason, you you brought this up. You’re right. There was nothing in training camp to suggest he’s a backup. Mhm. Other than he didn’t always get the first rep with the first, but but he then would come in with the first team. Yeah. So, I think in watching all of those training camp practices, the only question is how much are they going to throw him the ball? And I think they want to and I think they’re going to, but I think that’s a fair question because he’s not established there yet. But we also found out it wasn’t because he stinks at it. It’s sort of because he just didn’t get the opportunity. Yeah. And then who’s your third offseason addition? Biggest impact. I picked Ryan Kelly. I mine too. Absolutely. He played in only 10 games a year ago because of injuries. But when you think about this and Will Fry is not on my list and certainly would be an honorable mention, but Ryan Kelly like let’s let’s break down who are the most important people in 2025 to JJ McCarthy. Okay. Kevin Oonnell up there for sure. He’s vital. um Justin Jefferson, the receivers, especially Justin and probably Jordan Addison. But when you think about it, Ryan Kelly is going to make the line calls. He’s going to be the guy who sees things that JJ hasn’t seen, and he’s going to see them in real time and and be able to help him immediately. I think the veteran presence, not just of a guy who’s going to be far more of an ass kicker than Garrett Bradberry was, but also is going to have to be a guy who who uses years of intelligence in this game, seeing things that J.J. McCarthy has not seen. I think Ryan Kelly’s impact, it’s probably going to be understated and not talked about a ton. I think it has the potential to be enormous. Yeah, the the age cliff is is always a lurking factor for any player in the trenches that’s 29, 30, 31, 32 years old. So, with Kelly on the offensive side, with Hargrave and Allen, you just don’t know. Everything we think and everything we’re projecting based on their recent performance, if healthy, goes out the window if you know, if the football uh grim reaper comes in and says, “No, it’s your time. you’re just or there’s a back thing or whatever, but assuming that he can be healthy for even 75% of the season, the upgrade in pass protection from Garrett Bradberry to Ryan Kelly is one of the widest gaps you’re going to find from like one starting offensive lineman to another. He was two years ago when fully healthy the number one graded pass protecting center in the NFL. And Bradberry is oftenimes outside the top 32. So, you are this is was a is a concerted effort to fix that part of the problem offensively, what they saw against the Lions and the Rams and the interior pressure. Uh, could I throw one more name? So, I have I have Ryan Kelly and Javvon Hargrave for my additions that are going to make the biggest impact. I’m gonna throw Adam Thielen at you on this list. Okay. Adam Thelen last year with Carolina as a 34 year old had the highest yards per game 61 a half uh since 2020 with the Vikings just for his own personal numbers. His most yards per reception 13 since 2019 with the Vikings. His highest PFF grade since 2020 with the Vikings. and his highest run blocking grade as a receiver on the edge blocking for the running game since 2021 with the Vikings. Interesting. And two years ago when he played all 17 games, he caught 103 passes for over 1,000 yards. He’s not the same player he was in 2017 2018, but he is so far from being cooked. And they’re bringing him in. I mean, even just the first three games, the impact that he can have, his presence alone might flip a loss to a win because if it wasn’t for him coming in and Jaylen Naylor is up in the air andor just has a hand problem that’s going to derail him, who was going to come in and save that unit for the first three weeks? So I I think Mhm. just the the gap between Thelen and whoever would be replacing him and or Jordan Madison as WR2 and the fact that he still has a ton of juice left productivity wise at an old age. I just want to put him in the conversation for most impactful. Yeah, that’s fair. I I did see a tweet from old friend Jeremy Fowler today that the it sounds like the Vikings are optimistic that Naylor is going to play in week one. So, if he plays again, he’s got a hand problem. I don’t know how effective he’s going to be, but it does give the Vikings um a three receiver set for what 11 personnel. Yeah, that would have Jefferson, Thelen, Naylor. So, at least there’s the viability of the threat there. But yeah, I’m very curious to see what Thelen can accomplish here. And I’m also curious to see if they can, especially once Addison gets back, if they can take some of the snaps off his plate to keep him fresher. Yeah, which is a real possibility. All we got more categories here, more big key questions for the 2025 Vikings. But, uh, my bookie is back on board daily for the 2025 season. There I am. Look at that. My bookie. And you know what? We all know that one guy in our group chat, right? Phil Mackey hit a five leg parlay in week one and now he won’t shut up about it. Well, imagine this. How about if that’s you? My Bookie makes it easy to get in on the action. We’re talking about NFL college games, survivor pools, all the spreads, player props, and in-game lines that you could possibly want all under one roof. It’s as simple as this. Go to mybookie.ag. 