Kevin O’Connell SNIPS at Judd Zulgad!; How will Minnesota Vikings handle JJ McCarthy?

Kevin O’Connell SNIPS at Judd Zulgad!; How will Minnesota Vikings handle JJ McCarthy?

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. And a happy Thor’s Day to all who celebrate. Thor Nestrom is here from Matthew Barry’s fantasylife.com. Thor Ku on Twitter. And uh this I think this is going to be a spicy episode uh based on the tone that Kevin Oonnell set with our own sports dad yesterday. We’re going to play you a clip and we’ll get into a big quarterback discussion here. The Vikings are not revealing their exact plans. So a lot to get to here with our guy Thoren Istrom Jud. But uh there’s a little crisp in the air and if you’re unsure about your HVAC system heading into Minnesota winter, maybe you should call MSP Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning. Yeah. Why? Because you should. and can and Sports Dead has trust the experts when it comes to plumbing, heating, and air. MSP, by the way, your local carrier dealer delivering quality and reliability. October is the perfect time to get that HVAC system checked before the cold hits. Schedule a tuneup now to help prevent unexpected breakdowns uh when it’s cold outside, when guess what, it’s going to be expensive. Right now, it’s just a checkup. Maybe the checkup finds something and maybe that something saves you from some real problems in the winter. By the way, when you choose Carrier, you’re investing in a system that keeps your home comfortable and saves you a lot of cash on those bills as well. So, check out the website, callms msp.com, or give them a call. Go old school, pick up that phone, 651-6154292, uh, to learn about their services. They’re outstanding. I have used them. So, firsthand information from me and also the carrier products. All right, boys. There’s a there’s a a deep multi-entacle quarterback discussion to be had here going into week seven. But let’s play this. It’s like a 30-se secondond clip. Sports dad who’s been covering football for two, three decades in different forms as a writer, as a radio host, as a podcaster, and I have heard and seen you in action ask a lot more pointed questions doing your job than you did yesterday. Pretty innocent, benign question. And and here was KC the for the YouTube audience who get the visual here too. Where do things stand as far as your starting QB for Sunday? They stand in the same place they did Monday uh when I answered that question. How will you handle in practice in terms of reps and between Carson and JJ? Yeah, they’re both uh both going to get work, both going to get reps and um very much looking forward to our whole team getting back out there. That felt highly spicy. His body language. Yeah. It’s like a visceral negative reaction to your question or or you as a human. I don’t know what that was. Let me set this up first of all. Okay. Uh he came in, he was late, which is not shocking. He was late to the press conference, which for a coach late fine all they always are. But the more interesting thing is for the only time I can recall at least for a press conference at the podium. So the Friday session is far more relaxed like he’ll come off the field answer questions but for the only time I can recall in his tenure he gave no opening statement. So it was almost like he was he showed up at the podium like I am not going to give away any information. And so because ordinarily he’ll he’ll be be like, you know, great to get back to work. We’re going to get back on the field today. Prepare for Philadelphia. He would go through some of the things about the Eagles and how they’re a great team. They’re Super Bowl champions. You can never take a team like that lightly. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We expect so and so to practice. Who’s been hurt? You know, things like that. The opening statement. They always give an opening statement. Of course. Yeah. Set the tone. No opening statement. The first question was not about the quarterbacks. The second one was the one that you heard from me and it was and it was as if he was determined not to give information now as the press conference went along because he likes to talk. He certainly has some farinian to him. He did start to elaborate on things but I feel like I launched the first shot on goal and he was going to make sure that that puck went into the corner and it did. Thor, what did you make of it? Uh, it was kind of interesting, right? Um, you know, I’m curious, Jud, where do you think that that snippess came from? Was it just I’m not giving any information or do you think there was anything beyond that? I think it’s two things. I think one is he was bound and determined to try to not to say much, but I think the other thing is and and I actually did an evening jud on this that that you can find on the Score North um Twitter page. I’ll defend him. I think he’s frustrated. I think he’s frustrated. I think he look I mean up until now, you know, Kirk Cousins now now in 23 Kirk got got hurt, but he came in here in 22 and he helped Kirk go from being a really a statistical monster to being an actual QB that could want that won key games last year. Sam Darnold worked out for the most part until it didn’t really really well. And so like he I mean he did Thor and and we’ll certainly talk about this but you know he went into a lot of chapter and verse about working on McCarthy’s mechanics the week in the by-week and he clearly enjoyed the coaching aspect but we’re in week six and he’s saying I got to fix this and fix that. Um you know Carson Wentz was not the plan. Carson Wentz has played okay but he was not the plan. So I’ll defend him on this because this happens to every coach. First of all, the longer that they coach, the more they start to sort of go mad at times. Yeah. Because there’s just a lot of things. But furthermore, I I you know, I understand that this is not going according to his plan. And just to be very clear here, and this is not a slam at Kevin O’Connell at all. The Kevin Oonnell that we see publicly and what I’ve been told behind the scenes are very different people. Like, he is an ultra competitor. He is wound tight. He’s got a lot of head coaching things that he tries not to show the public. So like I think we got a brief glimpse. And by the way, he’s kind of he’s kind of a psycho in a good in like in like the best way football wise. Well, and they’re all psychos. You you name me a head coach of recent vintage like Bud Grant probably was not. Okay. But you name me a head coach D1 college or NFL who’s not kind of a psycho. And I think that we saw a brief glimpse or we saw a glimpse of of that. And by the way, having done this job for a long time, I enjoyed that. I’d much rather know who you are than who you want me to believe you are. So, I liked it. I thought the I mean, it wasn’t sparring cuz I didn’t spar back, but I thought the coward. I thought Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Kevin, you watch your tone with me. You watch your tone with me, young man. Get out of here. I’m the sports dad. I was here way before you got here, and I’ll be here long after you. Do you know who you’re talking to? You can talk to anyone else like that, but you pull that crap with me, we’ll turn this press conference around and go home. So anyway, I thought that that was a actually a very interesting glimpse, not in words, but in actions to the pressure he’s feeling. Yeah, it’s it it’s Yeah, my my take on it is, you know, Okonnell has stated, you know, that that JJ has to have the full week of healthy practices and JJ yesterday as well and in his side media session, JJ was able to speak to the media again. They let the QB1 talk on Wednesdays. This is the first time JJ got to talk since his injury. He Carson obviously was was talking as well, but JJ mentioned how frustrating the ankle injury has been and that he’s not 100% yet. Well, Okonnell already said he has to be 100% for all the the practice week leading up to a game in order to play in it. So JJ’s comments seem to have ruled himself out based on what Okonnell had said before about the situation for Sunday. And then you have Carson Wentz who suffers the left shoulder injury that we’re under the impression is is a legitimate injury. Like that that’s a real thing. They’re they’re they were not sure that Carson Wentz was going to be able to play in this game earlier this week. Um I I I heard that on Tuesday there was a thought that Max Brosmer might have to start on Sunday. Uh because Carson