Latest / The Skol Hop / Vikings talkers with Dustin Baker! | TSH Ep. 133

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Vikings talkers with Dustin Baker! | TSH Ep. 133 · The Skol Hop

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, hey, Vikings fans, welcome in to another episode.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Of the Skull Hop. I am Austin and we are
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: missing Evan today.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Scheduling issues made it so that Evan couldn't join us
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: for this week's episode.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: But don't worry.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We do have another voice that will be on. It's
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: not just me and spouting off my own opinions. Friend
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of the show, Dustin Baker has joined us for this
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: week's episode, and it's been quite a while too long
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: since he's been on with us. So go ahead and
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: sit back, relax, and listen in for my opinions and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: my conversation with Dustin Baker as we talk about the Vikings,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the draft, the upcoming decision on the GM position, and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: maybe I get a little petty about the Adam Field situation.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Here we go.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: All right, schoolhoppers, we have for the first time in
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: quite a while. It's been way too long, but we've
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: got friend of the show, Dustin Baker with us here
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: from Vikings Territory and Vikes Now. Welcome in, Dustin, thanks
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: for coming on.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been way too long.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: When we were putting this together, I tried to remember
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: if I was able to deliver some of my Kyler
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Murray takes on this show way back, because I was
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: really lucky to have that light bulb moment in late
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: November when the Vikings lost the Seahawks, it felt like
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: we'd hit rock bottom. Kyler Murray had been softly benched
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: or it so it felt the Cardinals and I kept thinking, Man,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the only way this gets fixed for both sides. This
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: guy comes to the Vikings and I knew he said
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: like three or four times in the past half decade
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: that he grew up as a Vikings fan so slowly,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and then it looked like, hey, the Cardinals weren't even
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: gonna trade them, They're just gonna release them. It was
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: like this slow burn to Kyler Murray to the Vikings,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: and I am completely rejuvenated about this.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Twenty twenty sixteen, Yeah, I think we had you on.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: It's a terrible mistake of ours, but I think we
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: only had you on once during the twenty twenty five season.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I even made a joke when it was because it
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: was kind of early on, maybe a little bit mid season,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: about when you came on and Vikings weren't looking great,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and I think I made a joke like, well, now,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: that we've had Dustin on the Vikings season is going
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to turn around like that was the one thing. But
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: you know that wasn't the magic sauce. But I bet
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I'll have to go back and listen to it. I
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: bet if you had had that epiphany or thought, you
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: absolutely would have brought it up, because it would have
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: been a fun thing for us to talk about. And
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: if you did, I probably would have been like, no,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: that's terrible.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: I hate that.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, those fans, it wasn't just you.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: It took a long time for people to warm up
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to it.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Even I.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I was on board with trading like a second rounder
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: because I thought there's no way they're going to.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Get him away for free.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Then they Then they did, And it's just this for
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: a coach who has to win, I think sooner rather
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: than later. With O'Connell going into year five without a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: playoff win, it's just a perfect situation. With Murray coming
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: in a chip on his shoulder, one of the worst
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: organization in sports doesn't want him. You already have this
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: blueprint with Sam Donald, the Vikings how that worked, and
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Sam Donald's started from squat like garbage, like a joke,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a punchline, and Kyler Murray is like either good or
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: decent depending on your perception. There's just no other way
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: around it. So starting from even a better spot than
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Donald and then all these weapons and then Brian flores
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: his defense, I really think this can work. I don't
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: care what anybody says, Well, he's not the ideal scheme.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I get that, that's fine, But if Kevin O'Connell is
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: really a good football coach, he's gonna make his offense
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: cater to what Kyler does best. This isn't nineteen ninety
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: two where the player has to adapt to the coach.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: You could have the inverse, and that's what I'm so
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: excited to see.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm still warming up to the idea.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I'm still obviously I'm a Vikings fan through and through.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I want the team to win, not necessarily just the players.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: So I'm a JJ McCarthy fan, and I have been
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: since they drafted him, and I want that to work out.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: But I also recognize, you know, Kyler Murray coming in
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: and winning the job, even if it's just for one year,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: or if it turns out Kyler Murray is the franchise
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: guy for the next twelve years.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: That would be a good thing.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Like if that happened, it'd be because he won the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: job and he's actually really good and the Vikings had success.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: But JJ McCarthy his career is not over. Maybe his
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Vikings career is not over. So if fans like me
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: are out there and really want JJ to succeed, that
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: dream's not dead yet. But it's funny you mentioned Koc
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: coming in to his fifth year without a playoff win.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: It's not a unique.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Idea that something else Vikings fans have been talking about