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Okay, next question for you. Which draft pick will produce the most outside of Donovan Jackson, their first rounder? Yeah. So, this is an interesting one because the answer won’t surprise you, but I do think there’s going to be, if my expectation is right here, I think there’s going to be an interesting storyline here. So, the aforementioned Tyran Ingram Dawkins to me because he’s going to be a rotational guy. We saw enough in camp, uh, I would compare him to a power forward in basketball playing football. like he’s got that like he’s he’s he’s 6’5, which is the biggest uh defensive lineman on the Vikings. 276 pounds. He’s lanky. He’s lanky, so he can come in and block passes. He’s got good strength. But here’s the observation that I came to in going through this draft class, which was obviously not very big. I think by the end of the season, we’re all going to say Tyne Ingram Dawkins should have been your third round pick, and Ty Felton probably should have been your fifth round pick. So, it’s going to if that’s the case, that’s fine because it evens out and Ty Felton might be fine eventually. Still strikes me as a work in progress at receiver. The fact that nobody including the team really trusted him when Naylor got hurt to me speaks volumes. Now, I do think that Ty Felton is going to return kicks, so he’s going to have a role. He’ll play special teams. But, um, Ingram Dawkins is a guy that you watch and you’re like, he’s a fifth round pick. Seems sort of odd. And Ty Felton, you watched and said, seems a bit, and this was not just from us. I I’ve heard this from draft pundits like Thor, that he was probably overdrafted. So, I expect Ingram Dawkins to be that guy. And I think he is going to sort of make up for the fact that at least for the first part of the season, Ty Felton might underwhelm us. Totally agree. And long-term, even if he doesn’t flash, you know, at a starter level this year, well, the guys you brought in as free agents that are starting are definitely on the wrong side of the the age curve. And so, you’re looking for 2026 27 who are going to be your starting interior defensive lineman. And Ingram Dawkins, ideally, you you’d hit on that. And then he would kind of like when Denil Hunter came in on the edge and Brian Robinson was there and Everson Griffin was there but those guys were getting older and so Denil Hunter kind of slowcooked for a year or two and then boom he was ready kind of raw athletic just like Tyrron Ingam Dawkins. Do you think in fact I in fact don’t steal this because I might bring this down back on Wednesday for Write That Down. I could easily see Tyne Ingram Dawkins blocking a couple of field goal attempts. He Yeah, he’s very long. He’s got that He’s got that look. And And look, long term, is he going to be on special teams like that? Probably not. But you have nothing to lose by playing him now on special teams. And yeah, he’s got that length, that basketball length. He just It’s funny. I don’t know if you agree with this or not, but I especially thought this in training camp practices when he flashed and made plays. He didn’t strike me as a as a defensive lineman in a 34. He struck me as like a defensive end and in a 4-3. Agreed. I agree. And uh and even if you just look at kind of where he lined up in college, he was ve very much versatile and you could use him all over the place. So, yes. Okay, next. And I agree, by the way, Ingram Dawkins, it’s there’s not a super long list of rookies outside of Diamond Jackson. I agree. So, okay, next question. If the Vikings go to the Super Bowl, what will be the main reason why they go to the Super Bowl? Go first. Okay. It’s defense and pass rush. I think it’ll be if if there was like a story to be told that we’re sitting here and we’re doing Purple Daily episodes from Super Bowl radio row and we’re trying to wrap our heads around, wow, this is the first time in almost 50 years they’ve they’ve accomplished this feat of winning the NFC. What is the main headline for why this team, you know, like when the when the Chiefs go to the Super Bowl, the main headline is usually Patrick Mahomes? Yep. Uh, I I think the main headline is going to be that this is the best defense in the NFL. If they get that far, sure, it’ll be it’ll be driven by a ferocious, confusing defense that is the best pass rush group in the entire league and an offense kind of in the sidecar that’s high-end. It’s probably like a top fringe top 10 overall scoring offense. Uh, they run the ball. They score more often inside the 20s than they did the last couple years. And JJ McCarthy hits on the high leverage stuff, the third downs, some big plays down the field. He operates the offense the way that you need to. But I think that if they go to the Super Bowl, the main headline, it won’t be that JJ McCarthy is 2018 Patrick Mahomes 50 touchdowns. That’d be amazing. It’ll