Reevaluating Minnesota Vikings 2025 free agent additions

Reevaluating Minnesota Vikings 2025 free agent additions

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. All right. It’s a feedback Friday on a Sunday morning here on Purple Daily. And uh we are pre-recording this before Sunday morning. So, if something crazy in sports or football happened last night, oh my gosh, did you guys see that crazy thing that happened? And if not, happy Sunday morning. It’s good to be with you here on Purple Daily. Okonnell got fired. How crazy was that? I didn’t know. Here’s my reaction. More reaction on the Monday episode of Purple Daily. I’m blown away. I’m absolutely blown away. Never saw it coming. Uh before we get to a bunch of and these the feedback questions and comments and takes are all over the board as you can imagine off of that game on Thursday night, but uh we’ll get to a bunch of stuff here. What’s going on on Underdog here uh Dex? Of course uh knowing that Saturday already happened in the sports world. Well, here here’s the good news, Phil. It’s still Boosttober for another week or so, another few more days left of Boosttober. Forget Kirktober from back in the day. Boosttober is where it’s at. football at underdog. When you play your first $5, you’ll get a $100 in bonus funds. In fact, go to go to Thor KU. Not only can you get some great takes on the Vikings, you can also just tail him um on underdog pickums, which he won a seven item one on the Thursday night football game. Uh so he 25 times his money, which is an awesome win for Thor. Be like Thor. And also just send me your wins if you’re smart and you’re good at this stuff, unlike old decks tweets, which is totally okay. Fade my decisions. You guys keep winning on Underdog. Promo code score when you play your first $5, a hundred bucks in bonus funds. All right, boys. Let’s get into the feedback here. You can always send in questions or takes. I mean, the the inboxes were literally just a steady flow of pissed-off fans throughout Thursday night, Friday. Um, and you there’s a feedback tab in the Score North app. You can email the show. So, Jack Waznjak says, “Hey guys, can you do a deep dive into the free agent signings this off season from from back in like March and maybe re-evaluate the other options that were on the market that well there I’ll give you a couple. We could do that exercise a little bit. I mean, there’s a bajillion free agents, so we’re probably not going to do the whole thing.” But he says, “I think the strategy of going with McCarthy over Darnold or Daniel Jones is being critiqued way too much as opposed to the poor execution on what they did with the cap space that they created. Let’s be honest, we all wanted to move on from uh we all wanted to move on uh to McCarthy and anyone saying otherwise is being unrealistic. The better discussion is the sa the savings with that money and the swings we took on free agents haven’t worked out like last season. Could we have used the cap space better in hindsight? So, they went out and signed Will Fry and Ryan Kelly along the offensive line, Jonathan Allen, Jayvon Hargrave on the defensive line. Isaiah Rogers, cornerback, traded for Jordan Mason, signed Eric Wilson, depth linebacker, and Jeff Akuda. If I’m missing anyone in there, I think those were kind of the Well, they brought back Yeah. And they brought back Byron Murphy Jr., Aaron Jones. So yeah, I mean it’s a good talker. It’s a good point. And again, as we discussed on an earlier episode, I was in favor of it. Like I thought they did a good job. I thought that they and I probably did not question enough the health and the age of guys. Uh but in hindsight now, yeah, he’s it’s definitely correct that I was on board with moving on to McCarthy, but I also was on board with going out and signing a free agent class that looked really deep and really good and has been disappointing. Uh so I think the rationale of the rationale of that note, I think is spot on. like like that’s the talker because how many people really at the end of of the day and there are some how many people really said you know what Sam Darnold you got to sign him again a lot of us were a lot of people did I I feel like a lot of analysts were were pretty much in that game they did but I’m saying Vikings fans I I feel like Vikings f I feel like a large faction and I might be wrong but I feel like a large faction of Vikings fans were like you drafted McCarthy you should play him but it’s also like okay but it’s great because here’s this infl flux of veteran free agents got. So, this is this is pretty much spot on, I think, right now as we talk as to as to what the conversation probably is. And I believe the and maybe we should go listen back to one of these episodes, but I believe it was Bill Barnwwell like early in May said all these additions they’re making in Hargrave and the veterans, this is incredibly risky and probably not going to work out well for the Vikings. Um, so maybe we should revisit what we probably said in the moment of that, but there there were analytics and there were analysts and there were talking heads that were saying, man, it’s kind of a risky bet here to be put if you’re going to be players in free agency to put a lot of stock into either players that are too old or guys that have significant injury history and the latter is definitely taking part too on the offensive line. There’s also a lesson, you know, the Ross Tucker episode that we did. We brought in, you know, national football analyst Ross Tucker and and the audience, you guys hated what he was saying about the team and but his main points were from either from what he was kind of hearing or gleaning that McCarthy wasn’t really fully ready to jump in as a starting quarterback and they’d be making a mistake if they didn’t go get like a Rogers or they should have kept Darnold. Like he was kind of going down those paths and he said he didn’t think the Vikings were going to be that good. He said they were going to be like third or fourth in the division and you know the audience pushed back and has basically expelled him from ever being a guest on the show ever again. He also predicted that Isaiah Rogers would have two pick sixes for the Vikings this year. He had one earlier. Probably should have had one bang bang ruling that they overturned on Thursday. But yeah, I mean sometimes a a national perspective is maybe a more clear-headed perspective. You know, we’ve also been I think we meaning like people that follow the team closely have been right on a lot of things that the national media doesn’t see when they stick the Vikings with a six and a half overunder win total two years ago and all of us are like actually this defense, this roster, Kevin Oonnell working with Sam Darnold. Um but like on the roster building front, the biggest one I can think of