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: since I don't know who threw it out for the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: first time months ago, Like, hey, they're firing the GM Koc,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: he might be on the hot seat. Maybe we can
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: hit on that a little bit later. But I do
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: have some more things I want to talk about before
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: before we talk about coaching or GM or anything. We
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: do have the draft coming up and Kyler Murray, JAJ McCarthy,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Carson Wentz, Max Brosmer. That room probably means Vikings aren't
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: gonna spend much draft capital, if anything, on a quarterback,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: which is okay. I think they have done what both
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Quac and Koc said they wanted to do at their
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: end of year press conferences and have a competitive quarterback room.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: So looking at the draft us on the school hop
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: our listeners will know that it's probably in every episode
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: thing we'll bring up something that friend of the show,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: just Dustin Baker posted an article on Vikings Territory, and
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: we'll usually spend shoot seems like at least a whole segment,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: if not most of the episode talking about our opinions
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: on an article you or one of the other writers
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: on Vikings Territory has posted. And one that I found
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: that I think you posted within the last couple of
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: days was idled the five most painful Vikings draft picks ever,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and I kind of wanted to dig in a little
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: bit and kind of get your behind the scenes thoughts
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: of that article, because we don't have to go through
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: in this podcast and list all five players that would
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: not be that'd be counterintuitive to what you know Viking's
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Territory would want. So listeners go check that article out.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: We'll link it. It's really fun. I like when you
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: do those kinds of opinionated articles that are based with
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: fact and opinion, you know, fact and observations. But of
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: those five when you were writing that, were there are
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: any players that you really wanted to add to that list.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: But I get the sense maybe you set the five
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: number pretty hard and hard and fast and you didn't
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: want to go beyond that. But was there any player
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: you wanted to add to that that you just wouldn't
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: let yourself. Yes, I usually it depends on the article.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I try to cap at it five because in this
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: age of digital media, sometimes folks' attention spans are catered towards,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: you know, buzz short list. If it's gonna be a
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: real deep dive on something, I would do ten, twelve,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: but that's more for like vanity.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: If I want to do like the top eighteen.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Quarterback options for the Vikings in the off season, because
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I had something like that, but this one I thought
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I would, I would keep it short and sweet. The
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: ones that were upsetting to leave off, mainly because there's
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: relative recency bias, which means like my fandom or your
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: fandom would would be laqwan treadwell. But if you take
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a step back and you're an adult about this, like
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: he's really not that much of a bust like he is,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: but he's not like he's been around the NFL now
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: for my god like twelve thirteen seasons. Yeah, I think
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: he just re signed with the Colts for what will
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: be like his eleventh or twelfth season if he's still
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: on the team this season. When he signed that contract
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: right in the middle of free agency week, like it
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: like it was a big not a big deal, but
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: it mattered. Yeah, I tweeted, he's the best bust ever, Like,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's the best bust that there is. Like,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: usually a bust busts the hell out of the league.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Yeahquan Treadwell keeps fine and it's not like he springs
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: up and it's like, oh my god, Well had seven
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: hundred yards this year. He's just a good special teamer,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: I think, a good WR five. For the Vikings sake,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: we're spoiled because if there's one thing this franchise does
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: well over these sixty five years, it's draft wide receivers.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: That's like, yeah, you know, besides the purple people eater
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: defense in the late sixties and higher seventies, like, the
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: thing that we do really well is find wide receivers,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: usually from the draft. So once they drafted Treadwell, there
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: was kind of this I think cockiness from guys like
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: me that were like, well, we know how to do this,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and then he just never turned the corner. The Vikings
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: gave him so many chances with that Mike Summertine, and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: he was never more than just a guy, and that's
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: not what you want when you get a first rounder.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: So because he didn't, I mean, we got really lucky
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: that Stefan Diggs and Adam Thielen picked up the slack,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: so it didn't matter that Treadwell was a Vikings bust,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: but that son of a gun that stayed in the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: league for over a decade. And then when I was
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: let's see my in my early twenties, to replace Randy Moss,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the Vikings drafted Troy Williamson and he very vividly didn't
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: work out, and then he didn't last in a long
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: league very much longer. He should be on this list
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: if it was expanded, probably to six seven eight.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: I will tell you this.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I can't remember if I've said this on my show,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: on your show, excuse me. I talked to him on
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: a podcast with Bryant McKinney about four or five years ago.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: It was my favorite guest, my favorite guest of all time.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Like and I'm not exaggerating, like I remember my co hit,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: my co host Sally Spice. At the time, we were
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: like joking to each other before the show, like do
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: we really want.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: To talk to this guy?