be wow that like good good luck to any opposing quarterback trying to make something happen against that defense. Okay. I thought you’d say that and I have that written down as well, but I also have a second option at least and that is JJ McCarthy. But hear me out to go back to what we talked about. He needs to be productive. He needs to not make bad mistakes. Um, he needs to have what we consider to be a very successful season, but he doesn’t need to be, to your point, he doesn’t need to be Mahomesesque. But the reason why I say that is if they go to the Super Bowl, they’ve now gotten to to the playoffs, done something Kevin Okonnell has never done, which is win a playoff game. And if they don’t get the top seed, they’ve got they’ve won what? Three games to get there. If they do get the top seed, it’s two games. And if they get the top seed, that’s a really good team. But my point being is just to get to the Super Bowl in those playoff games. I think he would need to be he wouldn’t need to carry the team, but that’s a level of pressure and that’s a level I mean those games are different. And if nothing else, they have to be managed really really well. Like there’s a big difference between you’re going to play the Bears and there’s going to be pressure on Monday night here, which is great, and oh, now we’re playing in January and we’re headed towards February. Well, I agree with your premise like the defense will definitely be a huge part and they’ll be the splash part, but if we’re just talking about you got to the Super Bowl and presumably won three games, I think McCarthy becomes a huge huge part of that because he’s going to have to show an acumen that will have developed in the 17 regular season games and then gets dialed up but like times 10. Yeah, it can’t it’s certainly if they’re going to go to the Super Bowl, it can’t be that the you know, we brought I think we were talking off microphone or no it was off the top of the show and I said if you wanted to compare you know take JJ McCarthy project him to be a quarterback past or present. So if you want to say 2012 ponder, right? Like it can’t be that. It can’t be that. Correct. He’s along for the ride and you’re trying to hide him and cover him up. He’s got to be in the mix. and Teddy was in the mix at times where all right it’s a close game late and he’s they’re dropping him back sometimes to the detriment of the team. Norf Turner’s calling these in his first year these like sevenstep drops and he’s he’s got to be in the mix doing things that a veteran would do. Yep. Um but I would be shocked if in year one this offense was like second in the league in scoring averaging 30 points a game. And if that’s the case, look out because this team is going to be contending for Super Bowls for many years to come. If he clicks like that quickly, then it’s a total game changer. And I think in the two Okonnell playoff defeats so far, you definitely can’t put all of it on the quarterback, but you also didn’t have an overriding confidence that the quarterback was going to help you a lot. Like Darnell got sacked nine times. I thought the Detroit game was way more on him personally than I thought the Rams game was. And Kirk, you know, after what was a great 2022, checks the ball down to Hawinson in a disastrous move. You know, I I think McCarthy needs to be you need to go into the game trusting him more. I I think it’s fair to say, at least speaking for myself, that in 22 and last year, I had I had real questions about the quarterback’s ability in that environment, and I feel like in both cases was proven right. So, by the time we get to the playoffs, do you say, you know what, JJ McCarthy doesn’t have to win this game single-handedly, but he’s also either not going to help to lose it or just make a series of baffling decisions. And now you are. And now you’re basically just done. Yeah. It always The quarterback you’re talking about was one he was always one of the 15 best quarterbacks in the world productivity wise, but little bit of a teeth clencher, a little uptight and and the fact that we’ve now gotten access to some of the sideline audio of his time with the Vikings and even with the Falcons, he’s a worrier. He’s kind of polluting the air with negativity and anxiousness. You need the opposite in big games. High leverage. You even if the quarterback is making some mistakes here and there, right? Just someone that instills belief that, oh yeah, we we got this. Let’s do this. Yeah. And I also think that off your point there, there’s something to be said for and I don’t know how much this played in, but I think it definitely played in. I don’t think the Vikings as a locker room were necessarily able to turn the page on that Detroit game. And again, that’s where your quarterback, just from a mentality standpoint, right, comes in there. Like I, in my opinion, the Detroit game shook Darnold and everyone else can tell if your quarterback has been shook, shaken, not in good shape mentally. So McCarthy, I will say this, everything I’ve seen from him, and you’ve seen this as well, is far more turn the page, let’s go. Yeah. So, do you have that? Because