in terms of where would you have spent the Hargrave Jonathan Allen money is cuz those guys are like on the older side. you were you were they were released from their teams. You were kind of playing the comp pick game by signing those guys instead of an unrestricted free agent. Milton Williams was the prime 26-year-old interior defensive lineman from the Eagles that was on the free agent market. The Patriots gave him a ridiculous amount of money. He was like some crazy I can’t remember what the exact contract was. and he’s been a pretty darn good player for the Patriots this year, but I don’t know that he’s been I don’t know that there was like two or three other super obvious answers that you could have signed this guy instead of Jayvon Hargrave. Um, yes, I agree. And it would have worked out better for you. I mean, there’s basically three major levers to pull for building a good roster. There’s the draft, there’s free agency/trades, and then there’s however you find your quarterback is the is the other like big lever. And the Vikings right now have been bad at drafting. They had kind of a wishy-washy free agency class this year in 2025 and their quarterback situation still remains completely up in the air. So, it’s no wonder that they’re having a hard time winning games this season. I think the question is from a defensive line standpoint, not should they have invested in somebody else, but should they have like focused that on trying to bring Camb by the way at the time I’m like I’m fine with this. So, but if you look at that, I I don’t I don’t necessarily think it’s apples to apples as far as who they could have gotten and who they did get from a a positional standpoint. I think it’s how you allocated your resources and spent your money and should you have done it elsewhere. Uh, you know, in the secondary, safety, cornerback, things like that, or quarterback, because you could have just given $30 million or $35 million a year to Sam Darnold. I mean, let’s objectively the way that it’s hindsight is 2020. You have the benefit now of knowing that Ryan Kelly got hurt and is probably not going to play and Harrave and Allen have been fine, but like Jaylen Revan’s your best interior defensive lineman this year and like he doesn’t make any money. Mhm. Uh and Levi Drake Rodriguez has been pretty good. Like he’s he’s been a good player. So, do you think the Vikings would be better than three and four right now if you had Sam Darnold as your starting quarterback minus, let’s say, Hargrave and Ryan Kelly or something? Or Harrave and Allen? Yes. Or Allen and Kelly, you know. Yeah, I think they would be for sure. Um, but but that brings me back to it’s interesting in this discussion because I think there’s no question as disappointing as it’s been that that McCarthy’s been hurt and the offense has not functioned like we expected or hoped. I mean, I don’t think we can talk enough about the defense and like the last two games have been awful. Mhm. And and so the whole thing it’s weird because the quarterback will always be and it should be it’s football the central focus, right, Phil? But if you think about it, like if we were to part parcel through what’s gone wrong and especially the last two games, I mean the this defense has been god awful. Mhm. Which is shocking. Which is absolutely shocking. And part of that is because the guys that you brought in Hargrave and Allen to start with them haven’t been what you expected. And you know, Jeff Okuda to go down that route. I still don’t get that. That’s the one thing I will I will say this on Allen Hargrave. I was on board. I’ve been disappointed, but I was on board. Mhm. Uh I feel like the Yokuda thing was a first guess from day uh day one. And it’s not that he has cost you directly. He has at times, but to me it’s more so of okay, what are your personnel packages when you don’t trust him because they don’t trust him. Yeah, it’s but but they laid out the roster. It’s like they had a ton of trust in him as the third quarterback, but then they don’t play him enough to show and when they do play him, he’s not good. So, so that would be my question just from a first guess standpoint. If I was only allowed to ask questions of things that I was like, I don’t not sure I get this the Okuda one because I feel like the trickle down of Mattelis ending up in coverage more often, like the trickle down of not trusting Okuda is is huge. the uh we have we have not yet on Purple Daily gone through the the PFF grades that came out after that Thursday night game. And I’m on the I’m just looking at the the defensive side here. They ran a they ran so many defensive players out. So once the game got kind of out of hand, they did Dwight McGloth got four snaps and Jay Ward got six. Bo Richtor got like 10. Uh but so you take let’s say you take those three guys out for garbage. played 17 defensive players in that game and Van Genko’s hurt. So, it’s just a ton. But here’s what’s interesting. Jeff Akuda again was the lowest graded defensive player. He only played 11 snaps and he was the lowest graded and PFF has had their issues publicly this year. A lot of people have pointed that out, but um there’s still some value in these grades. And he was targeted three times, two catches for 42 yards, a touchdown. just got cooked on that touchdown to Lab Makoni. And I’m curious on the season. I’m going to pull up like where does Akuda rank among all cornerbacks here because I think it’s probably toward the bottom again. I’m going to guess bottom five. Is he qualified? Let me see if he’s even qualified because he hasn’t played that many snaps. 20%. So there are how many qualified? Uh let’s see here. So, oh man, is is Mai is Mai Blackman up here? Someone said that Mai Blackman was was high up on this list at one point. So, there are in the NFL this season going into Sunday 119 qualified quarterbacks. All right. Where do you think he ranks? So, he’s qualified. He I I if he I I went 20% of of the snaps to as the qualifier 119 players. I’m going to say he I’m going to guess he ranks 113th. 118th. He’s LA. He’s dead last. He’s dead last. There you go. He’s dead last. He has a 32.4 PFF grade overall and a 35.7 grade out of 100 in coverage. Right. They they they literally took a flyer on a top three overall pick that they thought they could rejuvenate like they did on the offensive side of the ball with Sam Darnold. Mhm. And it would be like if Sam Darnold was worse than the previous version of Sam Darnold, at least in PFF grade terms. They they have the And he’s only played like a hundred snaps. So they know too they know too that he’s not good. but he is their third quarterback in a league that has a lot of three wide receiver, four wide receiver sets out there. And they’ve chosen either to put the worst cornerback in the league out there in Jeff Akuda for 100 snaps or to