Wentz’s shoulder might not be far enough along and then he comes in on Wednesday and obviously was able to be the full participant in practice. That’s why we currently believe that Carson Wentz is going to be starting on Sunday. But the the health state of the quarterback room and then the picking up the pieces and for Kevin Okonnell, a guy that loves the opponent specific game, having to some of these other ancillary things and then literally on game week leading up to this super crucial game, you’re three and two, you’re coming out of the buy. You get the Eagles at home. Yeah, your roster has been in a weird state for sure and there’s weird stuff going on. The Eagles are beatable right now, right? And you steal that game, all of a sudden you’re 4-2. the the Ravens coming up there in the distance, they haven’t been quite as good. They’ve proven to be beatable. The Chargers have all the offensive line issues, etc., etc. It’s like, man, if you can pull that one off, but then meanwhile, he doesn’t even know he’s starting a quarterback on Sunday or who is going to be healthy enough. I I’m sure when he went to the podium, you at that time yesterday, you had a better idea that it’s going to be Wednesday. But you’re already on a Wednesday and as the head coach, you are not even able to know, you know, up until then, who’s going to be starting for you on Sunday. How could you even make the game plan? I think you nailed it. If the question is why was he so crabby, man? Like why I I think it was uh to go back to the clip that we played. I think part of his part of his snippiness or the way it came off was him trying to just like I don’t want to give away information whatever but I think like 75% of it just a guess was what Thor just said which is okay we just patchworked this thing for five games missing half of our starters for huge chunks of games. We don’t know who our offensive linemen are. We don’t know who our quarterback is week to week. And yet we’re sitting here three and two. A Stones throw from first place in the division. The Eagles are down. The Chargers have a bunch of injuries. We can win some games. Who’s my quarterback? like he’s looking and on top of this by the way and I’m not saying he was consciously thinking about this while he snipped at our beloved sports dad but we are in the midst right now uh of the of the highest passer rating season in NFL history. So this season the average quarterback has a 94.2 passer rating. That is the league passer rating 94.2. For context, when Brett Favre won his third MVP in 1997, he had a 92.9 passer rating. So Brett Favre MVP in 97 had a passer rating that was below today’s average quarterback passer rating. It has never been easier to slice and dice defenses through the air. And some of that is the rules. Some of it is quarterbacks are just like pouring into training methods and there’s all sorts of things. But Kevin is sitting here looking around saying, “I’m a passing guy. I am a I am a passing scheme mastermind. It’s never been easier to slice and dice defenses through the air.” And I I bought this car 18 months ago that I’ve been able to take out of the garage once for like five minutes. And I don’t know who’s playing this week. So, I think I think all of that layered on top, it would would make uh a quarterback friendly head coach a little salty going into this game against the Eagles. Yeah, it’s 100%. It it would have to be frustrating. Um, you know, another thing, you know, McCart that I thought was really interesting yesterday, McCarthy says that he had gotten second opinions, opinions with an S after the initial prognosis. and the second opinions, second opinions plural. He’s McCarthy said yesterday that they had come back. One of them was a uh Jed, correct me if I’m wrong. One of them was a four to six week recovery timeline. And then did he say two to six was the other one? Okay. I I know that initially there was fear that that injury was worse than the ultimate second opinions prognosises came back with the timelines. There was relief when those came back. But the the the negative thing with it is you have this sort of nebulous timeline as anyone who’s ever suffered a high ankle sprain would know. And I’m kind of confused with the two timelines there on the second opinions. Is it a grade one uh uh ankle sprain that is two to four when you can return to the field two to four weeks or was it grade two which is typically I believe four to six or I didn’t say in a holiday and express last night but that that if it was a grade two you’re sort of confused why he wasn’t put on IR which is why it it leads you to believe more uh grade one where you’re holding out hope that he could return within the four games obviously you get put on IR that’s that that’s four games that that you have to sit out. So, all that stuff is is is really interesting, you know, looking at this whole situation. And I I think at the end of the day, the message that I got, especially from what JJ said, is there is more time here. There’s there’s more time to say he is hurt, so he can’t play cuz like if if you don’t play him, and we all now expect WZ to start against the Eagles, then he’s not going to play against the Chargers. So, now I think we get outside of six weeks by the next game. So like the Detroit game becomes the intriguing game. But Thor, there’s a whole another layer to this and that is the fact that the one thing that uh Okonnell expounded on quite a bit was all of this bi-week work and the fundamentals and what they’ve gone back to sort of the drawing board as far as what they saw in the games from JJ. And so I guess what I’m trying a as a a reporter who has tried to sus things out, what I’m trying to figure out here is how much of this is just directly ankle. It’s just an ankle problem. And when he’s recovered from the ankle problem, he’s back. But then you got his head coach talking about literally taking him out in the practice field and trying to break down things. And I tried to ask like cuz he had a whole training camp. So it’s like did you see these things in training camp? But then you got into games and and it’s like okay in games he changes things. So to me there’s two tracks here. There’s the ankle, which is real, relevant, and can still be a problem. But then there’s also the what are you trying to accomplish here before you put him back out there where you feel comfortable that the mechanics also are where you need them to be for your starting quarterback. Yeah. And ensuring that, you know, I wonder how he means that. You know, Jud, you know, as the thing of the um you know, it’s it’s been a theme, right, where Okonnell’s brought that up. You you wonder is that a theme because he it it’s an obvious point that he’s making of the kid’s right ankle is compromised. We have to make sure that he gets healthy and then we can get the timing back of the lower body to my concepts. Like that’s why he’s frustrated of like man we we had built up and we were ready to go. Then the rest of the offense, the the the issues that you had in the first two games at the personnel and being short on personnel, Justin School at left tackle and the state of the receiving core at that time and then he ends up getting injured in the third quarter of the second game. And you’re frustrated because it’s like now we have to build up to get him back to where he was wi with the lower body mechanics or if he is saying that because he wants to make this point of the kids the to him the kid’s lower body mechanics became broken. uh what during the games or when he got in I so so that part of it is a little bit confusing to me because he hasn’t clarified and he generally I’m talking about Okonnell and he generally brings that up when he’s being asked about JJ’s injury as opposed to for me I I would prefer just updates on the injury prognosis and maybe that’s another frustrating thing for Okonnell with a with a high ankle thing where it’s like well it could be this quick but it could also be this long and then Okonnell every day like JJ, are you ready to go? You ready to go? And it’s like, oh, not quite there yet. You wonder where that frustration’s coming from. Okay. So, my sense is this because he references the injury as an issue, but Thor, to your point, he really played hurt in the fourth quarter against the Falcons. And in my opinion, he’s talking about the first two games in their entirety. And I think what he is seeing and and the interesting thing that has not been broached yet much, but I will but I will hammer this home