Minnesota Vikings News Dump (11.12.2025) | Vikes Sign a Corner, It’s Not Asante, Bad JJ Chart

Minnesota Vikings News Dump (11.12.2025) | Vikes Sign a Corner, It’s Not Asante, Bad JJ Chart

[Music] What’s going on, Jeromes? Beautiful Wednesday. Birds are chirping and stuff and it’s time for another Vikings news dump. Also, uh thumb thumb update. So, this is where we’re currently at right there. Are you going my way? Yeah. Zoom in in the hands. Anyways, uh it’s going to be black and blue. We’re going to lose the nail is what it is. But overall, it’s a little swollen pain. Not bad, right? But also, I I wish it was doing something cooler versus just, you know, fixing um a garage door chain. I wish it was I was a pool hustler and you it was like a the hustler and the color money. Pool hustlers get their thumbs broken, but alas. Anyways, uh speaking of of broken, the Vikings secondary could could use a little bit of supplementation. Uh but unfortunately uh Asante Samuel free for agent apple everyone’s eye who was coming back from a spinal fusion procedure uh he has signed with the Steelers because he does not want to win. So he signs with Steelers Joey Porter Jr. JPJ Ramsay etc. Try and get them over the hump try and get Tomlin that elusive nine and eight record. It’s really about it now. Now, it it would have been nice to add add um Asante to the room, but you know, just didn’t come together. Asante did visit the Vikings uh with a medical visit on Friday, but the Vikings, not to be outdone. Big- time moves, man. Vikings signed quarterback Shamar Bartholomew to the practice squad. Now, uh first off, we’re we’re corning the market on Bartholomew. We got both of them. Uh then, Shim Shambart. Uh so he he’s got speed, he’s got size on drafted free agent in 2024 coming out of Georgia Southern. Uh same alma mater as our guy Naja Thompson and he spent some time with the Jets. Was on the Panthers practice squad last season, played some special teams and overall it’s like in terms of a dart throw, sure I I don’t mind the quarterback depth at all. And again, good size, physical on the outside, uh as well as can be a plus special teamer. Uh not not a bad addition. Uh if also it certainly could be a spot where the Vikings maybe they weren’t sure about the uh about Asante Samuels spinal fusion procedure even though the Vikings are the patron saints and medical dudes. But I don’t know, man. Something I do know is that annual November food shelf fundraiser is off to a hot start. So we’re 12 days into November. All Venmos, cash apps, super chats in November go towards Twin Cities Food Shelves and families in need. $2,000 goal for the month. We’re currently at about 1,600 because our guy Brad Bad BBB big bad Brad uh donated 456 directly to our friends over at Every Meal. Uh you can do that. Donation links are in the description. If if you donate to directly to Every Meal, email producer alifwgmail.com. So we’ll include you in the tally. We are off to the races, baby. We’re probably going to jack up the goal. I don’t know, 4K, 5K. Okay, do it up. Uh, donation links in the video description below. Also, someone who’s feasting, Jaylen Speedy Naylor, coming off his career game. Now, I’ve always liked Naylor, but things just haven’t come together and there’s been inconsistencies, notably the punt return against Green Bay. Speedy Naylor, I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I believe he had one career punt return. I think that was it. Uh but injuries, drops, and also remember back in the day, uh Ken Mardo was standing on the table to draft him, the pride of Michigan State, and now he’s finally coming into his own in a contract year. Shocker. Uh but Kevin Connell was on with with Paul Allen 9 to noon. Uh Speedy is just playing fast. Uh he’s playing through contact. He’s getting a lot of one-on- ones because of Jordan and Justin and TJ. And there’s a lot of feature coverage take away from some of those guys. And Speedy goes to work in those moments. And Speedy’s probably going to get paid little something something than free agency. And here’s what’s always difficult because do do I think that Speedy is a number one receiver? No. Do I think he’s even a number two? Ideally not. Do I think he’s a really good wide receiver three? Absolutely. Right. And as Okonnell said, Naylor’s benefiting from Jefferson, Addison, Hawinson absorbing up a lot of that coverage. So, he’s able to operate and do the damn thing, and he’s showing off his skill set. Now, if he signs