only defend those formations with two cornerbacks and an extra safety or an extra bigger body. Yep. But I don’t know what their move is at this point. But they also play him what what’s weird is and this is what I really don’t get. They they thought okay if we play him towards the uh towards the boundary or the short side that he can use the sideline as as a shield. But the problem with that is Justin Herbert a good quarterback is still going to attack him immediately and a good coaching staff is going to attack him with the best receiver. So yeah, you can you can try to help him, but not enough to make him a third corner, which if you look at it until now, and this is the way that the league operates, your third corner, the nickel, is a starting job. It should be a starting job. Like like that, that should be a guy that you trust to play more than 50% of your snaps. And if you ever say, you know what, we don’t and we’re going to use a safety instead. like the three safety looks I’ve loved and they’ve been very very intelligent but now it’s almost like with Bayham who was a quarterback on you’re saying Theo Jackson Harrison Smith who is old now like he is just slowed down. Um and Josh Matelis can give us a pseudo corner and my response is no. Yeah. Uh there’s a Harrison Smith question in here from somebody here. Uh yeah, Michael Wilson. Let’s pull this one up here. Michael Wilson because we’re already we’re kind of going down this path. He he says, “Hey guys, just wanted to send a message to the show. Love what you do.” Is it me or is it time for Harrison Smith to call it a career after this season on Thursday night and really all year? He’s been a day late and a dollar short in coverage. I think it’s time to wind this thing down. Losing Bayham kills us at this point. Yeah, he’s I mean you kind of knew that he wasn’t going to be the same. Well, it’s been that it’s been like that for a couple years, two or three years now. And they kept and they and he I guess kept pressing their luck a bit like you can do this. You can continue to play and play and play, but you are going to go off the cliff at at some point. And although it’s still not out there what was the case in training camp, don’t forget he missed a good portion of training camp and then he had to be eased back in. And supposedly that was not because he was old. It was because of some sort of medical issue. So now you’re old, you’re slow, and something’s wrong with you. That’s a bad combination. That’s that’s the hat-tick of bad. So yes, I would say if you were to truthfully ask Harrison Smith, do you regret coming back? He would probably say yes. And I think that this is definitely it. Yeah. Great career though. Hall of Fame career probably. And he kind of figured too like I’m only going to come back if I think we can win a Super Bowl. And we won 14 games last year and I had a good time golfing with JJ McCarthy in the offseason. So I feel like yeah, we could maybe make this thing happen. Yep. But uh football life comes at you fast. Okay, let’s go to Oh man. Jared Cochran says the football gods are about to play the sickest joke on the Purple Daily Crew in NFL history. You heard it here first. The Seattle Seahawks are going to play the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. Good God. Making it a Sam Darnold versus Daniel Jones Super Bowl. It’s out of the realm of possibility. It’s the capital. What are you talking about, sick? I mean, you could basically take credit. You could say, “Hey, our guy developed them both.” Right. Um, you know what? You know, I hate to say this because as a Vikings fan, it would be sort of sickening, but just from a just from a car crash rubbernecking standpoint, I wouldn’t be able to look away for two weeks. God, it would be the most Vikings thing. It’s it would be like creatively the most Vikings thing ever cuz it’s not something you would have thought of a year or two ago. What are ways that you can torture Vikings fans that already haven’t been used in 60 plus years? This would be a new one. This would be a new one right here, man. Absolutely. So, I just on that note of Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones, I posed this question on Twitter a couple days ago and let me actually let me just see what the what the final what the final tally was. I grabbed a screenshot of it when there was only like a few hundred votes, but pretty sure the percentages have changed over the thousands of votes. Now, the one that got away. I want you guys to to rank for me in order of regret. The ones that got away here. And I’ll give you the audience results. 5,000 votes. Jim Harbaugh, who you could have hired as head coach in 2022. Aaron Rogers, who you could have signed as a one-year quarterback this last summer. Daniel Jones, who you could have given a little more than the Colts gave to. It was if you would have outbid for Daniel Jones and told him obviously with the benefit of hindsight McCarthy out for another half a season, you would you would go back in history and say, “All right, I guess we’re parking McCarthy for one more year and let’s try this thing with Daniel Jones or just bring Sam Darnold in.” And Sam Darnold being the other one that got away. How would you rank those four guys in order of one that got away regret? Darnold Jones, Aaron Rogers, Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh Curbball of the nth degree. So yeah, I mean he’s my number one. That makes it difficult. That makes it difficult. Um, given the circumstances, I would go Jones Harbaugh, Darnold Rogers. And And I say that I say that because I still didn’t want to commit, and I will hold this. I did not want to commit to a longer term deal with Darnold. um Jones in retrospect like that would have been the one cuz you did I believe the reports are you offered him more than the Colts did but what the Colts did was they offered him a quarterback competition that he could win and he knew it. Um here he didn’t get that. He clearly got hey McCarthy’s our guy. We want you back but McCarthy’s our guy and so he bolted. So I would go Jo Yeah, Jones Harbaugh Darnold. And then my last one would be the veteran who’s going to face his former team today. Today on Fox on Fox. On Fox. It’s the Steelers and the Packers. Just a great match up. Jonathan from Soldier Field. No, it’s not at Soldierfield. It is. It’s Kenny Albert at Soldier Field. One of these teams, Kenny, I’m going to tell you right now, is going to win this game. And that team is going to score more points. Back to you, Kenny. Thanks. I love when when you watch when you like Jonathan Vilma, you literally could you could run like an entire backup team of scabs out for a series and he would have no idea that there’s new players on the field. Correct. How many times like oh Christian Darasaw is out or oh did they switch