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Like we still were acting like kids about him being
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: a Vikings bust. And then we went through that episode
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: and he was so self aware about how he wasn't
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: that good. He talked about how anxiety had ruined his
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: NFL career, and he was one of the most candid
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: people I've ever talked to on a podcast. After the podcast,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I messaged that I was like, what were we thinking?
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Like why were we acting like kids about them?
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Were like, oh my god.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Because we talked to Williamson the week after we talked
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to Randy Moss, and it felt like natural progression, and
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: it was kind of alerting a moment as in my
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: late thirties, I was thinking, I need to grow up
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: if I if I thought it was gonna be a
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: joke to talk to Troy Williamson, and I was nervous
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: because he sucked, like I need to grow up, And
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: he was my favorite guest I've ever talked to as
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: far as ex players go. But you know, dollars to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: donuts he would belong on a Vikings bust list. Oh yeah, absolutely.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I definitely agree with the Treadwell opinion there. But like
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: you you mentioned, when I kind of forget that Stefan
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Diggs helped ease that ease that trouble too, But I
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: always think of Treadwell and how great Adam Thielen ended
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: up being and filling that void. So it would be like,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: you know, the Niners drafting Trey Lance and that being
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: a bust. But oh no, they all of a sudden
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: have a oh my goodness, what's this. What's his name's yeah,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Brock Purty. He just comes in and they have a
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: two hundred million dollars quarterback. Now, like it doesn't matter
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: that much that they have this huge bus.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Similar with the actually.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: What happened with Elan and Diggs because they came up
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: in the same year or two that era. Yeah, and
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: that's why you know how we continue to bitch about
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Lewis scene. We don't really bitch about Treadmill, nor did
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: we because we're like, well, we got big digs and
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: theeling like why are we do we care about this?
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And it's also interesting you you bring up
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Troy Williamson too, because he was the name that I
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: always think of as like the biggest Vikings bus. Obviously
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: we have Demetrius Underwood and stuff like that, who never played.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: But Williamson it just felt like, Okay, there's this huge.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Randy Moss hole in the team, and you go from
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: having probably the greatest wide receiver in the league right now,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and the next move you make is drafting wide receiver,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: kind of like getting rid of Stefan Diggs. Now you
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: have this huge hole wide receiver. Oh no, you need
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to draft usin Jefferson. But Troy Williamson, it just that
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: was such a bust on the field. I admittedly never
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: heard him speak. He could knock on my front door
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: and I wouldn't know who he was. You, I don't know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: don't know what he looks like. But I just we'll
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: never forget all those dropped passes. I think Pete burst
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: it recently, like in the last day, tweeted the video
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: of the Tavaris Jackson like eighty yard wide open touchdown,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Nobody's around Troy Williamson and he just like dropped it,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: And Pete Bursa said, like, I'll never forget this. It
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: was a you know, it broke my heart watching this play,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: like I feel that way.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: But yeah, sorry, where were we going?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I would say that I remember that would be catch
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: that dropped so vividly because it almost felt in real
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: time that it went in slow mo, like that guy
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: never had problems getting open.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Tarvaris.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Jackson was not a consistent, you know, deliverer of dimes.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: But that was that was a perfect toss. It was
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: one of Williams's last chance chances, as it turned out,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: to get hot and to build that momentum. If he
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: caught that, you know, maybe he does something great the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: following week.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: But and it.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Wasn't like, oh boy, he didn't come down with a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: contested catch. It was like, you know, you, I or
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: our grandmothers could have caught that, and.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: He just didn't.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And we were so starved at that time, the depression
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: that we all felt about Randy Moss leaving Adrian hadn't
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: come aboard quite yet, so we just had this this
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: milk toast, shitty offense that was like bred Johnson and
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: like we had to talk ourselves into Corn Robinson and
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Bernard Berrian being real badasses.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: So it was this inconvenient.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Lull where we needed somebody to break out, and we're
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: so used to Chris Carter and Jake Reid and then
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Randy Moss, like we are entitled to a sweet wide
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: receiver and that dude, you know, just sadly didn't have it.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: But I'll see if I could dig up that podcast
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and sitty a link sometime, because he was such a
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: cool dude, And he even admitted like part of his problem,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: like with his anxiety was knowing that he was the
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: guy that was going to replace Randy Moss. And when
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you're a young man like that and you haven't figured
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: out the world one lick, nor should you have by
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: twenty one, like, poor guy, like he just had everything
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: stacked against him. Yeah, and it's not like he was,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you know, an undrafted free agent that flashed in camp
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and earned a spot, or even like the thirty second
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: overall pick, you know, still a first rounder. I think
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: it wasn't he like the seventh overall pick, Like, yeah,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: he on top of everything. It was a high, high
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: draft pick, not just a guy. The vikings were like,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, you could fill this void. That was the
