Minnesota Vikings News Dump (8.9.2025) | FOOTBALL! Fries Playing! The Dark Side!

Minnesota Vikings News Dump (8.9.2025) | FOOTBALL! Fries Playing! The Dark Side!

[Music] What’s going on, Jerome Rome? Beautiful Saturday. Birds are chirping and stuff. It’s time for another Vikings news dump. So, today is the day of days. Vikings, 3 p.m. Central time. The only time zone that matters. Uh, historic US Bank Stadium, the the Vikings versus the Texans. Backups. Yeah. Preseason game number one getting it done. Now, of course, you can analyze this to death. There there’s basically want to see every player that’s going to be playing out there. Who’s going to merge as running back three? What about tight end three? What about quarterback depth? What about Dline depth? All that stuff. But first and foremost, JJ McCarthy, it’s time for McCarthy to be back. So, uh, a year ago, you know, McCarthy, we saw a glimpse. We saw a little of what he can and should be against the Raiders, right? 11 to 17 passing, 26 total yards, two touchdowns, 116.8 passer rating. Now, if you remember, he had a pick early, right? And then came the bombs, you know, luck uh to Tristan Jackson just getting it done and it was fantastic. Now, what is he going to do uh on today against the Texans, maybe getting a fight? Don’t know. Don’t know. But basically, this is probably going to be the only time we see JJ McCarthy uh in the in a game situation in preseason, which is fine. Hopefully, he looks good. Everyone hopefully stays healthy and we’ll go from there. Also going from there is producer alley rockstar uh purplefdw.net. Our merch, our gear, uh 15% off, promo code preseason 25 through the end of the month. It’s going to be good. So, the hats, fanny packs are brand new, mugs, all that stuff. Go go go go go get yourself some purple for the win gear. 15% off. It’s fantastic. Uh link is in the description below. Also what we’re going to see today will fry hot and crispy. You know you want them. Vik page Vikings guard Will Fry is expected to play in today’s game against the Texans. Per PA on the mic 9 to noon. Nine months removed from his broken tibia. Fry should be back in action for Minnesota which will be good to see. Now TBD what the offensive line is going to be. Darasaw probably won’t play. Ryan Kelly probably won’t play. Brian O’Neal TBD. Uh but Fry and Donovan Jackson are definitely going to get some reps in. And if Darasaw Kelly O’Neal don’t go, it’ll probably be school Jurgens and Brandle at right tackle. But we we’ll see. Either way, keep JJ upright. That’s all we want. It’s all we need. That’s right. Also, so there has been some concern about Vikings wide receiver depth because Justin Jefferson obviously not playing in preseason. Addison obviously suspended first three games of the regular season and you know people are poo pooing on the Thomas and Lucky Jackson don’t even though they got have some big time games today. More on Jackson in a bit. Uh but Naylor who had been seen we’ll get it. Uh Kevin Seafford ESPN who is not Carl Gershman. Vikings wide receiver Jaylen Naylor wore a red no contact jersey Thursday during practice. Rare for a non-quarterback. My understanding there’s no specific injury. just preserving depth at a position where Justin Jefferson hamstring has been out and Jordan has a three-game suspension. Now, it did raise some eyebrows and was worrisome because Naylor does have a history of, you know, being a little bit injuryprone. So, right away you’re just like, eh, okay. Plus, he did have an incident earlier in the week where he was a little shaken up. So, you thought that part and parcel that was all connected. Maybe it is, but maybe it is more about depth. I thought maybe Naylor was getting ready for, you know, flag football in the Olympics 2028 or since they play flag football in the Pro Bowl. He’s gonna have a Pro Bowl season or he joined the Bloods. I don’t know. I don’t know. One of things, but it it’s good to see that it isn’t anything major. You know, he was out there, but Oh, so there you go. Also, this is great. It’s fantastic. Purple persuasion. The Vikings Dline nickname is known as the dark side. Something something dark side. Uh, PA on the mic was told by defensive line coach the Marvis Marcus Dixon. The Dline, as I found out the other night, has a nickname called the dark side. Marcus Dixon, Dline coach, shared that with me uh after the night practice. How’d that conversation go? Uh, Marcus comes up. Hey, PA. Uh, what? Uh, our Dline is called the dark side. Tuttle. Awesome. I I like it though because you know purple people eaters redux and I know Granar Navy G on the edge. Maybe they’re included with the dark side. Maybe not. May maybe they’re in the middle. May maybe they could join the Rebel Alliance. Maybe they could be on the dark side. I don’t know. Don’t know. Uh also Star Wars is weird because I don’t know. May maybe you want to root for the establishment. Who knows? But dark side it’s a great it’s a great nickname. Love that. Speaking of Lucky Jackson, no transition. But uh Alec Lucy athletic list highlighted a couple players who have a lot to gain or a lot to lose this weekend. Lucky Jackson certainly one of them. Lucky Jackson is the leader in the clubhouse for one of the receiver spots alongside Justin