quarterbacks? Quarterback’s lined up out wide to the right and Vilma has no idea what’s happening. On th on Thursday night Christian Darasaw had been out for like three series when when Al Michaels mentioned in passing and Christian Darasaw’s out. Yeah, it’s like is this not worthy sideline report Kaye hard I think it was during the Browns game but when Vilma was or or I was watching a game that he was calling it the Browns goes yeah and that left tackle for the Browns and there’s like a 4se secondond pause 4 second pause and it’s so and so it’s like I’ve done zero prep or even looked at my spotting chart in the last uh three hours he has a spotting chart oh he definitely doesn’t he’s got a ro he strikes me he’s a roster guy he’s just got a roster and he’s like looking Oh yeah, that guy. I And Sunday, right, we had Adam Am and Greg Olsson. Adam Amin is legitimately one of my favorite playbyplay, not just for football, too. He does a great job calling baseball. Um, I love me some Adam mean. And Greg Olsen is obviously phenomenal, too. I It’s probably my favorite crew even. And and that includes Joe Buck and Troy Aman, who I also really really like. I would say Adam Mean and Greg Olsen are probably my favorite broadcast crew. How does how does Prime not pursue and and I think he could probably do both if he wanted Greg Olsen? Like I would make him and it’s not like they don’t have Kevin Haron and Greg Olsen on Thursday Night Football. Yeah. Like how is that not the done 10 years go just go for it. Yeah. But I mean Greg Olsen is so good and I get some notes. Oh, he’s not good. Yeah, he is. He’s fantastic. But do you think uh well what’s what are you getting better games on Thursday night or as the second Fox crew if the money is comparable? Like what’s the you’re probably getting those the numbers are big on Thursday night cuz people are finding those games. I think he could do both. But but Prime Prime has so much cash. Did didn’t Olen get his uh pay cut when Brady came in from like 10 million to three or something? I mean he’s doing fine. Pretty crazy. Yeah, but I mean I think Prime could like let’s just say restore that. Yeah. Would you restock me? What’s what’s her what’s Herb Street? Let’s see here. Kirk Herb Street uh NFL salary. Let’s say that. I What comes up here? We’ll see if Wait, is this accurate? What’s that? $18 million a year. So, a million dollars a game. Kirk Herb from Amazon has been around $18 million a year since signing with Amazon. Oh, well then Christ then pay Greg Olsson 20. I mean they’ve got money. They print money. So So he Okay. Yeah. He makes according to this Bleacher Report list. He makes Herb Street makes 6 million a year with ESPN doing college football and eight figures from Amazon. So, Amazon and I think more people are probably watching his college football work on game day plus the prime the prime college game, but he’s making like three times as much money. It’s Yeah. on Amazon Prime and the dog probably makes a ton, too. Oh, god. The Well, the dog’s package deal. It’s a separate contract. Yeah. Although, I will say this, the dog is great. I love dogs. Herb Street moved on from his last dog really quickly. Like, that dog died. He should he should have mourned a little bit longer. Well, I mean, he just replaced him immediately. It’s like with a very similar looking dog, too. You know, I feel like when Stella goes, I’ll give that a little bit of time. And then when Barney goes, I’ll give that a little bit of time. Well, but you’ve also and I I’m not trying to suggest something bad here, but like you you have Ryder. So, like when Stella goes, you’ll you have a dog in the house, God willing. Well, no. Ryder’s not Ryder is not a Zulgat. Ryder is a Oh, I’m not I’m sorry. The Barnney Barney. Barney. Barn. Sorry, not Ryder. Yeah, but I’m saying like like like when when our dog Holly died in like 2008, like we has a home home repair situation. Yeah, he’s going on. Yeah, that’s But I’m just I’m just saying Kirk for as upset as Kirk was like I was like he lost his best friend. It’s going to rip my heart out. And then like the next week it’s like I got this dog. Yeah. I think uh it I guess if you could pull this comparison full circle, it would if he were to pull a Zulgad, it would be you got cuz you got Barney kind of in advance as like a transition dog while Stella is old. It would be like if Herby had a a similar What what is it? Is it like a golden retriever or whatever? What’s Okay, I think you’re right. Two of them at the same time while Ben got old. Anyways, uh it’s a lot of money that old Herby’s making there. Hey, you you can you can make money uh through the prize picks app if you so choose. And right now, just let me open this thing up here for Football Sunday. Prize picks where you pick two or uh three or four or five up to six players and you pick more or less on their projected stats and uh boom, it’s that easy. It could be like a 30- secondond process if you want it to be. But we got like here’s a couple of the hot ones that are out there for Football Sunday. Jackson Dart and also Bjan Robinson. Uh 0.5 passing touchdowns. 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So, scan the code on these Justin Jefferson Pepsi souvenir cups after getting 12 wings and a Pepsi at Buffalo Wild Wings and make sure your fridge is stocked with Pepsi before kickoff. Uh make sure uh if you’re into such things that maybe you’re stocked with some Lucy Breakers as well, Dax, that’s right. Yeah, I’m I’m fully stocked with from our from our friends here at Lucy. Uh Lucy products are for adults of legal age and every order is age verified. Does contain uh nicotine, which is an addictive chemical, but we do I do like my my Wintergreen uh Lucy. You can go to PD.20. Use promo code PD20 to get 20% off your first order. They have mango, berry, citrus, apple, espresso, and so much more. Uh lucy.co/pd20 co/pd20 to get 20% off your first order. All right, back to the feedback here. Oh, by the way, uh to answer the original question, the order of regret for the one that got away, give me Harbaugh number one, Darnold for half the money of the top quarterbacks on the market. Number two, Daniel Jones, you got he’s playing his ass off. Number three, tied with Aaron Rogers. I would be curious to see what Ro But Rogers behind a rickety offensive line would be. He’d just be yelling at people. So, uh Jonah Kenyon says, “I hope this message finds you mad at the Vikings as I am after Thursday night’s debacle. You guys absolutely hit the nail on the head with your opening reactions on Ventine after the game. Kevin Oonnell’s inability to make adjustments to fit the personnel that he has is the most frustrating thing for me this season. Why are we drawing up pass plays on third and one and expecting Carson Bleeping Wentz to get us first downs when we have a guy in Jordan Mason