Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Stack or Shed Ep.8 Vikings edition

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Stack or Shed Ep.8 Vikings edition · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row
• 0:01
  dumbass, your GM who currently is not on the
• 0:03
  team right now, but don't you worry about it.
• 0:05
  K .O. here to bring you episode 8 of the Stack
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  and Shed series. Now in this series, we're covering
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  all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
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  talked about, all right? Now we're covering a
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  few different topics. They include what went
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  wrong, what do they need, stack or shed, their
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  draft picks, one move I would do, and their cap
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  space. Now in this episode, we're talking about
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  the Vikings. So buckle up, it's going to get
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  a little bit crazy. All right, let's get into
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  it. So what went wrong in the Vikings season?
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  And I will eventually say it was inconsistent
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  quarterback play. With the departure of Sam Darnold,
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  there were a lot of questions on if J .J. McCarthy
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  would be able to carry that same momentum that
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  Sam Darnold had in the previous season. Now,
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  unfortunately, that didn't happen, and now the
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  Vikings are at a crossroads where they need to
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  figure out if they're going to give J .J. McCarthy
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  another chance or if they're going to go in a
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  different direction at quarterback. Now, I wasn't
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  expecting J .J. McCarthy to light it up on the
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  field every single week, but what I was expecting
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  was for him to show that he's progressing in
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  all the right areas, that he's comfortable in
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  the pocket, that he's comfortable with his receivers
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  tight ends and running backs and that he's able
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  to execute the routine things but instead all
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  we saw was inconsistencies week after week after
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  week and that quarterback the most important
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  position on the field you can't be inconsistent
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  now can you go through a dry spell where you're
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  not playing your best ball sure everybody does
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  but what you can't do is go through an entire
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  season of being inconsistent and the 10 games
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  that J .J. McCarthy played He was 243 attempts
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  for 140 completions, 1 ,632 passing yards, 11
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  touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 6 .7 yards per
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  attempt, and a 57 .6 completion percentage. Now
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  with that being said, what do the Vikings need?
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  And that is better quarterback play. You guys
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  know that old saying that your mom or your dad
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  would tell you, your attitude dictates your altitude?
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  We're going to tweak that a little bit, okay?
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  Your quarterback play dictates your altitude.
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  But right now, the Vikings' altitude is low,
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  but it can change. As long as J .J. McCarthy
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  can provide average to slightly above average
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  play, they have a chance. But if J .J. McCarthy
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  can't reach that level, then the Vikings need
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  to go back to the drawing board and figure out
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  what they need to do moving forward. Now, with
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  that being said, the question we all need to
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  ask ourselves is stack or shed? And I will eventually
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  say stack. And the reason why I say that is because
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  this team is just a quarterback away from being
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  in the Super Bowl. They have a really good offense.
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  They have a really good defense. All they need
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  is just average to slightly above average quarterback
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  play. Now, when we look at their draft picks,
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  they have their first, their second, they have
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  two third round picks, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth,
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  and three seventh round picks, which isn't bad.
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  You have the 18th pick in the first round, which,
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  I mean, that's a really good spot. Now, the question
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  is this, what are you going to address in the
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  first round? The two positions that come to mind
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  is either safety or defensive tackle. Now, if
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  the Vikings want to go after the safety, the
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  three names that come to mind is Adam Thienemann,
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  Caleb Downs, and Emmanuel McNeil -Warren. Now,
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  out of those three options, you may have to trade
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  up to get Caleb Downs or Emmanuel McNeil -Warren.