Jefferson, Jordan, Jaylen Naylor, and Ty Felton. This is his third year with the team. He arrived in 2023 after an unexpected season with the XFL DC defender. Exceptional season with the XFL DC defenders. His smats and route running technique have garnered respect among teammates and coaches. Jackson will be one of the featured receivers in Saturday’s game. He may also return punts which the Vikings toyed around with on Wednesday. Uh, special teams coordinator coach Hat also mentioned that, you know, Rondell Moore it basically it’s his job to lose as a punt return and maybe Lucky could sneak on in there because frankly, you know, Rondell doesn’t have a secure hold on a 53man spot and Lucky Jackson is stories that you love to see, you know, uh, light lightly regarded guys, whether it’s on the practice squad working their way up, getting better every single year. You can put Lucky Jackson and The Thomas in that same mold, Tristan Jackson in that same mold last year. Then he went on to Arizona where he’s got more of an opportunity. But I mean, Lucky, if he ends up as wide receiver five, I got no issue with it because it’s based on merit. And I know people are freaking out. Oh, wide receiver depth. Oh, they should have signed Keenan Allen. Oh, that’s Well, first off, Keen Allen was always going to sign with the Chargers, right? Uh, and also it’s a spot where maybe the coaches, maybe Quy feels comfortable, you know, with guys like Lucky Jackson, Deshawn Jones there, Thomas there, because, you know, they’ve been in the offense for a couple years. And just because some player has a name, it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to be an upgrade coming in cold off the street versus, you know, guys like Lucky, Deshawn, and Theer have two to three years of experience in this scheme, in this offense, with this team. So, uh, you love seeing stories like this and hopefully they can rise on up and be solid. someone who had no experience in the scheme before coming down and slinging Sam How aka Quarter of Korea’s quarterback, right? And we got some poop during this week about us being critical of Sam How. It’s like, do you know how bad you have to be for me to criticize a Korean dude? I mean, come on, man. Come on. All right, so how JJ McCarthy’s performance Saturday will matter for optics more than anything else. Internally, the Vikings view this as a prime chance to practice the huddle operation, cadences, and pre- snap checks. How though must impress because beyond just throwing the football over the mountains like like um like Alec Lewis outlined, huddle operation, cadences, pre- snap checks, all that’s important and that doesn’t really that isn’t always uh put into the equation of fans evaluation of a quarterback. It’s always on the field, can you throw? Can you throw? But just basic things like getting in and out of the huddle, getting the play call out, uh getting up the line of scrimmage, not having delays of game, all that matters. but also not throwing bad interceptions which you know uh Minnesota needs to enter season with a backup it can trust if needed in a pinch and how hasn’t inspired much faith through the first few weeks the issue has not been his arm strength or layering but rather his inefficiency operating offense that as the quarterbacks to go through reads it hasn’t helped the Vikings pass rush has been menacing but if how is going to secure the backup spot this is where he must start now he had been benched at times for Brett Ripen or Ripen got some more second team reps than usual. How uh basically had exclusive second team to start the training camp as well as during offseason work. But how you know maybe it is something as simple as not going against the floor as defense every single day. And maybe he does look a lot better in a game situation in front of everyone under the lights. Fans can see it. And maybe he just operates better against some Texans backups versus Flores is trying to beat that ass every single day. Who knows? Could could be. rooting for Howell and also, you know, the Vikings definitely do need a solid backup quarterback behind JJ McCarthy because of things. Yeah. Uh and LA and also Will Rocker because I I I don’t care. Like, well, maybe he was working on stuff. He was working on missing. Okay. Uh mechanics-wise, hey, if you want to work on something mechanics- wise, you’re off in that third field all damn day uh with your holders and your long snappers while everyone else is practicing, you can do that all day, right? So, when it’s time to kick in training camp practice, you get your six kicks in, make them. That’s it. I mean, that that’s what it boils down to. And preseason, the thing I like special teams, it’s just special teams like there there’s no vanilla playbook. There’s no nothing like that. Can you make a kick? That’s what it comes down to. So hopefully Will Rackard is going to be good to go, but we’ll see. Also, we’ll see. So, unfortunately, uh Oh, this is the battle of Baltimore. The Baltimore Colts versus the Baltimore Ravens. It’s good. Uh both these teams moved. Yeah. Uh but Anthony Richardson uh finger went 90 degrees unblocked, you know. Yeah. which really sucks because Anthony Richardson obviously has a lot of physical tools but just has some really