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: pick made to fill the Randy Moss void. Like I
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: remember turning to my friend that I was watching this
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: draft with, saying, all right, they just replaced Randy Moss.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: We're all good now because.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I had never heard Troy Williamson's name before, but obviously
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: they play highlights and stuff like that.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: They made him look like the next Randy Moss, and hey,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: we got a Randy Moss spot open, so come fill it.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: So I do kind of feel for that Troy Williamson.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: You know, it sounds like he's a good dude.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: I will if you do find that link, maybe I
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: can do some digging myself and try to find that.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: That would be fun to listen to for sure.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he was awesome, and I really wish it
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: had worked out for him, especially after talking to him,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: knowing how good of a duty was it is. Yeah, again,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: you're talking about a former Vikings wide receiver who you
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: had one opinion on and then your opinion changed. Right now,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of going through opinions about a very recent
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: former Vikings wide receiver that I'm kind of salty about.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, Adam Thielen. You know, we've mentioned his name
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a couple of times. I'm still like I was on
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: board with Adam Thieling. I think he and I are
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: within a few months of age of each other. We
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: grew up rooting for the team. You know, his story
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: was amazing, and then you know, when his Viking's tenure
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: came to an end the first time, it seemed like
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: a Vikings decision. You know, saw the decline in play.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: He wasn't the twenty million dollar wide receiver anymore. So
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: it's like, all right, I get it, it makes sense.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: It was a great, great run, really fun to watch,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: but like, it makes sense, all right, go go do
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: better things with other teams. But then this year, when
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: it seems like he just asked for his release because
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: he wasn't getting playing.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Time, I'm still kind of salty about that.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe I will have a similar Troy Williamson mindset change
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: in the future about Adam Feeling, But for right now,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I'm still still kind of salty. And that's probably my
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: immaturity showing through a little bit too. I probably shouldn't
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: care so much about it. Well, there was really no
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: way that we could know that he was washed, even
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: if he still doesn't admit it. I don't think I
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: would have like preemptively paid a fourth rounder for Adam Thielen,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: even though at the time I was like, I shrugged
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: my shoulders and I was like, well, that's the price
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to get a WR three'll be it. And then I
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: thought that the hometown angle reunion would end fun. I
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: didn't think the Vikings would start the season four and eight,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and I didn't like the biggest thing here is I
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: didn't think. I didn't think theland was utterly washed, like
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: he hadn't shown the evidence of that. But man, if
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: we didn't get heisted and fleeted there by by the Panthers,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I think ultimately the Vikings recognized that he didn't quite
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: have it anymore, and he hadn't recognized that yet, So
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: therefore he didn't get very much playing time. And I
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: don't I think an athlete has a hard time stomaching
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: that they don't have it anymore. Like not that he
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: was being stubborn, but I just don't think that he
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: realized that I'm not that good anymore.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Guess good for him. He got to go lose a
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: playoff game with the Steelers. If that's what he that's
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: what he really wanted. It'll take I don't know how
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: many months or years, but I think you'll get over
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: it and then like you know, he'll be in the
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Ring of Honor and life will go on. But he
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: did kind of have a junior villain arc on his
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: way out, which you know, Diddam didn't do that Smith
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: for damn sure is it doing that?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I am the you know.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: C J.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Ham and Adam Feelin had that joint retirement press conference,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: and when the Vikings tweeted about it, me from the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: schoolhop I tweeted back and said something like, yeah, we
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: don't need we.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Just need CJ. Ham.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: You don't have to have anybody else in there, And
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: a Viking's employee kind of replied to me and was like, hey,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you don't know how this works. Like CJ and Adam
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: both really wanted this. Adam's a great guy, kind of
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: like putting me in my place a little bit. I
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: applied back, you know, a little immature, but like, hey,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: this is just how Vikings fans feel right now, Like
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: we're a little salty, but you're right, and I recognize it. Weeks, months, years,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: eventually we will all still be right back in the
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Adam Feelen fan club and it'll all be back as normal.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: But Yeah, it's still still pretty fresh for me.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: At least it will remain weird that extent.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I know that he if you really believe that, you
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: still have got to Pittsburgh.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: And to do anything.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: But yeah, you must have thought I can go win
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: a super Bowl somewhere and if I'm not playing here,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: get me to. I don't know who at the time
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: would have been super Bowl front runners, like get get
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: me to somewhere, so I can try to. I can
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: understand that to an extent, But yeah, I'm with you
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: that it was a strangely sour departure from a team
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: that he loves will continue to love.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: And then you know, a team that loves him as well.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So now looking at you know what's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: gonna happen here in the next what is it three
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: weeks from now?