whose skill set is literally to get four to five running yards up the gut? It feels like we keep banging our heads on the same wall and expecting something different to happen. KC needs to put the ego away and do what’s best for the team to get a win, not try to constantly prove he is the smartest person on the field. Please don’t take this as me wanting KOC fired, but I am getting frustrated at the inability to adapt, as I know you guys and many other fans are as well. Yeah, I think that sums it up. At least from the game, that sums it up pretty well. It was an incredibly frustrating thing to watch. I feel like uh I feel like we’ve seen this film before, which is the KO sort of stubbornly taking a quarterback who is incapable of doing what what he wants and still insisting on trying to do said things. So yeah, I think that is uh summed up very well as far as why the frustration exists off off that game along with the fact that they just no showed the game. Yeah. What do you think would happen if he gave up play calling? And we kind of talked about that on a different show, but if he gave up play calling, let’s say it was old Wes Phillips who he’s let call plays a little bit in the preseason. Yep. What do you think? I mean, it’s a big big ego step to do that, but there are a lot of Jim Harbaugh doesn’t call plays. Greg Roman does. And Jim Harbaugh guides from 30,000 ft. He leads. He’s got his hand on everything. Yep. Um, you could always go back to calling plays if you wanted to, right? doesn’t it does not need to be permanent if I am correct on on this. So when Andy Reid was coaching the Eagles and Childris was his OC, Childress did not call plays. Reed did. But then if you recall after Brad got the job here at some point in time the Lions fired that goofball Marty Mourwig and he went goofball. He was a complete goofball and he went and joined back up with Reed and called plays. So, so like Reed has actually at times had other guys call plays and then to your point, Phil, he goes back and takes it back again. So, I just I honestly think for the circumstances, like if this was still Darnold or Cousins, Kale can call plays, that’s fine. But for the circumstances of McCarthy, like what is best for the child? That’s my question. We need to do what’s best for the child here. And the child and this is not a condescending thing, but I mean the you’re trying to develop JJ McCarthy. He is your project. And do I think that Kevin Oonnell stubbornly insisting that JJ McCarthy should be able to run his scheme? Do I think that that’s what’s best for the child? I don’t. I just don’t. Yeah. I think the other thing is like I think Kevin feels like his communication in that headset is an important part of the the development and the growth and the success of of McCarthy cuz and I don’t I don’t I’m not going to pretend to have ever like had a helmet on where I know exactly like what it what who how many people are in your ear, but I would assume when the bullets are flying and the play clock is resetting at 40 seconds and you got about 25 seconds where you can talk to a guy and give the play right? That that would be the play caller and there’s not room for let’s say Wes Phillips is the play caller and Kevin Oonnell is just like the 30,000 foot voice. If there’s something that Kevin wants to tell JJ, hey, be on the lookout for this or hey, tell the guys in the huddle this is he jumping is Wes Phillips giving the play and then does Kevin also jump in and say something or I don’t think he can, right? I think it’s just one guy. I think it’s one voice. Well, yeah, it’s an interesting point and and I think it’s valid, but here’s the thing. So, if this is a scale, right? Let’s say that we’re way weighing the scale of what’s best for McCarthy. Yes. Because th this goes back to when Kevin was with Shawn McVey with the Rams and when Jared Goff when McVey took over the whole thing was he would talk to Goff and diagnose the defense and it clearly worked until there were 15 seconds left when the communication device goes out. Okay. So there’s something to be said for what you just brought up. But the problem is if he has given him a play that is uh this is going to work play and McCarthy’s like okay I guess I have to run this play. Do I care that he’s going to tell him that he sees some type of tell with the safety when I’m going to have McCarthy drop back, hold the football too long, and now he gets sacked, and so the tell with the safety, you know, at the end of the day doesn’t matter. Yeah. Yeah. These are I mean, yeah. And we’re all we can do is kind of speculate on like some of that communication and whatnot, but okay. Amir comes in with a quarterback draft hot take. Says, “I have a hot take that I’ve been simmering on for a few weeks.” H it would like like to share with you guys. Interesting. Now, I will say air actually sent this in I think before the Thursday night game. Uh but it but it is it’s maybe even more valid now after the Thursday night game. So his take’s been simmering but now it’s boiling. Yeah. I don’t It’s cuz like if it’s pouring all over the kitchen floor now is what’s Oh my god, that’s such a pain. And that’s hot water. It’s dangerous. Okay, it is burn your feet. He says, “The Vikings made a mistake drafting JJ McCarthy.” That’s his hot take. I’m not out on JJ. The Vikings would have ma The Vikings would have made a mistake drafting any quarterback once KO’s top two guys were unavailable. Allow me to explain. KO’s track record with quarterback speaks for itself. The team should have had confidence that he could win with a Sam Darnold or a Daniel Jones. Those two are making mid-level money in the range we wished Cousins had been making all those years. Uh oh, I have to give up a free agent signing if I want Darnold on that $30 million contract. Okay. Uh you can have you can have uh Jayvon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen back. Take your pick of one of them and then uh I’ll take Harrison Phillips back in return and not trade him. I’m not losing any sleep over that transaction. Now, Jud seems to be 100% confident that Sam Darnold can’t be the guy based on the last two games of his Vikings tenure. Yes, Darnold looked terrible, but the O line and coaching deserve equal parts of that pie chart of blame had the Vikings not drafted JJ. So, he’s essentially saying KO clearly wanted Drake May. Maybe he wanted Jaden Daniels. And then like if if there was a gap and they didn’t they didn’t trade up to five or six to make it really sure that they got their guy. They kind of waited right until until you know 9 10 played out. So he’s saying listen if you had a gap between like Drake May and the rest of it then just don’t draft don’t get desperate and draft a quarterback in that spot. So he’s saying if they hadn’t drafted JJ they would have kept their existing draft