is I think in some ways this is a direct shot at Jim Harbaugh and his staff. I think what he is saying is the kids mechanics in games are not what they are on the practice field. Now my comeback is well you you got to play them then to fix those things. But I do not hear that this is solely based I don’t think he brings this up if it’s solely based on the ankle cuz if the mechanics were there you would just wait for him to recover and then play him. This to me goes outside that. This to me is a we saw things in games that we didn’t see in training camp that we don’t like that I am going to fix which is where this also becomes Phil so intriguing to me. But here, but here’s another like there’s another uh part to this which is the word patience. And Kevin O’Connell, I think it was on Peter Shreger’s podcast like a week and a half ago. He joined Peter Shreger for the Shreger Hour, a new podcast, and he they talked about his philosophies and developing quarterbacks and why he feels like he has such a connection. And he brought it back to like his career, too. And uh but I think it was on that podcast where he made the Michael Phelps reference that you know quarterback is the hardest position to play in the world. We don’t just you don’t just draft a guy and then like when you’re when you’re uh in swimming, you don’t just like bring a swimmer in and you’re teaching them how to swim at a high level and then boom, now you’re in the pool with Michael Phelps right away with very little time to prepare. That would be foolish. But we do that sometimes in the NFL prematurely. So, I think what’s happening here is you’ve got one of the youngest quarterbacks in the league, period, when he was drafted. 18 months since he was drafted isn’t really that much time considering what it took Darnold and Baker and Daniel Jones and some other quarterbacks that aren’t Patrick Mahomes to figure it out. And over those 18 months, he’s barely been on the practice field relative to the other guys that have been drafted uh the last 2 three years cuz he didn’t have any g any inseason practice last year and he’s missed most of the inseason practice this year. So, you know, we’re sitting here talking about mechanics in week seven of his second year, but like, yeah, that’s probably what you would be talking about if you were if you were to just take the amount of time he’s practiced and and and and extrapolate that out from like when he was drafted, say, yeah, you probably would still be working on mechanics after like only a short period of being on the actual grass. But, can you fix it in season if they don’t like his mechanics and how they translate to the game? Is that something that’s like, boy, we’re kind of like the bullets are flying here. That’s more of an offseason thing that you build more of a base. So, Thor, what do you think about mechanics gate here, I guess? Well, I to me I I think he’s talking more about offensive timing. you know, when when he starts speaking more uh specifically about it, it you know, he’s mentioned the thing of it’s it’s when you get to the top of your drop, irregardless of the concept, whether that’s three, whether that’s five, whether that’s seven, that once you get to that, you are in the correct throwing, you’re like the the sniper with his, you know, with with the you are in the correct, you know, shooting position right at that point so that you can make the decision right at the top of your drop. Am I going to that dude or is that not a good option because we can switch off right away. This is something we talked about with Greg Hulkcom too, you know. So there’s similarities with, you know, uh the way that you teach quarterbacks with that. But when you hit the top of the drop, that’s when you want to be in the correct position, but also have already made the decision so you can just quickly go to the second read if not and and and I think a part of the the frustration there that that Okonnell’s talking about with the the initial games was the timing of that. It just seemed like a little bit off. Um, and you know, a part of that, of course, you know, the the left tackle play and some of that stuff and working with the new receivers, but I think that’s a thing of like we have to make sure that the timing is good before, you know, you go back on the field, you have to be able to work on that and yet this lingering ankle issue, which a doctor told you, which appears to be a better opinion than you got the first time. That’s that’s one of the second opinions you were like, “Okay, we’ll take that opinion.” That that that timeline was up to six weeks. You’re now four weeks in. No, no one’s more frustrated about this than me, believe me. But the the the six week timeline, you’re only four weeks into it. I try to keep that in mind, too. And Okonnell’s frustration, I think, as well. It it’s what you’re talking about, Phil. Like Okano, he he was even saying yesterday despite his frustrations about some of these things that it’s like a blast to co coach McCarthy, can’t wait to get back out there, all this different stuff, he’s not able to to play in the full sandbox of the quarterback development right now cuz the kid’s hurt the same way last year, right? Like the kid gets hurt last year and and you sort of think in your head as a fan, well, well, okay, you know, he was the youngest quarterback. He just turned 21. He’d won the national title as a 20-year-old. Then four months later, he’s getting drafted. Well, and he gets hurt. This team had only had a six and a half win total in Vegas. They signed Sam. Those guys were competing anyway. Sam could just have the job. This year, it’s not too bad. He’ll be able to develop, you know, behind the scenes and then in the second year he’ll be able to to take over. But then, you know, Okonnell’s talking about how last year he got one hour per week with JJ and like you, you know, at the time he’s sort of saying this as like a cutesy anecdote. I’ve heard that that there was very little time outside of that. like that was sort of their time together during the season. You’re working with you need to win games. Okonnell’s so good at grinding out all these one-possession games, turning games into one possession games and grinding out those those one possession wins. Doing that, you’re in in week uh in in season, you’re going in and you’re you’re you’re breaking down game film. You’re trying to figure out, you know, what you’re going to be doing, who can we uh exploit on on, you know, the the opponent, whatever. they didn’t he didn’t have a whole bunch of time with with JJ McCarthy last year, you know, that’s just what it is. And plus, you can’t work on those mechanics. So, I think there’s a lot of frustration that goes in with that as well. Well, and plus too be because of the fact that he was placed on season ending IR. JJ McCarthy could not participate in practice and I don’t think he could be coached like he he can be talked to but like I don’t I think the rule is you can’t go out there then with coaches and work and work and so like there’s a lot of restrictions that I think are different than the than the IR guys that are designated to return. So yeah, like again the frustration makes complete sense, but the funniest thing about this entire conversation thus far because we’re deep into it is the fact that we’re talking about like this quarterback conundrum and the frustration and you look at the record and the Vikings are three and two in what is a massively jumbled conference and the season is very much alive and well and and so that’s sort of the flip side is it feels really bad in some ways because it’s like this quarterback we were all going to see is hurt again. But then you look at where the team is and that Cleveland win was enormous. And so Okonnell also has a team that remains extremely competitive in a conference where a lot of teams have the same exact problem, injuries, and nobody has pulled away as like this clear-cut group of favorites. Yeah. Doesn’t it feel like this is all tracking more for November 2nd against the Lions for McCarthy than the fact so like this week he’s limited and has talked about how his ankle isn’t 100% yet and they’re trying to be smart. That’s those are the words that JJ said and then the six week up to six week timeline which right now we’re like four going into five. You got so Wentz was full participant yesterday even though he’s dinged and JJ is limited. So, it just kind of feels like a long shot that JJ would pass Wentz just on the injury front to play against the