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: The NFL Draft?
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Man?
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Two and a half man?
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I think because I get so excited about these things,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I look forward to them so much, and two and
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: a half weeks is a long time. I kind of
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: make myself forget about it and try to focus on
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: other things. So so thank you for shattering that glass
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: for me, And that's all I'm gonna be thinking about
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: for the next two and.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: A half weeks, but more Viking specific focus. The Vikings.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Do you have a first round pick this year?
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: They've got actually, you know, a decent amount of draft
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: picks this year so far.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: What do you think is more important?
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: I think we've all seen similar names be mocked to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: the Vikings, similar positions, and it seems like running back, safety,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: safety more often than anything, and defensive tackle. To you,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Dustin Baker, what should be the most important thing for
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the Vikings to look at in the first round this year?
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Are we at a point where everybody agrees that it's
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: best to draft the best player available?
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Like, oh, yeah, absolutely, I think I think.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Some people love to say that, Like and then then
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: it's like, well you draft the best player player available?
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: That I think is like yeah, So if you're going
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: to lead into that, then the sky is the limit. Like,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: if you're truly leaning in that philosophy, then you're talking
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: about guys who could be there, like Jordan Tyson or
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Kenyan Sadik, because those might be the best football.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Players on the board.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: But I have a hard time in believing that general managers,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: all of them, you know, down the line, fully believe
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: in BPA like they will tell us after the pick, like, well,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Donovan Jackson was the BPA on our board. Like then,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: it just kind of goes conveniently with what they're saying.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I think I don't have I won't have any qualms
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: with them drafting a not reaching, but drafting Ah Jermond McCoy,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: a cornerback Dylan Thiineman who's like a ninety five percent
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: of all Vikings or any more draft right now for
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: the Vikings or Peter Woods, I think would have to
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: be the consensus pick at eighteen if.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: You're gonna get a defensive tackle.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: I will understand all of those picks. I think my
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: only beef.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Is usually safeties.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Like I understand that I'll instantly be excited about Theenemon,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: but they're usually not like a premium position. Like when
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: free agency rolls around, you can go get a really
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: good safety for eight or nine million bucks. To get
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: a good, really good edge rusher you have to spend
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: twenty five million. So I'm a little reluctant to with
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: a full throat endorse a safety if they wanted to
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: trade back, which they could probably due to do, and
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: then draft the Toledo guy Emmanuel McNeil, Warren Warren, I'd
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: be okay with that, but trust me, I've from a
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: predictive angle and an endorsement. I've thought about this way
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: too long, and i still have two weeks to go.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: I would say most likely right now is a slight
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: trade back and they end up with one of the safeties,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: or if they wanted to keep it pretty elementary, Peter
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Woods makes sense because if you look at this, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I think we'll talk about Dexter Lawrence later on, the
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Vikings let go of two of their starting defensive tackles,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Allen Javon Hargrave. They have signed zero replacements, even
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: though DJ Reader is out there Christian Wilkins, who I
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: still thinks that has a path to the Viking. They
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: haven't signed either one of those guys, so I think
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the EV is there for a defensive tack If they
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: cared about a defensive tackle last year to sign two
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: of them, yeah, and then haven't signed any. It feels
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: like their actions are showing that an interior defensive lineman
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: makes the most sense.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: But left up to me, with the way the board
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: currently currently looks.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I would love I would love Jordan Jeremiah Love. Excuse
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: me to slide down to like, I don't know, number
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: ten or eleven, and then the Vikings could climb up
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: with an outrageous package because I just have this dream
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: scenario of the Kyler Murray experiment working. And then, oh,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: by the way, you have Jeremiah Love in addition to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and t J. Hawkins, and
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: you could get a WR three like Tyreek Hill. I mean,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: imagine Kyler Tyreek kill Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jeremiah Love.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Like it wouldn't even matter how good the defense is
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: because we know it's gonna be average with Flores, So
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I would love for Jeremiah Love to be gettable. Probably
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: a pipe dream, I think right now. My endorsement is,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: if Kenyon Sadik is there, you don't leave him on
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the board because t J. Hockinson will be a free
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: agent next year. And I dug this up on accident. Today,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the Vikings have never drafted a tight end in round
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: one in franchise history. Interesting, Yeah, I guess what wasn't
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Kyle Rudolph like a second round pick?