the playoffs are filled with failure. Yeah. Hell, football is filled with failure, you know. Okay, on the flip side, so 8 and a2 has been the most common win total number for the Vikings. I have seen it sneak up to nine and a half in some cases, but let’s let’s talk eight and a half here has been the the overriding number throughout the entire off season. And I think we’ve been very pro over on the eight and a half throughout the last few months. But if the Vikings don’t reach the eight and a half, if they fall short of eight and a half wins and it’s not injury related, what will be the main reason why they come up so short? I’ve got three things, three bullet points written down here. JJ McCarthy struggles. The cornerbacks aren’t they don’t improve that room and Okuda struggles and now you’re sort of stuck. So where do do you go? I understand the pass rush should be improved largely because of the Hargrave and Allen additions. Okay, I get all that and that will help the secondary, but nonetheless, you still need your corners to step up at times and if you don’t get that and they don’t, now I think that they personally would go out and make a move. But anyway, if the corners don’t do what they at least expect from a baseline standpoint, and then my third one is, and this ties in, I guess, to JJ McCarthy a little bit, Kevin Oonnell goes back to being too reliant on on the pass game because, you know, when it comes to Kevin, we’re now at nutting time of, okay, you’ve got the running backs, you’ve got the interior line in the heat of the moment in a game where there’s game flow at work. You know, PJ Flex had this problem, too, but where there is game flow at work. So, we’re not sitting in the calm of our office in June visualizing the Detroit game. We’re now talking about you’re playing Detroit. Can you go away from what you have relied on uh not because you want to, but because it’s the right thing to do. So, those were the immediate three bullet points I wrote down. Yep. Those are those are valid questions. I’m going to give you four bullet points that are a little bit more rooted in like statistical trends that if they regress, how are you replenishing what what has been left on the table there? And a credit to uh our guy Warren Sharp in his massive 2025 season preview manifesto for helping uncover some of these. The Vikings last year, bullet point number one, had the best first quarter scoring margin in the NFL. It was like a plus 50, like a plus 45 or plus 50 in the first quarter. So, from a game flow perspective, the Vikings were taking more leads and bigger leads early than a lot of other teams in the NFL. So they were able to with Sam Darnold at the helm, defense, pass rushing, exotic blitzes, much easier to manage all of that when you’re up 10 to nothing, 7 to nothing, 10 to three, 14-3, whatever it is first quarter into second quarter. The other team is now like we got to pass the ball. So uh just having the best first quarter scoring margin sets up the game flow in a way where you’re not now you’re not trailing 10 to nothing with a firstear starting quarterback, right? And you don’t have to pass. you you technically then should run a lot. Yeah. So, if that flips itself at some point, all right, are they able to come from behind more often? Uh they had a plus 12 turnover margin last year. Now, this defense does lend itself to turnovers and chaos. I mean, that that’s been the case with Brian Flores’s defense going back to Miami. So, I I don’t think it’s a fluke necessarily that this defense generates more turnovers than maybe the offense uh gives away, but that’s something to watch. Are you going to be a plus 12 in the turnover department? Again, what if that’s closer to even? What does your record look like? Number three, the Vikings were a plus 31 in terms of penalty margin. So, that that means they took 31 fewer penalties last year than their opponents, almost two per game. That’s huge. An extra holding call in the first half. Yeah. A illegal procedure penalty or a false start or something in the second half that pushes a third and five back to a third and 10. Now your defense gets after it. So are they that disciplined or do the penalties eb and flow from year to year? We’ll find out. And then I’ll give you the fourth one. You can react to these. They had a plus two touchdown return margin. So, special teams and defensive touchdowns. Thank you, Andrew Vanle, for the multiple pick sixes. They had two more return touchdowns than their opponents did last year. What if that flips? You’re playing a game in Europe. You’re playing a game in Chicago or Lambo and something weird happens and boom, the ball goes back the other way, right? U So, those are just four statistical areas that I think are going to be hard to repeat all of them. You might even flip two of those four. How are you making up for it? Now, maybe if you flip a couple, you go from 14 wins down to 11. Whatever. Okay, you win 11 and six, you’re still a really good football team. But I’m keeping an eye on those four things. I’ll give you one to flip. So, if because turnovers are very hit and miss, right? Like, yes, you