capital and maybe picked some other position. and they would have kept building their roster. Maybe they take an offensive lineman or something. Uh Brock Bowers, they could have taken the tight end Brock Bowers in that range looking at the draft. So, as you play out that revisionist history, what if they would have if they would have abstained from drafting a quarterback in that crazy quarterback class, what would h what would have happened? Okay, I’ve got a question off of off that though because um do we now think going back and I have no proof of this whatsoever. Do we now think that they drafted McCarthy? He’s basically saying they drafted McCarthy uh much like Spielman took ponder. So the quarterbacks were coming off the board, coming off the board and you just went into a blind panic and like a screw it, we’re taking this guy. Do we think that? Like I I have no proof of that. Um, I have no proof that they didn’t like now, did they like Drake May more or Jaden Daniels? I think absolutely yes. But I also think this is partially the question of because if they blind panic picked, it’s a mistake. No question about it. Um, I have not entertained the notion though that there is is like a direct correlation between the Ponder pick and the McCarthy pick. So if you really well, this is a interesting topic because if you really want to break down what what he’s doing in the first round, the parallel probably a bit more in in like trading and get getting o over your skis is probably Dallas Turner because I don’t have any I don’t have one iota of knowledge that they took McCarthy as a complete consolation prize when they shouldn’t have. Yeah, that’s the thing. We don’t it’s it we don’t know. We don’t know. Um I mean Ponder we sort of knew they just panicked partially because he was I don’t think he was projected as a first round pick by almost anyone. JJ was obviously knowing how things played out. I think they were always going to draft a quarterback in that draft be which maybe is part of the issues like they went in even though they signed Sam Darnold, you know, a few weeks before the draft. They also went in kind of telegraphing that they were going to draft a quarterback, but there was enough talent there that it wasn’t there was like six or seven. I mean, hell, Spencer Rattler is like a passable NFL starting quarterback. So, there was enough guys. But I but I do think if obviously obviously if you had known McCarthy was going to largely not even be practicing for a year and a half, let alone playing in games. Yep. You would have gone about things way differently. Like if if someone would have told you, hey, there’s a really good chance, like if the options are you can draft McCarthy or you can not draft a quarterback and then take your chances with like Darnold and Nick Mullins and whoever the hell else is in your room. uh and and McCarthy is going to be pretty much unavailable for like a year and a half or two years to you. You you probably would you wouldn’t have drafted him, right? You wouldn’t have wanted to wait that long to take the car out of the garage and instead maybe you I bring up Brock Bowers because I think it would have been really interesting knowing that I think Hawinson was coming off the injury at that point. So, it’s like okay, you got some damaged goods here. This dude just kind of falls into your lap. Maybe you get this young stud tight end and now you keep Darnold for $30 million a year there. It’s it’s it is absolutely a discussion. Yes. Well, I I mean go back to the night that they drafted McCarthy, the Shfter Report. You you could go back to is the one that got away. Herbert Chargers, it sounds like just said, “No, we’re not entertaining.” But I think the Patriots said the same thing on May, but I’ve heard conflicting things since. My point My point is this opens a Pandora’s box that is really, really fascinating. Yeah. I mean clearly and we’re we’re removing Boone Knicks from any type of conversation of this too, right? Cuz Boon Knicks came two picks later. I mean, he was available, right? You could throw him in the conversation. He was available. So, absolutely. And then after that, like, yeah, Bowers at 13. Uh Liatu Lu went 15, who’s been really good. He’s been really good. Jared Vers who went 19 two spots after you traded up from for the Dallas Turner pick at 17. Terry and Arnold Quinan Mitchell the cornerback for Philly 22. Yeah, I would jud I think it’s it’s probably just like too much of a Pandora’s box to try to figure out a black and white. What What would have been the correct path? If I thought that they panicked if I knew I should say that they panicked on McCarthy and just took him, I think then this applies directly. But I don’t know that this I’m gonna ask a question that’s probably we should earmark this for a full episode at some point. But okay, uh when you on the day that he threw 12 consecutive completions, day two of joint practice against the Patriots, Jud’s camp notes was uh was in a lather like all of us were. Highlighter was out. Yeah. At that moment, what percentage sure were you that JJ McCarthy was going to be a really good long-term starting quarterback for the Vikings? Long-term starting quarterback, my percentage was probably not as high as you would think. It was probably 50 55%. But like, did I think he would be good and effective this season at that point? That’d probably be 80%. But but long long term like like 50 55%. I would say the same thing like I was probably 60 23 you know 66%. Um what about right now? Can’t stay healthy. It’s down to long long term it’s down to like 10%. It might be 5%. I I don’t know we can stay healthy. I I don’t know he can stay on the field. I’m like 25% cuz positive Phil is still you know residing like he’s renting in my You know what positive Phil should do? He should join the hockey whisperer on an island just sucking down beers and enjoying life. Well, he might have to if we have to watch another game like the Thursday night game. But I mean, yeah, I just This is not because I think he’s a a bust as a player uh as far as what he has or has not done on the field. This is because he doesn’t he’s not staying on the field. Yeah. Yeah. But that’s you know it’s Are we overreacting? Maybe. Also, the NFL moves fast. The NFL moves fast. Why wouldn’t we until we have evidence that he can start 17 consecutive games? Yeah. Or start three consecutive games. Correct. But I’m saying But I’m saying wouldn’t we be wouldn’t we be uh um mirroring some of the probably naive things that we have said or the mistakes that we made if we’re like, you know what, I’m still 90% sure cuz I think he’s going to play. Well, yeah, that’s great. He’s missed what what’s this uh thing now? They played 24 regular season games in the JJ McCarthy era and he has missed 22 of them. Mhm. Yep. Yeah. He’s only been