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: And then Hockinson was like the eighth or ninth overall pick,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: but obviously it was with the Lions.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that is interesting. I probably would have failed
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: that trivia question if.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I would have failed it one day ago because I
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: thought Joe Censer a dude from the early eighties. I
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: thought maybe he was a first rounder, but no, he
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: was a second rounder. So you know, last year, the
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Vikings or in twenty twenty four, the Vikings haven't hadn't
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: drafted an edge rusher since Erasmus James, one of our buddies. Oh,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and it was it was overdue for them to draft
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: an edg rusher. They did it with Dallas Turner, and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: you start to look like, all right, what other things
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: are overdue? They haven't drafted their running back in the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: first four rounds since Kenya and Wonghu, and even he wasn't.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Really a running back.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think history probably needs to correct itself. And
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I like, if we're watching the draft,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I'll let it probably be what nine pm on that
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Thursday night, April twenty third, and if Kenyan Sadik is
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: there and the Vikings trade down or don't take him
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: at all, I'm going to remember that and see how
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Sadik does throughout his career in the pros because I
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: think he has the jews to be really good. A
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: lot of tight ends, especially in this class, they don't
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: really block. They got to learn that when the NFL.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: This guy already does that. And he's also, you know,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: a pretty sweet pass catching tight end. So I think
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Sadik right now is where I'm leaning towards my endorsement,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and I'll lock in a final one here right before
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the draft.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: That's interesting too because you just think about the Vikings
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: current head end situation. I know, Hockinson, he's probably gonna
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: be a free agent, you know, unless he just lights
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the league on fire this year, it'll probably his Vikings
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: tenure for me, unfortunately, will probably be done after this season.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I'm a big Hockinson guy. I'm an Iowa finn So
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: that makes sense.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Logan Jones, baby, get that center exactly.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: And apparently he might be you know, not even a
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: first round pick, so he could be had as well.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: But Vikings and tight ends.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: If they were to spend a first round pick on
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: a tight end, they would have first round pick tight end. Hokinson,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: who what is it fifteen million or something. He's gonna
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: make this year or whatever his cap number is, and
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: then my goodness, I can't remember.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: What's the tight end two guy?
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Josh Oliver.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Josh Oliver.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: He's for a tight end he makes decent money and
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: definitely for you know, a tight end two.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: He makes decent money. It's something like ten ish million
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: dollars a year.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: In fact check me on that, people in the comments,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: and then let me know how wrong I am about that.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: But that'd be a lot of investment into the tight
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: end position, which I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: It would just be interesting to kind of roll into
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six or three. It's the same mindset like
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: normally I would be right there with you, thinking like
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: a tight end, like we have all this other stuff
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: we need. But in nineteen ninety eight, the Vikings to
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the Chris Carter and Jake Reid and they didn't need
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Randy Moss. They did not roster was fine. It was
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: a run happy NFL hasn't transitioned yet. Randy Moss worked
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: out pretty well. In two thousand and seven, Chester Taylor
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: was coming off a twelve hundred yard season. The Vikings
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: didn't get a running back. They really didn't they got
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: one Hall of Famer. So I try to, you know,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: mature as an NFL thinker and think if if Sadika
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: is as good as he thinks good thinks, if he
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: will be as good as I think he's gonna be.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: It really doesn't matter if you have Hockinson and Oliver
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: because we're talking about the twenty twenty eight and twenty
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: twenty nine Vikings.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's that's absolutely right.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: And you know, I whoever the Vikings draft in the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: first round or any round, I will probably have heard
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: that name for the first time that night, unless it
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: is you know, Dylan Theedemn or some of the other
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: names you've you've said, I'm just not a huge, you know,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: elite overall college football mind. If it was an up
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and coming Hawkey that's about to be a first round pick,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I probably know.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Who he was.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's why I'm a big fan of Hockinson is
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: because I watched him explode at Iowa and then when
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: he was about to get drafted, like I knew he'd
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: be like a top ten pick.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: And you know, I've always been focused on him, a
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: fan of his.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Kind of more so overall talking about the draft, the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Vikings have got rob Berzinski, someone Bretan Baine has has
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: termed the brisness. How much do you think and maybe
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: this is just a complete guess that this will be
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: a draft that is a Brazenski production or will it
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: be something a collaboration with all the coaches and everybody
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: around and they all decide. Obviously, I'm pretty sure no
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: matter what, Brazinsky's going to be the final one to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: make the call. But is it going to be more
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: of like we're all piloting this ship or is he
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: is he the number one guy? And then after the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: draft they'll focus on getting a full time GM. This
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: all stems for the very strange decision to keep Kevin
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: O'Connell and fire Quasy Atppamitza. Usually you get rid of
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: people in a package deal and plug your ears. It
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: hardly ever works just to fire the general manager. So
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: to me, Kevin O'Connell is the team CEO, like he
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: has to be, because why would he keep his job?