somewhere else in free agency, like Tennessee throws 15 million a year at him. I am add that. Go get yours, man. But is Speedy going to be a wide receiver one, two? I don’t know. Honestly, I I wouldn’t mind having Speedy back at a reasonable deal, you know, especially pending what happens with Addison. Yeah, but Speedy is definitely taking care uh especially taking Speedy especially taking advantage of his situation and you love to see it, man. Always a big fan of Speedy knocking down all the wood, stays healthy and good to go. Plus, it’s pretty clear that McCarthy trusts him. I mean, that that got to have it spot against the Lions going to number one. I am number one. Uh, also it’s from Alec Lewis, the athletic excerpt, uh, breaking down JJ McCarthy. Okonnell hasn’t explicitly stated this, but the film seems to suggest that the Vikings want to limit second-year quarterback JJ McCarthy from having to make big-time throws in traffic over the middle of the field. It’s a sensible approach, but one that requires an elite level of early down efficiency, which the Vikings have not had. Yeah. Uh if you look from his as his passing chart on, you know, from the Ravens game, so by design, there are a lot of throws on the outside, right? Uh he’s got the ball to zip it outside the numbers, uh whe whether it’s deep, whether it’s in, you know, the cover two hole, whether it’s whatever, right? And also just anecdotally, it does kind of seem like a lot of the throws over the middle that McCarthy has are when he’s playing off script and sometimes against his body, which just makes the heart flutter. It makes it feel great. Now, the whole thing about it is that Kevin McConnell’s offense is predicated a lot on accuracy over the middle, but sort of understandable w with JJ McCarthy, young quarterback, you know, first time starting and don’t want to say like half field reads cuz that obviously isn’t the case, but sometimes, you know, just giving a young quarterback who’s got arm for days, just an easy high low one-two read on the outside. I mean, that’s building up confidence, getting him experience. and Okonnell. I mean, he’s dealt with veterans like Kurt Cousins, uh, veterans like Sam Darnold, and you really can open things up where whereas I I’m sure that there’s a pretty clear a pretty clear correlation between young quarterbacks not throwing over the middle a lot because that’s where the defenders are, right? And it does take a lot of experience and precision to find those dead spots in the zone, especially since defenses are so good at disguise nowadays that it’s almost like, well, it’s not full training wheels, but it’s kind of training wheels, you know what I mean? And it’s where Kevin McConnell just wants to put Jay McCarthy in the best situation to succeed. And just knowing that he doesn’t have the experience yet. He’s had four career starts where, yeah, he’s not going to grip and rip it over in the middle of the field like like a Stafford, like Sam Darnold, uh, etc. where eventually he’ll get there, right? This isn’t just going to be a outside the numbers saying can’t throw left. You obviously can, but we’ll see. But also deep deep middle. I still want that skinny post for Jefferson. That was there, man. Also speaking of JJ McCarthy charts. So Ian Hardit’s really good with fancy stuff. Quarterback efficiency 2025. So the X is completion percentage above expected. Pretty straightforward. Uh and the Y is the I hopefully hopefully I got that right. Uh EPA per play expected points added per play including uh passes, rushes, uh etc. And JJ McCarthy is in the bottom left which is Duda. All right. So McCarthy is in the bottom left uh of the chart meaning that’s it’s bad. Also he’s surrounded by Dylan Gabriel. Ooh, baby, I love your way. That might be my favorite like deep cut joke of the season. But and also Cam Ward is up in there. Uh top right, which is where you want to be is Darnold, Drake May, and Jared Goof and Lamar Jackson and not Jordan Love. Well, if Jordan Love is in the top right, this entire chart is fooar, so doesn’t matter. Do not carry it away. Obviously, small sample size and obviously McCarthy pretty high variance at this point, but I don’t know like where’s the signature Dylan Gabriel or Cam Ward moment. I mean, McCarthy’s had a few of them, right? And that’s some certainly something you could build on, become more consistent, go from there. Something that has not been consistent this year is turnovers, right? So, the offense have been consistently