force them, you get credit, but they’re very cyclical. feels like one thing that I would be looking for a substantial immediate upgrade because there’s nothing stopping you is special teams. Special teams, I mean, if if you look, and I’m not just talking big like Bill, I’m talking the entire thing here, right? If you look at that, and I think we brought this up last week, their special teams have not been up to par. Mhm. Overall, and that’s one that you should flip. like there’s if you’re going to win a Super Bowl, you also need that becomes a huge part. I don’t think that you can just be a lousy special teams uh uh club and shake it off and just say, “Okay, no, that can be improved and that includes coverages. That includes a ton of things.” So, yeah, turnovers I think is a very I think that’s a tough one. Like, yeah, it’s great to get them and yes, the only thing that in my opinion you can control is your own. So, it’s not so much that that you can that you can put down on paper. Hey, you know, we’re going to get x amount of them. You don’t know that, but you can control your own. The penalties thing is a little bit tough to control, but I feel like if I’m not mistaken, a couple of years ago, especially early, the Vikings were taking way too many, and that’s a big O’Connell emphasis. So, that should remain that. But, uh, getting off to leads, that’s an interesting one. getting off to leads. But then here’s the here’s the flip side to that D through. It feels like the Okonnell years that is something I feel like you haven’t done which is bury a team, right? So like no. So cuz like you’re playing all these close games and to your point you you just gave a stat that said you’re getting off to substantial leads. So how many times can you now and this goes back to our our shows during the Zimmer years put your foot on the throat of your opponent. I’m not saying this is that you can do this every week, but the Vikings have not done that consistently it feels like for boy six years, seven years. They they did they did do it more often last year than the first few years under Okonnell and the Zimmer era. Like they beat the Giants in week one 28-6. They beat the Texans 34 to7. They beat the then they played a bunch of close games. They they beat the Falcons 42 to 21, although that game was kind of close until late. And then they beat the Bears 30 to12. So, there’s there’s definitely, but yeah, it’s it’s it’s a thing. Go beat the crap out of a team after you take a big early lead. There’s two other key questions here that we’re going to get to in just a second. But, uh, MSP Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning is here to help the Purple Daily Faithful, Jud. And Stella loves them, too. I’m sure that you can hear going crazy in the background. I told her, I said, “Stella, when we do the MSP plumbing, heating, and air read, I want you to bark because they are so good.” And if you’re thinking about going duckless, call them. 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Uh these aren’t just any smart TVs. These are smart TVs that make sense. Easy to use, uh easy to hang to, by the way. I can confirm having hung multiple Roku TVs over the past few weeks. Yes. uncomplicated sizes for every room, including dorm rooms or college apartments as well, and brilliant 4K and HD streaming. So, yeah, it’s uh it’s the thing, the Roku TV that often times brings the family together at the end of the day or for a day of watching glorious football now that we’re into football season. Find out more at roku.com or shop at a retailer near you. How about if you’re a football fan and you get not one, not two, but three Rokus side by side by side Saturday and Sunday. Absolute heaven. Stack them. You can stack them on. Do whatever you want, but you got all these games on all at once. Yeah, stack them. So, okay, two more big key questions here about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. Let’s look at the schedule here. What is the trappiest looking game on the schedule? This to me is pretty simple. It’s week 16 at the Giants. You’re coming off a You’re coming off a Sunday night game in Dallas. Now, Dallas might be bad, but still it’s Dallas Sunday night game. So, that’s a marquee game. You’re going to be jacked. I think no matter what the Cowboys record is, you’re going to be jacked up for that game. And you’re getting set to face Detroit in the penultimate game of the regular season and Green Bay here. Uh the Giants, I don’t expect them to be good. The Giants game is a noon game there. It just feels like I mean that’s a stretch of four games in which three are just feel like marquee big matchups and one feels like it’s the Giants. So I’m going to say week 16 at the Giants. I could see that. So far away it’s hard to tell to what the did the Giants fire a coach by that point. So I’m I’m actually looking in the first month and a half. I’m going to give you two other options here. Week two home against the Falcons. Hear me out on this one. So, it’s a short week for the Vikings. Uh, it’s a full week for the Falcons enough that you have a day and a half advantage of preparation