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Now? I know, I think he's a wonderful coach.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: I'm glad he's still there, and I'm glad Quazy is
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: out because he couldn't draft, And I was willing to
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: give quays another go to see if McCarthy could blossom,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: but I don't think the Vikings could sit around and
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: watch another draft. And it was he was fired five
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: days after Sam Darnold reached the Super Bowl. So I
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: think somebody finally put it together that every single quarterback
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: recommendation that Kevin O'Connell came up with was vetoed that
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: would have got the Vikings to the postseason. And yeah,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I think that is why Quaysy was let go. So
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: we're in a really awkward spot, but it's not one
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: that is foreign to Vikings history. For almost a decade,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: we had the triangle of authority with Rick Spielman when
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: he was first starting out in his first ten years whatever,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: whenever Vikings coach was there, so Childress or Leslie Frazier,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and then the ownership group. So it was kind of
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: like a group think where I'm guessing the coaches and
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the scouts brought forward the players. Ownership said yeah, it
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: looks good to me, and then they had their little
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: quabbles between the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and then Spielman.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: At the time, my.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Guess would settle the tiebreaker the Vikings don't have any
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: problem doing the triangle of authority. They did it like
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: for almost what ten to twelve years, so I think
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: we're right back to that.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: They're just not calling it that.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: To me, Kevin O'Connell is totally accountable now for this
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: entire enterprise. And I think Brazinski is there because he's
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: been a sturdy voice for twenty eight seven to twenty
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: eight years with the Vikings. My perception, which is not
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: like you know, ironclad or concrete. My perception is that
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell is running the show and Rob Perzenski is
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: doing the money like he's always done. And then in
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: the off chance that Brian Flores and Kevin O'Connell disagree
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: in round one, round two, round three and they can't,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you know, find a happy medium, Brezenski would step in
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: and say, all right, I didn't think i'd have to
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: do this, but I'm gonna make the pick between you guys.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: That is my perception. It's really weird that the Vikings
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: were late to fire Quasi and then just said, you
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: know what, general manager will find one of those after
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the draft.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Baby.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure they want to make sure that Rob
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: has the stomach operationally to guide this ship in the
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: way that they want for these few months. And so
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: long as he doesn't like late to the podium like
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the Vikings were twenty years ago. Like so, so long
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: as he doesn't have fundamental breakdowns, I'm pretty sure it's
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: going to be his job. I don't have that like
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: on from a source or anything, but I don't think
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: I can remember an off season where any sports franchise
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: is like, yeah, we'll get we'll get a general manager
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: when we get around to it. I think we trust
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Brezenski with the job. All right, So that's your your
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: official prediction, you know, not not concrete in right now
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: as you think Prasinski has ever chanced to get the job.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: It doesn't like the Wolfs aren't gonna be like, whoa
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: sweet you got, Dylan Thineman, We're you're gonna be our
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: general manager now, because you can't tell if a draft
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: class does any good until two or three years down
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the road. So to me, it's not do we have
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to see a draft like he didn't like Britins, couldn't
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: even do anything in free agency.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: He got like a backup cornerback.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray said, I want to play for you, and
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: he's like sure, like he hasn't done anything. So I'm
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: guessing they just want to make sure that he has
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: the leadership personality to handle the day to day, which
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: looks like he does, and in so long as he
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: isn't a complete imbecile, that he will just be hired
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: somewhat sometime this spring or summer. Like I guess they
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: could do a full search, but they could have done
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: it between January thirtieth and March ninth, started a free agency.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: They could have interviewed candidates for two weeks, hired the guy,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: got him up to speed, and then that person would
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: be all accountable. I think ultimately Brazenski will stay on
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: so long as Kevin O'Connell is the head coach. And
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: let's say the Vikings flame out this year, they go
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: six and eleven, everything is crap. I think they O'Connell
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: and Brazenski. Maybe Presensky wouldn't be fired, but O'Connell would
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: be and the Brezenski might be put back into his
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: financial role. I think it's Presenski's job interesting, and that's
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: probably the logical thought I've I've been kind of thinking
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: just off observation. I obviously have no knowledge outside of
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: what my mind comes up with, but I've been wondering
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: if maybe there's a chance Prazinsky, he's been with the
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Vikings for shoot, almost my entire life, he maybe there's
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: a chance he doesn't want that GM job, because truthfully,
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, unless you're a dynasty, how many times do
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: we see teams after just a few years get rid
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: of the GM. I mean, is there any GM in
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the league that's been with one team for as long
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: as Brazinski has been with the Vikings. And I know