Eagles. And then you have the short week game against the short prep short week game against the Chargers. That feels like an odd time unless you unless Wentz is so hurt and now you’re deciding between like 85% healthy McCarthy and 100% healthy Brosmer. But you would get that 10 days leading up to the Lions game on November 2nd, which would also get us to the six-w week window. The only wrench there, Thor, would be going back to what you said, which is Kevin Oonnell tunnel vision. Win games, win games, win games week to week. What if they win the next two games? And when you know, Wentz is is his shoulders fine enough and he’s playing pretty well. I mean, um I think McCarthy comes back against the Lions. That’s my official prediction here, but there’s a lot of factors in play the next two weeks. Yeah, that would probably be the, you know, the odds on favorite. I’ll come, you know, at this point. I I think there was hope that that McCarthy would come back for for this game. That was the initial reporting. Um I think with Tracy Wolson right away. Um you know that this was the target date. I think this was the target date. That’s my understanding. He wasn’t you know and he unfortunately he wasn’t ready to go on Monday which was the prerequisite that that Okonnell had had laid out for that. I I think you know and Phil you’re you’re you know because I I’ve heard quite a bit of this of people being like well if he’s not playing the Eagles game then he’s not playing the Chargers game. is is your thinking your rationale behind that that Okonnell had said had said had said had said had said had said had said had said had said had said had the full practice week and because that’s a Thursday game yeah Okonnell uh Okonnell was in fact I’ll play this clip from McCarthy here that kind of weaves in this is going back he’s referencing he’s asked about the Falcons week but I’ll play obviously second game coming off that Monday night birth of your son the injury like how much of a whirlwind was that for you for sure a whirlwind um very unique situation a lot of firsts and you know just being able to have that strong, you know, core family members and teammates and coaches that I could lean on in those moments. It was huge. And uh, you know, hopefully we could plan things out a little bit better next time and, you know, go for baby number two in the offseason. So, yeah, that last part he’s laughing about it, but he’s like, maybe we can plan things a little bit differently. He’s not reacting to the media saying that he should plan things out differently because as far as I know, the only I Jud, you and I have kind of touched on that subject a little, but it’s, you know, it’s a sensitive one because it’s the birth of his first child. Like, you’re going to be there for the birth of your first child. But Kevin O’Connell now, I think it’s four consecutive weeks has gone out of his way to mention something directly about the lack of practice time that week for McCarthy. the lack of third being at Thursday practice which is exclusively third downs and blitz packages. It’s really important. And then he mentioned the time the length of the Friday walkthrough practice that he was kind of part of but he’s like it was only like an hour long. And so like you know like what whatever you think of Kevin’s hangup about this he does not feel comfortable with a young quarterback who’s trying to gather himself here on a on a less than full practice week. And that Chargers week, it’s a short one for everyone, but I think just, you know, reading the tea leaves, who would you feel more comfortable with? The guy who’s been around for 10 years, who’s done those short weeks before, or the guy who hasn’t and is coming off the injury? That’s why I think the Lions game makes the most sense, but you can fight me on it, Thor, if you want. Maybe maybe I’m the only one, but I I I do not rule out the Chargers game. Um I I I I don’t rule that one out. And um I I think it you know there’s this thought of like oh well that wouldn’t be putting him JJ in the best situation cuz it’s a it’s a short week and you’re going on the road in this this sort of stuff. I think that’s a sneaky really good return spot for JJ. A really good one. Uh you’re you’re against the opponent that has injuries as well and there’s the thing of like oh he’s playing his football father you know Jim Harbaugh and you know this sort of stuff. I actually think that that favors McCarthy a little bit. And let me tell you why. The Chargers defense is run by Jesse Mter who was the defensive coordinator at Michigan when McCarthy was there. And it kind of looks like they’re running the same kinds of things, uh, same sort of concept, the scheme things that they were running in practice over three years at Michigan. Menter and Harbaugh are great defensive coaches and certainly they have an understanding um of JJ’s game, but they haven’t gotten much tape on him um you know the over the the last two years obviously whereas McCarthy has an enormous amount of exposure uh to to that defense from practices early on in his time there uh he struggled in practice you know coming out of high school and stuff there because you’re facing this ludicrously complex uh defense uh Mter was and Harbaugh they were known for running one of the more complex uh defenses in college football. And apparently McCarthy initially, you know, out of high, you know, as a freshman and stuff, you’re throwing a lot of interceptions. It took him a little bit to start under uh deciphering the coverage concepts, but I what I heard was that there was one day like his uh sophomore year where all of a sudden it it just sort of became like Neo with him where he just started to like get it. Um and so like you know the the coverage concepts and and where the ball would go and and just sort of naturally you know understanding that with your progressions, everything like that. Um I if if McCarthy is healthy by the end of this week, that that’s the big if. Like that we don’t know, right? Like you know, McCarthy himself said yesterday that he’s not 100%. And if you think JJ McCarthy, a guy who also yesterday said that he would play if you amputated his leg. If you think he’s in on some ruse to to fabricate his own injury to protect the people benching him, you’re out of your frigin mind. So we I think we can put that sort of storyline to rest. We just don’t know if the ankle’s healthy, but if he if it is healthy, uh uh you know, coming out of the game on Sunday, I think he’s got a shot. I I think he’s got a shot to play. His his attention ostensibly had already, you know, the the game planning thing, you know, that there’s the possibility of the Chargers game. So, he would have the same amount of prep as everybody else. And at that point, Carson Wentz’s probably going to be more beat up than him, you know, at least in the upper body with the non-throwing shoulders. So, I I don’t toss out the the Chargers game as a possibility. I think the other part of that too from Okonnell’s perspective because he is um as much as you can be a quarterback perfectionist I I think if he is completely comfortable not only with the ankle but the mechanics thing I think that’s where that that’s where he’s going I think Okonnell’s become obsessed with this and and I think what Okonnell saw he didn’t like on film and he wants it perfected as much as possible. Unfortunately that’s not really possible but that doesn’t stop a coach from thinking that. Like I I just think this has become a really really juicy thing. But again, I’ll I’ll keep coming back to this. At some point in time, I think you have to play the kid because you got to find out. And he’s not going to improve unless you play him. It It’s Man, it’s interesting. It’s as this is as interesting a situation as Okonnell could be put into because while I don’t think he’s going to fail and I don’t think McCarthy is, I also don’t know that there is probably going to be a consensus on the perfect time to come back. And the thing too is if you look at the schedule, guys, there’s no good time to come back. Like, okay, Detroit, bring him back against Detroit at Fort Field. Okay, that that’s a great time. And people might have said like, let’s say he was healthy. Well, what about like, you know, the the Browns are one and five. Yeah. Uh, well, Miles Garrett plays for the Browns and there’s there’s all these Let’s Hold on. Let’s There’s There’s a lot more meat on this bone. Um, because I don’t know. I got crazy last night on Twitter and threw a question out in