fully healthy from start to finish in one of the games. So, I’ve got nothing to base I’ve got nothing to base being optimistic on. He’s only had one full week of practice, gameweek preparation, one of the 24. So, he missed a practice before the Falcons game. It turned out I heard about that. Yeah, we might have missed two. Although I did hear the head coach the head coach a in his press conference after the Rams game said we’ll have a Monday practice next week and then three full days of practice. But the last time he talked he said he basically said the Friday practice don’t count. Yeah. I I want to commend Kevin O’Connell for keeping his streak alive. It’s now five consecutive weeks because he did mention the missed practice time again from uh over a month ago. So Kev stubborn Kevin Okonnell. It’s a third down day too. He missed the third down day. You do not miss their down day. I I want Is he going to do it every week? Every single week he’s going to he’s going to until he has a good until McCarthy comes back and plays well. Yes, we’re going to hear about the mispractices. It’s pretty wild. Um All right. Uh I I’ll tell you, I think I could start three straight games right now. That’s how good I feel. Game day men’s health. I was uh I stopped in yesterday for a little little little check-in and that’s right. I’m 40. I’m a man. I’m 40. I look like I’m 70 sometimes according to our YouTube commenters, but I feel like I’m I probably feel like I’m 30 right now. Maybe even like 29, somewhere in that ballpark. Oh wow. Because for a for a long time, several years, just slowly by, you know, month by month, year by year, my energy was decreasing. It became very common for me to just be really tired at like 2 or 3:00 in the afternoon and just power through it. or I drink tea, you know, maybe have like a one of those uh 200 mgram uh you know, caffeine beverages or whatever. Mental fog, even stubborn weight. And game day men’s health is where men go to reclaim energy, vitality, no judgment, just solutions. Uh this is uh way different than your typical like clinic vibe. They also provide advanced lab work in addition to weight loss solutions, testosterone replacement therapy. So, it has I I feel incredible the last 3 months. I’m excited to keep working with GameDay Men’s Health. And uh if you are interested, maybe you’re around my age and you just don’t feel like you did 10 years ago, you can check out gamedaymenalth.com/purpely and take control of your health and your life. If you do stop in to one of the three locations, you dynamic roseville, let me know. Shoot me an email and let me know how your experience was. Uh Jud, my bookie powering Purple Daily here today. They they definitely are and we appreciate that. And it’s Sunday morning, folks. The Vikings don’t play, right? But guess what? I am hunting around right now. Mybookie.ag. And what I’m seeing is a fiesta of football. That’s right. A smorgesborg of football that I can make plays on. And I absolutely love that. And we’re talking about, of course, National Football League, college games, survivor pools as well. Spreads, player props, in-game lines, they are all there. It’s as simple as this. Just go to mybookie.ag, use the promo code purple daily uh and unlock a special offer. So that again, right now I’m there. mybookie.ag. It’s going to take you through a wonderland of football opportunities. Uh and then hey, Roku, the official sports watching TV of Purple Daily. Roku is uh so great for this kind of 2025 modern era of where the hell do I find the sporting event that I’m trying to find. In fact, uh I was telling you guys last week there was I think it was in one of the ALCS games and I I literally turned the Roku TV on, the menu pops up and there’s just there’s like three boxes at the top and one of them was, “Hey, this baseball game is going on right now.” you you hit the uh the box with the okay button on your Roku remote and it gives you the different platforms that you so whatever you are subscribed to boom it just takes you right there so it makes it really easy to find the sports the entertainment the movies whatever it is the TV shows that you want to find and watch Roku TV brings the Mackey’s together after a workday on the weekend uh better TV for everyone with Roku America’s number one streaming platform go to roku.com to learn more or shop at a retailer near you. Okay, another feedback question or topic I guess in this case. This originally comes from the Twitter account of Fox 19 Joe in Cincinnati who was at the uh Joe Flacco press conference earlier this week and Joe Flacco bouncing around to different teams. He’s the old guy. his his family’s like not always in the same city as he is cuz he’s going from Cleveland to Cincinnati and Indie over here. Yep. And Joe Flacco uh was was opening up to the media and saying, “I used to see guys sitting at the bar by themselves eating and I used to feel so bad for them just like eating alone at the bar and now I realize that dude was in heaven.” Uh, and uh, Fox 19 Joe commented that not many of us can relate with being on a new team in a new city without our family, but many of us can relate to just bellying up at the bar. You’re alone. You get to exhale. And uh Kyle Brandt from NFL Network took it a step further and said, “Once a year I go to Fogo to Chow by myself. Meet, salad bar, three glasses of wine, no talking. I look forward to it like Christmas. What are your thoughts on uh just going to a bar or restaurant by yourself, just hanging out?” First of all, let me say this. These are two entirely different things. Kyle Brandt, this is entirely different. And first of and and second of all, good for both of you. So, so this is not a criticism. But Kyle Brandt like plans this clearly yearly and and it’s special and it’s he’s by himself. He’s enjoying himself. That’s great. But what Joe Flacco is talking about and where Joe Flacco I mean I don’t get this but what Joe Flacco is talking about is one of the great simplicities of life and that is being left alone to enjoy your own company and eat by yourself and and in this case we’re talking about you know a trip to your local restaurant. We’re not talking about a you’re you’re not carving out three hours for meat sweats. You’re going out and eating. He didn’t specify a time by yourself. He could be going he could be there for 3 hours. Well, oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, but but but but Flaco said I saw this. He said, “I go before the crowd gets there.” So, it’s not it’s not the rush of, “Oh my god, you’re Joe Flacco.” He goes there, he he basically ds like uh like a geriatric Florida resident. So, he goes out, eats it like four. He eats it sounds like right after he gets done. So, or he goes back to the facility. But the thing that surprised me the most you guys is this. When Flaco said, “I