if you’re the Falcons. The Falcons play at noon on Sunday and the Vikings play Monday night. So, it’s it’s a day and a half difference in rest in preparation, which in the NFL is massive. And Atlanta is sneaky competitive. I know that they’ve been kind of a punching bag with their quarterback situation, but all right. Well, now they are full steam ahead with Michael Penn. Drake London emerged last season. Behan Robinson is one of the best skill position players in the league. So, they’re going to come in maybe better and more well-rested and uh looking to get one back on the Vikings from what happened last year, too. Now, Cousins was the quarterback at the time. I would just keep an eye on that one. And then, I’ll give you weird things happen in Europe. Cleveland in London week five. So you you ramp yourselves up for the Dublin game against the Steelers. You know that’s going to be a fight, right? Maybe you win that game and now you’re still in Europe. You’re going to London. You’re traveling. So now you’ve been by the time that game hits, you’ve been in Europe for like a week and a half and here come the Browns with really nothing to lose. Miles Garrett against a firstear starting quarterback and just games across the pond with the footing and the environment just a recipe for weirdness. So I would just circle that second Europe game against Cleveland that was on my list. So the Falcons game I don’t think because yes you you might you might be at a rest disadvantage but I think you know it’s week two it’s a prime time game home opener. I feel like that shouldn’t be a trap. Now, it might be you’re tired, so that’s a possibility. But that Cleveland game jumped right off the page as well. Like that’s another really good one. Now, that early in the season in special circumstances, should it be a trap game? Probably not. But you went through like why it could be. And I don’t disagree, but it’s funny. The majority of this schedule I feel like is tough enough that there aren’t like a lot of true trap games. Yeah. There’s there’s a lot of games that are just like tough games on paper, right? Yeah, the Ravens, the the divisional games. Okay, and then the last question here, and we’ll have so much more. We’re going to pick the schedule tomorrow for the final time. We’ll go through every single game. We’ll pick the schedule. I So, Wednesday, write that down. Predictions. I think Thursday, what we can do in addition to our other Thursday shenanigans, all of us can pick our 14 NFL playoff teams, our Super Bowl matchup, our Super Bowl winner. where we can do kind of Vikings and league preview stuff with with Thoristrom on Thursday’s day. Love it. So, my last question for you here is the single most important game on the regular season schedule is what? Week nine, November 2nd, Ford Field, Dan Campbell, and the big bad Detroit Lions. And here’s why. Kevin Oonnell in his first year went 1 and one. So, they split the series against Detroit. since then 0 and4. They got a lead here last season. Things look good and they lost. Now, now I think that they were a Jordan Addison reception away from having a real chance to win, but then they went to Detroit and as we talked about got their ass kicked, right? Okonnell is 4-2 in his uh in his three seasons against the Packers. He’s 5- one against the Bears. Now, it is interesting that that he is 1 and5 against Ben Johnson coordinated teams, but I think the Lions game is huge. And I think the fact it’s there, it’s at the scene of the crime from a year ago or from last winter. And right now, as far as I’m concerned, if you’re going to win the division, you still have to go through Detroit. You do. So to me that game absolutely is is huge because like that is one of the things if you go through what are the things Kevin Oonnell has not conquered yet right playoff win has won probably the biggest one but the team that is the reigning division champion what two times now at least in in your division is Detroit and you haven’t done a damn thing to stop them so I go with that game week nine November 2nd in Detroit that’s an interesting one schedule-wise because you might look and see, oh, the Vikings the week before that play a Thursday game against the Chargers. So, they’re going to have the extra three days to get right for that Detroit game. Well, Detroit has a buy the previous week. So, the so even you get the extra rest built in, but Detroit actually gets the full week off. They don’t have to go to Los Angeles, play the Chargers or anybody, but it’ll it’ll be both teams on extra rest going into that week nine game. Uh Vikings will be on the second leg of back-to-back road games there. Lions will be waiting at home. The last road game that they had uh played at that point would be like three weeks beforehand. Uh and I’m going to give you my single most important game on the schedule. It’s week one against the Bears. It’s a first of all, just take away all of the different bells and whistles that could potentially be of interest in that game. purely from a divisional wins and losses perspective, this game matters a lot. These are going to be four really competitive