poll form that I think is going to make Thor’s head pop off of his torso here. So, we’ll give you the results from the I did No, I did not have a cocktail last night. Sure. Sure. I swear. I swear. Um, we’ll get to this in a second here, but I want to tell you that. So, I’m actually going to be at Game Day Men’s Health later on today and uh just checking in, saying hi. I feel great. I feel better now in terms of mental fog, in terms of energy. I feel better now than I have in like 10 years. And I’m very fortunate and happy that I found Game Day Men’s Health uh to help me with some of these things. Uh no judgment, just solutions uh is what they say at Game Day Men’s Health. But I went in, I turned 40 back in the spring and I just had been dealing with a lot of decreased energy, mental fog, things that are just kind of normal, right? You get a little older and you just feel crappier. Doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe your maybe your testosterone is low. Maybe uh maybe you have missed a few things in your lab work from your primary and you need more advanced lab work to identify some things. Game Day Men’s Health is not a traditional clinic. It is tailored for men. You’re greeted with kind of a sports lounge vibe when you walk in. Locations in Edina, Minnetonka, and Roseville. And uh if you want to take control of your health and your life, go to gamedaymen’shealth.com/purpely. Gameday menshalth.com/purpely. Schedule an appointment. And if you do, let me know. Email me [email protected]. I ran into a listener there 3 weeks ago and we chatted it up. Uh it was cool to see someone in person that uh that is kind of on the same timeline and and journey here. So gamedaymenalth.com/purpely. My bookie also powering this episode of Purple Daily. Judley, as if football is not fun enough. You’re sitting on the couch on a Saturday, a Sunday, heck a Friday perhaps, and you’re watching games and you’re thinking, “How could this get better?” Well, Sports Dance here to tell you how it can because the folks at My Bookie make it easy to get in on the action, get a sweat on. NFL, college, survivor pools, all the spreads. We’re talking player props and in-game lines that you could possibly want. They’re all under one roof. And it’s as simple as this. Go to mybookie.ag, use the code purple daily, and any bet you choose up to $500 is fully covered. Make your play, and if it doesn’t hit, you get it right back when you opt in using your betback bonus token. Again, the code is purple daily. The site is mybookie.ag. Uh, for barbecue fans out there, Dickies Barbecue Pit in Egan. If you’ve been craving real Texas style barbecue in Minnesota, Dickies is the spot. Beef brisket, juicy pulled pork, St. Louis style ribs, spicy cheddar sausage, smoked turkey marinated chicken, and a bunch of great sides. Each bite packed with that authentic smoky barbecue flavor. full southern style experience right in Egan, Minnesota. So, if you’re preparing for maybe it maybe it’s people coming over to watch the game or uh you’re catering for a big event of some kind, Dickies does cater for any size group you have and they’ll deliver right to your door as well. So, call the catering team 866 barbcue. That’s all spelt out. 866 BBCQ or order online at dickies.com. That’s Dickysbcue Pit in Egan football. All right, Thor. Yeah, I’m gonna get some I’m gonna get some dickies. It must be close to the team facility. I’m going to get some some dickies. I’m going to be sitting in the bushes with my binoculars. Where’s JJ? Like, what are they saying to JJ? JJ Healthy. Yeah, just barbecue sauce down his shirt. Everything. Yeah, exactly. They’re going to find me in there. Get out of here. I do I want to emphasize that uh before I give you the result of this poll and the question that’s going to be triggering that I am personally still buying JJ McCarthy stock. If you are a listener or a fan and you are selling your JJ McCarthy stock, I will buy I’ll buy low and and hopefully ride the wave. So, I’m still in I’m still in buy mode with that stock. And part of my logic is it’s like people are kind of freaking out because Sam Darnold is playing really well in Seattle and Daniel Jones and man, you could have did you make a mistake not hanging on to these other quarterbacks not acknowledging that Kevin O’Connell and the infrastructure and the weapons in Justin Jefferson are drivers for why Sam Darnold’s career was saved. Drivers for why Kirk Cousins onethird of his career fourth quarter comebacks came in one year with Kevin Okonnell in 2022. Daniel Jones on a podcast last week said, “I was only there for like two months and it changed my quarterback worldview, the way that they prepare and do things behind the scenes.” So, a lot of people are taking that and saying, “You made a mistake letting these guys go.” And I say, “Well, wait, if like those three all benefited and and other quarterbacks, wouldn’t JJ be the next one in line to benefit when health finally catches up?” So, I’m still buying stock, but I will acknowledge that uh him being essentially unavailable for 18 months to start his career was not part of their plan and part of their script here. So, things are a little wonky right now. And I was curious how Vikings fans would feel if given the opportunity to hedge. It’s like when you have a parlay Thor and uh you know some of these platforms will offer you a little ch you or you could like create your own hedge, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s like a cash or it’s like uh that Howie Mandel show that uh deal or no deal. Yeah. Let’s call the banker. All right. We can we can uh take the pressure out of the room here for you. So I just said Vikings fans um if someone came down to you right now and said you could trade JJ McCarthy right now for a second and a third round pick. Do you do you take the cash out? Do you just do you just peace out? Do you take the picks? That’s option one. Do you stick with McCarthy? Option two. And I did give people a third option, which is buzz off Mackey. And uh 14% of people just chose to buzz off Mackey. 58% said they would stick with JJ McCarthy. But 28.5% of people, almost a third of Vikings fans said, “I’ll take the picks. I’m done. I’m out. I’ll take the second and the third round hypothetical picks.” What are your guys’ thoughts? Well, that that that’s ridiculous. There’s there’s there’s a bunch of teams out there that I I think would would make that trade at the Vikings right now. Um if if they were able to, that’s yeah, that that’s not even close to to what the value is. And okay, let’s say those those trolls out there that click that thing, that 25% of them, what what’s your quarterback plan this off season, guys? You’re you’re smarter than Quazy. Let’s put you in the the the GM seat. So So So now you’re Oh, bro. Okay. Well, probably is. It’s pro. Yeah. I mean, like nobody and nobody likes Brosmer more than me, but that’s that’s probably your Okay. Should I put that poll out right now? Right now, if you had to choose for the Vikings quarterback of the future, Bromer or McCarthy, and see what the percentage is. Yeah. But then you’re Yeah, that that’s more a gauge of how many go for Bobos like on your, you know, but uh there’s a lot. I guarantee you there’s a lot or Drake Lindsay. Can we put Drake Lindsay in the equation? Yeah. Like what what what’s the plan then? Okay. So for two two day you’re you’re you’re you’re selling low because the kid only won one NFC offensive player of the week in his is two active games so far. Okay. So let’s let’s trade him for a couple day two picks. So then this off season you have you don’t have the cap maneuverability that you did last offseason cuz you built the roster around your hand selected first ever in franchise history top 10 quarterback who’s no longer on your roster. You sold low for second and a third cuz he sprained his ankle. So So now you’re you’re going in. Are you using your limited amount of cap resource? You’re going to have to restructure some contracts. You’re going to have to make some releases, but maybe we can open up 35 million. Who Who are we signing this off season? Or would you now like to package a bunch of picks with your first round pick? You got a couple extra day two ones. Now you’re going to try to trade into the top 10 of this coming class, right? That’s must be the thought. We don’t like McCarthy. He only won the one NFC offensive player of the week in his two games. We need someone who wins it every single time he puts that chin strap on. So, we have to trade up