turned over, but the defense uh us the Vikings defense has nine turnovers this season. They had 20 through nine games last year. Yeah. And I I don’t think it’s as simple as, hey, they should have resigned Beey, but I I mean they they could have resigned Beey. Beey was just great for the vibes, man. Also, Philippines rise up, right? And also, we talked about Murf, too. Like Murf doesn’t have any interceptions this year. He had four through nine games last year, including three straight games with a pick. I mean, he was on a streak, man. All right. But I don’t know, like obviously turnovers have a little bit of puck luck and hopefully the Vikings can start generating more opportunities and seizing those opportunities, but it’s just weird. It’s just like think how the season would be different if the defense had 11 more turnovers. I mean, we might be undefeated. Well, we would have lost a Falcons game. Yeah. Also uh talking about setbacks, Alooy athletic Vikings OC West Phillips just wanted to address the false starts right off the bat. Obviously something we can’t have that’s losing football, lose a turnover battle, pre- snap penalties, that’s not winning football. I personally am embarrassed by it and it just does seem like the Vikings put together a special package for the Ravens and messing with the cadence, introducing multiple cadences where I I don’t know if they needed to do that. It’s almost like they they got too cute. They got too fancy by half and they got bit in the ass for him. All right. So, I don’t know if it’s that too much tinkering. You know, the O line’s getting used to McCarthy’s cadence. Don’t know. Don’t know, man. Also, speaking of O line, so this should make you mad at offensive line coach Chris Cooper because no, so number one, like Garrett Bradber is having a really damn good season out there with the Patriots. And Ed Ingram down there with the Texans. Ed Ingram has allowed just one sack across 299 pass blocking snaps uh after allowing 21 over the past three years. Uh they they played a game in between this is from last week, but he still didn’t allow a sack and there was a lot of passing in catch-up mode against the Jaguars. So Ed Ingram, a lot of people gave Quasy a lot of poop for spending a second round pick on Ed Ingram out of LSU. And what’s weird his scouting report out of LSU, good pass protector, bad run blocker, but with the Vikings, he was a decent run blocker and a bad pass protector, right? And there were so many things in there. It’s like, was it Bradberry? Was it the coaching? Was it the scheme? Was it whatever? But now Ed Ingram is settling. Ed Ingram might make a Pro Bowl this year. Right. Wouldn’t that just be perfect? Right now, obviously, we’re happy with Donovan Jackson. It’s for real. Especially Will Fry. Uh Phillips had some great words about Will Fry, which we’ll talk to later talk about later. But I don’t know, man. It’s just would a could have shoulda. And like I said, Quy got a lot of grief for the Ed Ingram pick, but maybe it comes down to coaching because you can only take it so far with the players you select. Where is the development? Where is the coaching? Where is all of that? And then all of a sudden, oh yeah, I can’t snap with this hand. All of a sudden, he he gets magically becomes one of the better guards in the NFL. Just come on, man. Yeah. All right. Lastly, $55 million a year. That’s all I’m going to say. That’s all I’m going to say, man. Uh, and then Vikings back at practice this week. Jonathan James McCarthy resumes his quest start number five to be the best quarterback in the National Football League. Vikings taking on Dub Bears. It’s going to be good, man. And also that defense getting back on track. Oo, we after that ass, Caleb. That’s right. Four, five, six turnovers. Four, five, six sacks. It’s going to be good. Ryan Kelly’s gonna be back. Josh Oliver is gonna be back. Let’s run the damn football. Let’s go, man. Let’s go. Anyways, that’s it. Wednesday Vikings news dump. You guys are the absolute best. You know what to do. Skull production value.

Minnesota Vikings News Dump for Wednesday, November 12th.

DONATION LINKS
Venmo: https://venmo.com/purpleftw
CashApp: https://cash.app/$purpleftw1

Every Meal Donation Link: https://www.everymeal.org/

Become a Channel Member! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Xt29Fi1ES6C1fEtWFUFIw/join

Get Your JEROME Gear! purpleftw.net!

Subscribe for Daily Minnesota Vikings Videos! http://bit.ly/2qO5r7m

#minnesotavikings #vikings