teams in the NFC North. And if you let the Bears get one over on you in week one, you’re going to spend the rest of the next four months chasing division record. So purely from a wins and losses perspective, you have to win that game. Keep the keep your thumb on the Bears. The Bear Everyone’s picking the Bears to maybe flirt with a playoff spot or win the division. keep your thumb on the Bears in week one. Uh but then also we’ve never really met quote unquote like football met JJ McCarthy. It’s been 18 months of projecting Jud’s camp notes at training camp, full team drills, a sprinkling of preeason performances, but it’ll be taking the car out of the garage for the first time ever in the regular season after 18 months. And and we get to see what it looks like. So, if it looks clunky and the offense lacks rhythm and they can’t move the ball and the Bears sneak a win in week one, you’re it’s going to be a tough sled with your schedule on paper the the second half of the season. You have to start hot. If we think that the the just looking post buy for the Vikings, Eagles, Chargers, Lions, Ravens, Packers, Seahawks, Commanders, like these are really good teams. Second half of your schedule, you need to stockpile wins against the Bears, Falcons, Bengals with no defense, Steelers, and Browns in Europe. Start 4- one. Hell, start 5-0. Uh 3-2 worst case scenario. But if you lose to the Bears in week one, it’s going to set a really tough course for you uh through December. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And your season’s certainly not done, but that start is it well it’s important because of one just trying to make the playoffs, but two, like to your point, how does McCarthy look? How does how do a lot of things look? Um, so yeah, I I like both of these because to me, Okonnell needs to slay the Lions at some point here, but that start of of the schedule, I don’t want to say it’s easy, but it’s doable. And after that, you cannot dig yourself a hole. That’s for sure. I’m tell the post buy run right now, if if these teams are all healthy enough, I don’t know that you’re going to find a team in the NFL that has a harder eightgame stretch than the Vikings starting in week seven after their buy. Eagles at home, Chargers and Lions on the road, Ravens at home, Bears at home, at Green Bay and Micah Parsons at Seattle, home against the Commanders. Yeah. Yeah. You’re hoping for a regression from at least a couple of those teams by that point, aren’t you? Yeah. You wouldn’t mind seeing the Commanders struggle a little bit, but even if they struggle a little bit, they’re still well coached. They have a really hard quarterback to prep for. or Terry McLaren like it’s you know what’s if they struggle they’re still like a seven or eight win team it feels like that’s going to be fighting they come here right they do come here yeah so they’re struggling a little bit but yeah you you would like to see the problem is a you’d like to see a regression but if you look at those teams most of those teams I don’t think regress ordinarily like the Packers are just the Packers yeah they’re going to be competitive they’re going to be competitive yeah so a Jim Harbaugh coached team in week eight is going to be competitive that I am one one of the games I’m so intrigued by is that Bengals game here early cuz that’s like a huge game and I know it’s out out of conference but as far as your record goes that’s a huge game and you should beat them here but you also are going against one of the best QBs in the league right now. It’s the type of quarterback that that does have some success against a Flores defense cuz he can he can see blitzes coming. He can see what’s happening pre- snap. Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, those like those dissecting pocket passing quarterbacks that know how to replace a blitzer with a pass, right? I also think that he’s the type and it’s probably a small list. He’s the type of quarterback that I don’t expect to be rattled at all by the noise inside US Bank Stadium. Yeah. Like that’s a small list. Like Drew Brees, Drew Brees didn’t care. That guy’s dissecting you and it’s like, dude, tons of quarterbacks have failed here. So I I don’t think Joe Burrow well in hell Jamar Chase too. I don’t think Joe Burrow is going to be impacted. But nonetheless, I do think that you should beat the Bengals because I certainly don’t love their team and def and offensively you should put a points against them. Yeah. So let us know what you think about these eight big key questions about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. Tomorrow we will pick the schedule for the final time before the season. Write that down. Predictions on Wednesday. We’ll mix in some bonus Doogie episodes throughout the week. Get some information on injuries and roster and things like that. And uh one So yeah, and then Thursday, Purple Daily Unplugged at Running Aces, scor.com/unplugged. And then Vikings vent line first inseason postgame episode after Vikings and Bears on Monday. So we are full go here on purple daily for the sports dad. I’m Phil Mackey. Thanks for hanging out with us.