into the top 10 in this horrible quarterback class coming up. The 2026 quarterback back class stinks. Fernando Mendoza is the number one dude right now. Everyone else, there’s enormous questions and and Mendoza, we’ve seen him four or five good games with Indiana so far. Then you’re down to Dante Moore who started eight games in his college career. Lenor Sers who three and a half seconds to throw the ball physical freak but the accuracyy’s all over the place. Arch Manning might need some quarterback rehab school. Arch Manning is not going to be to the league in for multiple years, right? Like he going back to school. Like what is the plan here? You want to you want to throw money at some other team’s how how much and how are you going to do that in the cap situation that you’re in or you want to throw away next year’s draft just to swap out the C? What have you seen to justify that? That that that’s my thought. It’s it’s ridiculous. First of all, if they were to do it, they they they would go back to the Okonnell scrap heap. Okonnell would go back to to the junkyard of quarterbacks who have failed and and try and find one Jones or something. Yeah. What is that list now? Bryce, if Bryce comes jettisoned or something, I have no idea. But that’s what they would do. They’re not going to. But like the only reason so if if you were to take this seriously the only reason to be really really concerned because you haven’t seen enough to be concerned by his play is the injuries. Like that would be the only like like if if we were to have a conversation about boy I’m really worried I think it might be time to bail. I don’t think it would be based on mechanics at that point. I don’t think it would be based on the great uh ending in Chicago or the Falcons game. I think it would be based on I’m really concerned he is a China doll and I don’t know that but like that to me would be the only like I guarantee you if they’ve talked about something in TCO it’s been the injuries right he had the knee and now it’s the ankle and now is this a fluke should should he go and join the Twins because he would fit in perfect right now with the Twins whose prospects are always hurt but um but he needs a hamstring before he can join the Twins though right yeah but that to me would the conversation, but in no way, shape, or form should you, you know, you need to find out. And that’s where I come back to, okay, when’s he going to play? Like, that’s my thing. I keep coming back to that because you can’t be like, well, okay, here’s what we did. You guys should see we have fixed every mechanical issue we found and on Wednesday 2:35 p.m. this guy is going to Canton. But we don’t know yet at noon on Sunday. So, like that’s the real question and that’s the conundrum and that’s what I think is juicy about this is when do you put him back in knowing two things. One, Christian Daraw helps a lot being back at left tackle, but at the end of the day, as we’ve talked about before, you are going to handle pre like you’re going to get pressured. You got to you got to stand in there or run or whatever you do to have success. That’s the first thing. And then the second thing is when do you put a guy back into play? when there is no like it’s not like you know what we got the White Socks coming in for a three-game series and the White Socks suck so he is going to go to the plate and be great there. It’s a tough schedule. It’s a tough league. So that to me is the real talking points. Yeah. I mean he he won his NFL debut off a 600 plus day layoff on the road with Justin School as his left tackle uh against a team that has a winning record right now. I mean like I I think a lot of this stuff it’s over, you know, whatever. It’s it’s overblown because you’ve had the injury now and you have so much time to talk about it, right? Like the the Falcons game, was it was it the best? No, it wasn’t. I I don’t judge him on the fourth quarter cuz he shouldn’t have been on the field. And also, I I I think it’s an interesting question. The people that say that it’s a mimed injury and stuff like this, they don’t want to play him. Then why did they play a comp a physically compromised AJ McCarthy, they knew he was physically compromised in the fourth quarter of that Falcons game over putting Wentz in there when I I think that would have been the the the smart decision. Like I they want McCarthy out there. It’s a frustrating situation cuz that the ankle’s just not there yet. But yeah, we’re we’re kind of week to week with it right now. I feel like it’s a very small fraction now that is saying that that this is a conspiracy. Like I feel like that’s a very small like he’s not hurt. Like I I’m I’m hardressed to find rational people that think that that is like like there’s enough things to get to here without coming up with a grand conspiracy that they just benched him. Yeah. And the and the and the 30% of people that said they would take the second and third round picks that I think is a byproduct of the quarterback trauma that Vikings fans have endured year after year after year and the other young quarterbacks who have busted. There’s no there are no recent reference points unless you want to say the first few years of Dante before the knee injury. There’s no other than that there’s no reference points for a young quarterback making his way through some early career adversity and being the guy for 10 years. That does that does not exist unless you were born in 1950 as a Vikings fan and were like grown enough to watch the Fran Tarkington era. So there’s um there’s a lot of layers to this and for fans it’s the layer of like quarterback PTSD that they are trying to deal with and hopefully we can be therapists for those people here on Purple Daily Thor. Yeah. You know and another thing I want to address is you know the idea of working on a young quarterback’s mechanics that that’s pretty normal. You know, I mean, Josh Allen from the Bills, his his quite extensively and with outside people and they were bringing in like all these different people. They had a system with with videos and then they’d show him back like that was going on into his third season. And that’s when, you know, it sort of clicked with with Josh Allen. Josh Allen coming out, he had all the arm talent, all the athleticism, everything like that. But the ball at Wyoming would fly this way and that way cuz his mechanics were all over the place. I That’s not what it is with JJ. It’s marrying the the timing of it to the concepts of Okonnell’s thing, which is super duper frustrating when you had the kid and you like go and you get you get your present on Christmas day and then it’s like, yeah, but you’re not going to be able to use that for a year and a half. It’s like, you know, come on. But but I I don’t think that this is like a a super duper uh deviation, you know, type deal. Circumstantially, yeah, you’re coming back off that injury. Need to get you back out there. It’s your plant leg, you know, the the right ankle or whatever that that you’re working on. gota, you know, the the timing in the Falcons game was not great. We got to get working on that. But th this is not a a super duper abnormal thing is is the one thing that I’d say and and this is a a fixable. This is a we can polish this thing kind of a thing. Mhm. I I did do think that that one of the most candid responses that McCarthy gave on Wednesday that I liked also because it was just truthful was he at one point said something along the lines of, you know, I can go in and practice and wear those V goggles all I want, but it’s not the game. And he’s exactly right. Like with Jaden Daniels, who clearly thrived with it, and that’s awesome. But like it was like ah I did this and then everything I saw in the game I knew exactly what I was seeing and it’s like no you don’t and and so like yes there is a again you know I I think the reality is this too if this makes sense. So Darnold comes here and yes he had been a mess like his career hadn’t gone well but but he had a year in in San Francisco and the reality is he also came here like full like with a fully developed QB brain. Now, it had had some problems, but he was a quarterback adult. Okay, JJ McCarthy is 22. And the reality is, and to to go back to the top of the show, you know, Kevin Oonnell that we see, which seems to be a very patient man, a very understanding man. He’s not patient. He’s a football coach. So, I think what McCarthy is also fighting as a young man who’s now a dad with a lot going on, I think he’s also fighting the fact that his coach has a certain expectation that, you know, Kirk Cousins, you tell Kirk what to do, he’s a, again, he’s an adult quarterback. Brain is fully gone quarterback. He knows everything. JJ McCarthy doesn’t yet. And so I do think that there is probably a push and a pull internally a bit which is again not a shock between Kevin Oonnell and JJ McCarthy about what McCarthy needs because you know keep in mind guys for the most part I don’t think that we have had um I don’t think Kevin Oonnell has ever like really developed a quarterback who’s been like young and didn’t know some stuff like with Darnold it clicked but it’s not surprising. So, just again, I think there’s a as with all of these stories, I think there’s a lot going on internally that we don’t know, that we don’t see, that they won’t allow us to see, and it has to be sort of hashed out and worked out, and it can be, but to come out on the other side, this is probably sort of the sausage being made thing. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. And you know, when McCarthy went to uh Michigan, uh he goes into Jim Harbaugh’s pro style system, but he was such a good out of structure type prospect. That’s why it was kind of a not not a not a confusing decision, but it was an interesting decision that that this, you know, out of structure uh type quarterback prospect, dual threat goes to decides to play in the in the pro style system. And there JJ McCarthy had to learn to play within structure, right, in in in the hard system. Here you have to learn to play within structure of a timing system where the timing it’s it is uh predicated on and and dependent on your footwork being bang bang bang bang bang in the timing of the concept because then the thing of like the here’s the guy and then if you had to go to the second guy it’s timed out. So then this should be your window for him but if that window is not there now you can go to you know etc etc. Now you have to sort of learn that thing. I think that’s, you know, that’s the thing that O’Connell’s talking about about we we got to get JJ there with that. And then meanwhile, I think on the other side, you know, you talk about it like two ways. I I think from the other side, McCarthy again, so awesome out of out of structure, uh, off platform, extending play, stuff like that. It was sort of striking in the um you know the the first couple games Falcons game in particular I’m thinking about with all the pressure that was being allowed with Justin school where it seemed like McCarthy on these deep drops that he was being told you know get to your drop and then here’s the concept try to run this thing where as you I’m like why aren’t you moving you know first of all with the play call moving the pocket form or JJ why aren’t you using your legs a little bit more and it I also think it goes the other way where Okonnell is going to have to allow allow him if you see the pressure or if if in the moment you can bail from the concept and use your special ability to improvise. So I I think that trust thing I I think it it sort of goes both ways. Um and it did at Michigan too. Like they found the the balance there. Um you know that that ended up working out really well. But we’re just sort of working on that. And and to your guys’ point about Okonnell, this is a guy known around the country as the quarterback guru and he’s been known for that because all these various veterans, you know, not no MVP candidates come in here and every one of them he he raises up a little bit and and now you have to, you know, Josh Dobs, he wins a couple days after Josh Dobs comes in and all these different stories and now you have to build a quarter like timing of the footwork to the concept which is, you know, it’s like an initial thing that players quarterbacks learn when they go into the NFL. Kevin Oonnell’s never done this before. To your guys’ point, he’s used to, you know, moneyballing these games, winning at the margins week in and week out. Now, you have to to do this thing with the young quarterback. So, I do think there’s a little bit of push pull there as well. Let’s uh last few minutes here. Uh we we do there’s at least one ask Thor anything that I’d love to throw out here. Uh I know that Josh Allen is not an apples to apples for the reasons you mentioned. Those were like actual mechanical sailing throws at a much different level. Different issues, but you know, it it took Josh Allen 28 starts until the completion percentage like took a huge jump and he really clicked and figured it out. And they found ways to to grind out 10 wins even before he was a finished product. But sometimes with 22, 23 year olds, it just takes 20 25 actual games. And so ankle healthy, start playing, then we’ll see what happens. Uh Jeb, before we get into an assho or anything, Mystic Lake on board here at uh at Purple Daily. We’re super excited. Yes, indeed. And how about a place that has a complete package for Vikings fans? Listen up, cuz we’re talking about drawings, giveaways, and exclusive fan experiences. If you need a ride to the game, $15 gets you a roundtrip ride uh to every Vikings home game. We’re talking no parking hassles, just smooth travels. If you’re staying close to the action, how about the Hop House, where the game is always on, specials are always flowing. Enjoy fan favorite dining and drinks while not missing any of the action at the Hop House. And then after the game, relax and recharge in one of their luxurious hotel suites. That’s right, turning a great game day into a great overall experience. Don’t miss your chance to win exclusive Vikings merchandise and experiences only at Mystic Lake, where every day is game day. Mysticlake.com. mysticlake.com. and welcome aboard to our show. We certainly appreciate the support from our friends at Mystic Lake. Uh our friends at Pepsi and Buffalo Wild Wings are teaming up to create and distribute these Justin Jefferson souvenir cups right here. They’ve got QR codes on them where you can scan and enter to win Victor’s Ride, a Polaris 1000 ATV. They’re also just cool cups to have. I got like two or three of these. Just kind of Jefferson one. I’ I’d like one actually. Uh well, this is if I can have one. I got I think I have three of them. I I could maybe spare one for the sports dad. I like it. It would look good in my room right here. I mean, thorough. Yeah. Throw Thor one. Okay. Well, I can’t give all three. This is my like prop one. And then I have one that I actually, you know, is in rotation drink. Well, I don’t want that one. I want the prop. Well, I wash it. But, you know, you can uh you can get these cups at Buffalo Wild Wings. When you go to a Buffalo Wild Wings in the Twin Cities, you can order 12 wings, any style you want to, and uh get one of these Justin Jefferson cups. Scan the QR code, enter to win that Players 1000 ATV. Buffalo Wild Wings, the preferred sports bar of the Minnesota Vikings. And Pepsi is the official beverage of the Minnesota Vikings. And then Jud, you’re a hockey fan as well. Jud’s hockey show and the Barown Beauties are now part of Score North, Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. And the World Juniors are coming to town here pretty soon. And this folks is in my opinion the best annual yearly tournament that is in not hockey in all of sports. Absolutely fantastic. The World Juniors coming to town starts December 26th, runs through January 5th. 50th anniversary of a tournament that comes here very rarely. 