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  now the question is this would you be willing
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  to trade up and how high would you be willing
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  to trade up to get one of those safeties now
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  i think defensive tackle is probably a more realistic
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  option because you won't have to trade up in
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  order to get one of the top guys now me personally
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  i would go after someone like a caleb banks or
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  lee hunter now that's mainly in part because
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  javon hargrave and jonathan allen may be cut
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  or trade candidates so with that being said you
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  may need to address that position high up in
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  the first round Now, me personally, I think Caleb
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  Banks is a really good option. 6 '6", can plug
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  up the middle. That's somebody that you want
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  in your team. Now, if you want to go after Lee
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  Hunter, I still think that's a really good option
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  as well. And since we're talking about draft
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  prospects and the combine and all things related
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  to the draft, I need to go on a little bit of
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  a rant, okay? If you are someone that accepted
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  an invite to the Combine, but you're not participating
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  at all, then why the hell are you there? I understand
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  the Combine is the hub for all of these players
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  to meet these GMs and head coaches and organizations
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  just to get a feel for who they are, do a little
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  bit of testing, do a little bit of medical work
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  and all that other stuff, right? But if you're
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  not participating in the drills, then why are
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  you there? And I'm only bringing this up because
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  by you accepting an invite and not participating
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  in any of the drills, that's an invite that could
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  have went to somebody that needed that extra
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  bump in their draft stock. We've seen players
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  go from being a fourth round grade to maybe a
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  second or even first round grade by doing well
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  at the combine. The only two excuses that I would
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  give to prospects is if you're still recovering
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  from an injury or your draft stock is super high
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  and you have a feeling of where you're going
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  to go. Outside of that, you should be participating
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  in the combine to some degree. The only person
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  in this draft class that I would give an excuse
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  for is Fernando Mendoza, and that's solely because
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  we all know where he's going, and that's to the
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  Raiders. Outside of that... Everybody needs to
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  be participating in the combine. Reuben Bain,
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  there is no reason why you shouldn't be able
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  to participate in the combine unless you're hurt.
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  Players such as Sonny Styles didn't have to participate
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  in the combine, but he did it just to showcase
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  his skill set. And by doing so, he has now locked
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  himself in to being a top three pick. But you
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  know what? I think I need to break it down in
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  a different way so you guys can understand this,
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  okay? By not participating in the combine drills,
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  that is the difference between making $2 million
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  a year to $22 million a year. And I'm bringing
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  up money because we all know the difference in
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  being drafted in the third, fourth, and fifth.
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  round compared to being drafted in the first
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  and second round. That should be motivation for
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  you to work out in these drills. Now, if you
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  don't want to do these drills, again, it's perfectly
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  fine. That's your choice. But just know, if you
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  don't ball out on your pro day... Oh, you messed
• 6:01
  yourself up. You took an unnecessary risk just
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  because you don't want to do it. Now, back to
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  the Vikings. Do I think they're going to use
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  all 11 picks in this draft class? No. I think
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  they're going to use some of these draft picks
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  to either trade up or trade down or trade for
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  other players in free agency. Now, the one move
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  that I would do is bring in a veteran quarterback.
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  While I understand the Vikings invested a first
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  round pick into J .J. McCarthy, it's time for
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  you to go in a different direction. It's time
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  for you to maximize this competitive window that
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  you have right now because you don't know if
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  you're going to be able to replicate this again.
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  You need to bring in a veteran quarterback who
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  is comfortable working with Kevin O 'Connell.
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  Now, the two names that come to mind is either
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  Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins. I think if you
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  get either one of them, that is a low risk, high
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  reward move. And I also think that will provide
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  the veteran mentorship that J .J. McCarthy needs.
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  I think maybe if you just sit him down for a
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  season and let him learn under someone like a
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  Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers, I think it'll
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  light a fire in him to want to be better. because
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  we're reaching a point where there needs to be
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  a sense of urgency within the Vikings organization
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  to want to win now, especially towards Kevin
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  O 'Connell, because he hasn't won a playoff game
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  since being the head coach for this team. When
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  we look at their cap situation, they have negative
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  36 .6 million. Now, I do expect the Vikings to
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  get rid of Javon Hargrave and possibly Jonathan
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  Allen. I also expect for them to make a couple
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  restructures, and I also expect for them to maybe
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  get rid of Ryan Kelly as well. So I don't think
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  the Vikings are in a really bad spot. I think
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  all they need to do is just reshuffle the deck
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  like how every other team does and figure out
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  who's worth the money and who isn't worth the
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  money. Now, do I expect for them to be big players
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  in free agency? No. I think at best, the Vikings
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  will be players in that second and third wave
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  of free agency, but only time will tell. But
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  I'm in this episode here. If you guys like what
• 7:54
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  G -M -K -A -I -L -E. As always, I hope I gave
• 9:43
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• 9:53
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• 9:55
  Later, guys.