poopy uh puck luck when it comes to injuries. It’s all right. He’ll Kevin Oonnell will fix him in a couple years. Oh, maybe next year he’ll be good. Uh but Daniel Jones, former Viking that it’s important because if Anthony Richardson now they say that the finger is good to go, but it could put him behind in the competition. And if Dana Jones is a starter for the Colts and for most of the season get some playing time numbers up, it could impact the Vikings comp picks which is important. So right as of right now, uh the Vikings per over the cap are projected for a third for Sam Donald, a fourth for Daniel Jones, and potentially a seventh for Trent Sherfield. We’ll see if if Trent uh becomes more than a special teamer. if he gets some run as a receiver certainly could upgrade that that seventh rounder or have that seventh rounder exist. But with Jones, me and Mr. Mr. Jones. So if part of the part of the proprietary compensatory pick formula is playing time and Daniel Jones can be asked, thank you. But if he’s good enough to to play for most of the season for the Colts, the Vikings could get an upgrade from a fourth to a third, which certainly would be nice. So, 2/3 at least for uh last year’s free agent group for the 2026 draft. That’d be nice. That’d be nice. Certainly would be nice. So, as much as I love Anthony Richardson, selfishly, I want him to be back up all season so that the Vikings can get him next off seasonason after the Colts cut him. And then the Daniel Jones, I mean, he’s probably going to be bad, but be bad, but be good enough to hang on to the starting job all year just so we get that upgraded pick. It’s going to be good. Also, this is great, too, from Thursday night game. So, the Raiders were up in Seattle playing the Seahawks in preseason action. And Crosby, this th this is above the rim, pun intended. Next level hating. So, Crosby rolls up in a Seattle SuperSonics Kevin Durant 35 jersey. Of course, the the SuperSonics were stolen by Oklahoma City and Klay Bennett. Not that we talk about that. Yeah. I mean, I would rather the SuperSonics have won a ring last year than OKC and the methods that they did that, but it’s beside the point. Anyways, but th this is this is why I love Baby Jared Allen, Max Crosby. I it’s why I wanted him coming out of Eastern Michigan. This is not revisionist history. You can go back and listen to the podcast. You could tell Max Crosby, there was something different about him and he’s a stud. It’s one of the reasons why I feel like the Raiders are the dark horse this year. Now, a lot of that was contingent on Christian Wilkins playing, but yeah. Yeah. But I love this. I love freaking Max Crosby, man. He’s He’s fantastic. Uh, lastly, the opposite of fantastic. Uh, Jordan Schultz, who whose dad used to own the SuperSonics. There you go. Now, I I’ll say this. So, a lot of people poo poo uh Jordan and his, you know, NFL insider career because like, oh, you’re just riding her dad’s coattails. Well, it it’s one it it’d be one thing like, hey, if Jordan started another coffee company or like a tea company that that’s Ryan Cotales, but I understand like, hey, his father was successful. He he set the kid up for success. He had has a lot of advantages in life. It is what it is. But Jordan, frankly, is busted his ass. It’s not e you don’t get handed uh you a role as an NFL insider. You don’t be like, “Hey, his dad owns Starbucks. I’m going to tell him everything.” It it really is a working of relationships and and digging in for information and doing a lot lot of dirt dirty work. I won’t say well I won’t say dirty work but tough work. You know what I mean? So I I I understand it’s easy to just see something successful and be like ah Nepo baby. No, but respect to Jordan Schultz. He actually does the work. So there you go. Uh anyways, uh this is bought and paid for by Howard. No, just kidding. Uh but Ravens rookie quarterback Bal Coney Torres ACL and MCL in Thursday’s preseason game versus the Colts per sources. The sixthrounder out of Western Michigan was having an excellent camp and will now miss the entire 2025 season and especially sucks because he was one of my uh late round draft crushes for the Vikings. Uh he was a the pride of Apple Valley. Like he’s 6’2. He’s a long lengthy corner. Uh played great in Western Michigan’s games against uh the Ohio State University. uh which which is a theme. Everyone plays great against uh Ohio State, especially JJ McCarthy. Back uh and also uh the Wisconsin game uh that Western Michigan played. So it was it’s a bad looking injury. It it looked really bad. So hopefully he recovers fast and fully uh and Bal can continue his career. So go get on that. Anyways, uh that’s it. That’s it. Preseason. Oh Lord, today it’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be great. Oh, also we’re doing a live stream. Uh so check that out. It it’ll be popping up. Uh we’re going to live stream during McCarthy’s ism when he’s on the field. Uh even if he plays like a series or two, like we’ll we’ll probably live stream most of the first half. So come board, check it out. That’s all. Anyways, you guys are the best, you know, to do. Skull production value.

Minnesota Vikings News Dump for Saturday, August 9th.

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