Mackey and Judd answer 8 BIG questions about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings! Which QB — past or present — will JJ McCarthy play like in 2025? Three players whose stock is going to rise? Three offseason additions who will make the biggest impact? Which draft pick will produce the most outside of Donovan Jackson? If Vikings go to Super Bowl, what will be the main reason? If Vikings fail to hit the 8.5 over/under, why will that be? Biggest trap game on the schedule? Most important game on the schedule?
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27 comments
Skol, Thursday night football is back, here we go to another season🤞🍀!!
If JJ struggles will they put Wentz in do you think or will they just let him fight through his problems
His play style reminds me of Jake The Snake Plummer with some Derek Jeter clutch magic sprinkled in
JJ is going to be a Dawg!!
Please no TEDDY B. Give me RANDALL C.
Tommy Kramer, Rich Gannon
I’m confident in JJ this year. I think he’ll make a huge impact. He has everything he needs to be successful.
If Kirk had this offensive line, this would be the best offense in the league. …JJ has a chance to be really special as a rookie
Felton is going to washout… he won’t be more than a special teamer
Joe Burrow comes to mind. If he is anywhere close with this Oline, they can go all the way. If Joe had this line, he would have carved up the Rams.
Hargrave and Allen are the type of guys that made Garret Bradbury look like a bum the last 5 years. Glad we got those dudes (and a new center)
Heard someone say JJ will have a Tannehill type career…and I could see it
23:56 rotating series would be such a dumb thing to do given how different jones and mason are from each other. Mason should be used near the goal line and short yardage situations on every drive and jones should be used in between the 20s on every drive
Secondary has been the downfall of good Viking teams over the years and you only have one sure thing at corner an unknown a bust and a undrafted guy
We have to do something to the CB room. Imagine Murphy blowing his knee out week 3 then what?
Love PD, but feels like each and every show includes swooning over Burrow
Is he that much better than other top QBs in the league?
Write this down McCarthy will be benched by week 6
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 Can’t go one video without absolutely crapping on Kirk. You spent like 10 minutes pointing out how pathetic the interior offensive line was and you somehow ignore it anytime Kirk’s name comes up.
Kirk was forced to dump that pass off during the playoff game. Dexter Lawrence blew the LG up. Kirk threw the ball quickly to his “star” TE who should’ve easily broken the tackle and gained 30 yards.
A small CB tackled Hockenson to end the season. Kirk played a great game and you STILL make up reasons to crap on him.
He was far better than a “top 15” QB. Enough with the BS
Jesus, teddy Bridgewater? What an insult to McCarthy. I remember when Bridgewater lost one game in college and won the national championship. Tepid and pathetic comparison Judd 😅.
so glad the fair shows are over
To be fair, they rarely bury a team because they couldn’t run the ball effectively! Running the ball kills the clock, but now we can assume the running game will be better so it wouldn’t surprise me if we start to put teams away.
This was terrible lol. Teddy Bridgewater. Dude struggled to get 200 yards in games. 😅
I think the OL has been upgraded. The Running Game is upgraded over last year. The Vikings mgmt has made it as easy for JJ Mac as they possibly can; McCarthy just have to perform at a competent level for the Vikings Offense to click. We will see how it plays out "when they are shooting real bullets". The Regular Season.
With as much all of you talking heads have talked about JJ is he should be a monolith. By how all of you talked he should set nfl records his first year.
Dont back track now. Comparing him to teddy. If he came out like him it would be a complete failure.
You guys have talked about JJ like he was better than Brady and mahomes. Now he might be like teddy? Haha wtf.
Mason will be rb1 by week 4
Cannot wait for vent line