1982 was the last time. What it is is the best under 20 players in the world, including future National Hockey League stars competing on our ice right here in town. Single game tickets are on sale now starting at $39. Preliminary round and quarterfinal matchups available. Go to world juniorsm26.com. World Juniorsmn26.com to catch upand cominging stars in the National Hockey League. Okay. Ask Thor anything here. This one comes from Jason Pakovich. Jason sent like six different lengthy questions. So Jason, I’m going to take one of them here for time purposes, but he says, “Quacy’s draft record.” Yes, I know it’s only a few drafts, but the misses are way too much for me. He and his department’s record is really bad at this point. Thor pointed out on Twitter that we could have had Cam Scataboo, but instead drafted Ty Felton. Third round picks shouldn’t just be Gunners on special teams. We could have had Jared Verse instead of Dallas Turner as well. Are those fair direct criticisms? Yeah. I mean, yeah. I I think it’s fair to start talking about Quy’s uh draft record. we we’ve had it long enough and um you know he’d been in in in power long enough. The the first draft you know I that’s the thing where it’s really easy to to criticize him quite a bit for that. I try to add the context that they were using the scouts from Spielman and that uh Quy’s a general manager that it’s not necessarily his film evaluations. He is weighing the opinions that are being brought to him and the information and then sort of synthesizing that to sort of make the board and and make your decisions whatever. and you’re relying on people that weren’t your people at that time. But that being said, there are improvements of course that can be made uh to the drafting. The drafting has not been the best. Quy’s been really good in in UDFA. Um he’s been really really really good in free agency. Um the trading has been, you know, uh up and down. U maybe the the first one with the Lions trading down out of the Kyle Hamilton pick, that’s the one we can really nitpick with. But the the drafting could improve. Yes. And and you guys know I mean like um you know this past draft I gave the Vikings a D you know in my for my full-time job uh with the NFL draft stuff like um and I grade on a curve but I I quibble with some of the decisions. Um the Felton one would be a good example and I wondered if the team panicked in that situation because Jared Wilson and Xavier Watts went right before you and then there was a quick trade out. They just traded five or six spots down, you know, and then they they end up taking Felton. But a guy Felton that that year one it’s a gunner. That’s the thing they the first thing they mentioned after they drafted him was he’s a he’s one of the best gunners in the draft. Great. Um I out of that pick, I want a starter and not a starting gunner. Um I I thought Ty Felton was a fifth round prospect, you know. So I I He would be a starting he would be a starting gunner in fairness if you punted to start the game. So Well, ex Exactly. So yeah, I mean that’s, you know, it’s it’s a difference of opinion with with some of that different stuff. He he’s very good in in in a lot of forms of, you know, his job, a lot of the different tasks of it, the drafting thing. I think it’s fair to say that that that needs to to improve. Do we need to have Orion Griggs in discussion? I mean, it’s it’s hard to know exactly what his influence and role is, but it is great, right? Because he’s he was GM Colts. He’s the footbally football guy. Like like I I’ve said this, I would love to know what Quazi does because you know it’s not the traditional GM, but Thor, I I feel like you’ve got a pretty good working knowledge of people and departments and things like that and you certainly have been in this business long enough to go back through some of the Griggsson drafts. Um I feel like because of his position, he sails through without us talking about him much. Uh and I’m not passing judgment. I’m asking a question of you. Do we need to have a Ryan Griggsson discussion? potentially. Yeah, I mean maybe you know if uh you know the the the GM version of a fall guy before him that probably maybe a domino that would go right before Quazy. I’m not sure but um yeah like there we don’t know that you know the exact pecking order of you know the hierarchy in Quasy’s mind of whose voice is the most important. The thing that we know is that’s he he that’s his decision-making paradigm is it’s other people’s input and then I’m and data and then I’m weighing it then I make my decision based on that. If uh uh Griggson has had an enormous amount of sway in some of the the mistake picks I I think that would be fair. Um the Colts obviously had quibbles with with his job performance. That’s why he don’t have a job anymore. But I just don’t know where who what were his opinions on all these different players on the board. you know, the the ones where where you become more obviously it’s the guys that you draft and that that’s where the the importance of those becomes even more. But was Griggsson higher, you know, the rest of the class like was was he hitting on other guys, you know, as a whole, it just didn’t work out to pick that way. That stuff we don’t know. I do think it’s fair to do an audit of the front office if some of those things don’t improve and where are, you know, the the is where are the the issues with the draft picks, the the values of some of these guys. It seems like you’re getting pulled up the board a little bit. Why is that happening? Is it because we don’t have a great understanding inside the building of how the the rest of the NFL sees some of those guys? Is it because we this guy or this guy within our building had a conviction? Who are those guys? Do they consistently miss? Maybe the this is someone I need to cut out of my decision-m paradigm if I’m quy. But yeah, all that stuff is is worthy of thinking about, I think. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, keep keep sending in and we’ll carve out more time for these when we’re not, you know, in like 45 minutes spirited quarterback discussion. We’ll we’d love to carve out more ask Thor anything questions, especially with the the early draft work that you’re doing looking ahead to 2026. So, um, awesome stuff here, Thor Nestrom from Matthew Barry’s fantasylife.com. [Music] All right, Thor, enjoy a football weekend here. football pretty. So, by the way, we got Gophers and and uh Go Big Red on Friday night. Can’t wait. I’ll be in the building. I might see you there. I think we might I think we might run into uh into you in that building. Penn State’s next coach, too. Yeah, I’m I’m going to wave from the Nebraska’s next coach to the next Nitney Lions. Oh, PJ, is that your You’re getting that out there, Phil? I would say if Matt Rule does go to Penn State, NE Nebraska, I I I PJ’s got his little quirks and flaws here, but man, if you gave PJ more budget, bigger brand, everything, I think Nebraska could do a lot worse than PJ Flag. Well, if PE wants to jump ship, this is the offseason to do it. Th this coaching carousel coming up for college football is going to be absolutely ridiculous. You already see some of these blue blood jobs open up. Several power four jobs already open up and Yeah. And you’re going to have the domino thing in the offseason where Penn, for instance, Penn State going to pick off someone’s head coach. So then they got to pick off someone’s head coach, you know, that sort of thing. Florida, you know, some an expected job is going to be open. Virginia Tech, they’re going to be picking off from beneath them. And you’re just going to have a whole bunch of FPS schools that are end up changing their their coaches. Will PJ talk to UCLA again? We we’ll have to find out. I hope Peach stays. I I tweeted this out right after the Purdue win, even though the Purdue they probably didn’t deserve to win that game. was a lethargic game. That game got PJ Flex uh winning percentage at Minnesota over 60%. Only coach in the Gopher last 75 years to have a winning percentage over over 60%. As far as I’m concerned, Peace can stay as long as he wants. He’s the best Gopher head coach since leather helmets basically. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s go. Keep Keep him around and and go and beat the Huskers on Friday. Peace. Give him more money. Let’s get this thing done. Give more money. Let’s get more money. We got to find some Let’s cancel something else. Let’s cancel. We we got to keep Koy around. We got to keep Drake Lindsay around. We got to got to build him back up. Those three those are that’s going to be costly. Is going to get rerecruited, right? Oh yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. Well, Drake Lindsay’s a quarterback. I love this. I love Chaos. Oh, Chaos. All right. Thor Istrom for the Sports Dead. I’m Phil. We’ll see you guys for a feedback Friday tomorrow. Also, the Doogie episode bonus Purple Daily on your feeds. So, check it out. Click that subscribe button. Help us get to 60,000 subscribers on the Purple Daily YouTube channel. 365 days a year of Vikings takes right here on Purple Daily.

Thor Nystrom joins Mackey & Judd to discuss the current Minnesota Vikings QB situation — including Kevin O’Connell getting snippy with Judd! How will / should the Vikings proceed with JJ McCarthy? If you were given the opportunity to trade McCarthy right now for 2nd and 3rd round picks, would you? Plus, an Ask Thor Anything question about Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s draft track record.

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