used to feel bad for that guy.” In what world did you ever like what in your brain made you feel bad? I have never once walked a little bit lonely, you know. Yeah. Also, when you’re Jud, when you were 21 years old, you thought it was completely normal and not at all just a little bit weird to see some older guy at the bar just by himself. Unless he was being weird about it. No. Well, hold on. I think to let me tweak Declan’s point. When you’re trying to find Delan’s point, I am. Yeah. When you’re in your like mid to early 20s or even late 20s socially, it’s weird to go to a bar by yourself, you feel weird like why don’t where are your friends? I think the older you get and Joe Flacco is like 41 and Kyle Brandt has got to be in his 40s at this point, right? The older you get, the more you’d rather be alone in certain situations than when you are 15 years younger. I might be weird. So, but I will give you an example of young Jud. Okay. Young Jud circa 1991 or so. I turned 21. I think I I think I pushed it and tried to go to bars before that. I know you’re shocked, but I would go when we lived in Roseville. I would go to the old Joe Sensors there by myself while Dawn was was working and I would watch Wolves games by myself at 21. I never once thought this seems odd. I always thought this is great. I still fondly recall watching Wolves games at Target Center on the Parket floor by myself at Sensors. I always have loved going out by myself. I mean, I I definitely leaned into when I moved to North Loop in 2017. So, I was 24 25 when that happened. Yep. And I was at I belly up at Red Rabbit numerous occasions bar clothes by myself. Um like like they locked the doors. I should be out of the restaurant. I have made such a good impression on the staff that you can stay. Which is like by the way in my opinion the ultimate compliment and bar experience you can get when they keep you past you know bar. Amen brother. Amen. If they pull one one of the great feats in life is to have a bar where they will pull the curtain. They’ll lock it up pull the curtain and let you stay. Yeah. And sometimes they’ll continue to serve you. That is one of the great Just to be very clear here too though, I’m not saying I didn’t want to go out with friends on like Fridays and stuff. I did. But I’m just saying Tuesday night ball game on in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s in play. I actually go out less now just cuz I’m just get You’re to the point now where you’d rather just like be home. Yeah. Correct. Correct. Not go anywhere. But I did love to go places by myself when I was I was in kind of the Bay Area a couple week a couple weekends ago visiting my my uncle died and so I was visiting my aunt and just helping her with some stuff and hanging out. Sure. But uh like she went to bed one night and I went I was I was like I want to go watch and I was staying at a hotel down the street like I’m going to go there’s a there’s a little like pub down the street from my hotel. There’s an ALCS game happening. Yeah. I’m in a totally different city. And so I just went alone. I was hungry. And I sat at this pub. I had just like Kyle Brandt. I didn’t have three, but I had two glasses of of red wine in wine country, some scotch eggs. It was a British pub. Oh, wow. And like a fish sandwich, fried fish sandwich of some kind. And it was And you know, and there was like a Blue Jays fan sitting over to my right cheering for for their team. And it’s kind of I don’t know. It’s fun. It’s free. I I I will the other one for me uh which you guys know my my grocery store beer has become part of my my ritual. I my my local grocery store has a bar inside of it which is just phenomenal. America. Uh yeah. Seriously. But another one that I will unless it’s probably business related or like unfortunately like maybe in maybe in Phil’s case like I I have to go to a a funeral or there there’s an emergency happening. Traveling alone. Traveling alone is the best. It is. It is the absolute Oh, yeah. best. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I I have I’ve kind of corrupted my wife, but also even when we’ve traveled and now I mean likely we’re going to eventually travel with which is going to be a completely different game. And I am I’m terrified because my efficiency and my standards in an airport are unsustainably high. So, I can’t imagine what my patience level is going to be when something isn’t going according to plan. Uh, but traveling alone is absolutely the best on an you same thing. You’re building up the airplane bar, airport bar, you’re on your own schedule, your own time, and just works out really well. Yeah, man. Um, going to move. This is a there is a snake draft in here. Things to do alone. I’ve done movies alone. I’m not big on like I I don’t really go to movies much, but that would be a great alone thing if you enjoy it. For sure. There’s nothing wrong with doing stuff alone. You don’t need people. You don’t need to be validated. The only validation that you need is yourself. Like people, you don’t hang out with people just to be validated. What? Well, because you’re like, I’m a loser. I’m hanging out by myself. You must be like hanging out with your friends cuz you enjoy hanging out with friends. I feel like it’s a validation thing at times, though. It’s a validation. I look at all my friends, it’s like, “No, just sit at the bar. It’s great. It’s fantastic. Just sit there. Good meal alone. Stonefaced drink.” But I do think the Fogo to chowo thing is a different story. Like that’s a planned and that is that’s an aggressive like I have no problem with it. That’s aggressive meal. How many people to Kyle Brandt’s credit walk into Fogo de Chowo and when they say um how many will be joining you or how many in your party and you with no shame and full confidence say one. Yeah. Just me keep those meat skewers coming for 3 hours and then you got to go home and I mean you must just get in bed instantly, right? Yeah. Or you make maybe you make a snap. Yeah. Okay. I don’t need to. Yeah. No, but I’m just saying like like like you think about that plan, three glasses of wine, fogo to cow, we we all know what that entails as far as food goes. Like that that is a I think I’d probably be in bed till noon the next day. Yeah, those meat sweats. All right. Well, there’s your feedback Friday on a Sunday here on Purple Daily. Don’t forget to click that subscribe button, that like button on the Purple Daily YouTube channel. If you’re listening on Apple or Spotify, you can help us keep growing the show here by giving us a fivestar rating and a positive review. We will be live on Monday about 9:00 a.m. Central time for some additional Vikings takes and some NFL takes. And uh we’ll see who starts for the Vikings against the Lions next weekend. See you guys.

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