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: he's probably had a few different roles and gone up
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: over his career, but I wouldn't be shocked if you
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: know Brazenski, who's had a lot of stability and job
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: security and you know, long standing, good relationship with the team,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: if he maybe he's like, hey, i'll be the GM now,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: I'll do whatever you need, but I'll be fine going
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: back to my role. Maybe you get a nice little hey,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: thank you kind of a pay raise. But that is
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: exactly why I think Kevin O'Connell is running the show
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: like interesting, Okay, if this was the Atlanta Hawks, if
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: this was the Milwaukee Brewers, any other sports franchise, i'd
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: be like, oh, no, they need a general manager. But
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: the Vikings proved to us that they this ownership does
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: not have a problem with a triangle of authority, and
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I think we're just back to that. I think that
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell yields the most power and he's the guy
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: that's going to basically call the shots. He's accountable as
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: he's like a Belichick now where he is the GM
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and the head coach. Rob continues his money magic, and
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: then I think Flores has I think one of the
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: reasons Flores came back is because now he has a
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: louder voice of picking his own players. Like, have you
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: noticed since Flores got here, every time we draft offensive player,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: that guy doesn't even play, Like I think it's because
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Clazy was saying, you take this guy.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: I think he's good, and Flores.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Is like not a guy isn't who I wanted, Like
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: like that's the.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Only thing that makes sense.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Like I want to get to a point of Vikings
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: football where when a rookie plays, we're like sweet, Like
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: we don't have to do any celebrations about it right now.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: When a rookie gets in the game in his first
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: like year, We're like, oh my god, Yeah, we need
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: to not have that mentality. So I think Flores will
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: have increased input on picking his guys because we've just
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: because we've come, we've become complacent. Well, draft picks probably
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: aren't gonna work out, so we might as well trade
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: him for Dexter Lawrence. Oh, they drafted Tye Felton. Well,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: it looks like they got a special teamer. Like, we
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be thinking that. We should be like the Seahawks
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: were down the line of their first five picks last year,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: contributed that should be the standard. Yeah, all right, you
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: said his name today ESPN or who was it? Adam
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Schefter kind of broke some news that Dexter Lawrence for
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: the Giants. He's requested a trade from the team. He's
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: not going to participate in their their offseason program, or
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: at least I think today was day one of their
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: their stuff and he's not there. So of course, every
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: fan of every team when a player of Lawrence's stature
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: becomes maybe available, because it's just come out that he
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: wants a trade, and the Giants haven't to my knowledge,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: come out and said anything about it.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: They could come out and say like, we're not trading
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: this guy, like, don't even worry about it.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Or they could be like, hey, yeah, we're open to everything.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Let's be those fans right now. Should the Vikings?
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: Oh? I think they absolutely should.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: But should the Vikings take a look at what it
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: would take to get Dexter.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Lawrence would be a good fit?
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: How would it even be plausible with what draft capital
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: you'd have to give up?
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: And then on top of that, it's signing a dude.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know his contract situation right now,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: but he can't be cheap and he won't be cheap
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: for long if he is, so may Yeah, how does
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: that look for Vikings fans that want Dexter Lawrence on
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: the team. I'll start off by saying it's a crappy
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: start to the John Harbaugh era. They're going to lose
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the best player right out of the gate, so yikes.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: But I'm sure he'll figure it out. He's a pretty
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: good head coach, all right. So there's only one argument
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: against Dexter Lawrence to the Vikings, and as as constructed,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: because of Quasy Dapfhamens's poor drafting habits, the Vikings are
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: about the third oldest team in the NFL. The only
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: argument that anybody should have against Dexter Lawrence for the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Vikings is Nope, we want to use that first rounder
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: on some guy who's twenty one or twenty two because
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: we want to start to go in the positive direction
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: of youth. That's the only thing I want to hear.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Because Lawrence is twenty eight, defensive tackle can usually play,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: you know, guys who are as good as him can
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: usually play well into their thirties. So I looks like
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: the asking price is a late first rounder or a
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: second rounder. I would love for the Vikings to somehow
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: keep their first rounder. I don't know if that's possible.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: I tweeted a proposal and it pissed the hell out
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: of Giants fans. They were like, oh my god, anytime
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: you post a tweet or pose a trade on Twitter
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: or on social media, the other team's fans think that
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: you're nuts.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: That's all there is.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: Well, we've been doing it for Justin Jefferson proposals for
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: years now.
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: So yeah.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought mine was fair minded, realistic because I
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: basically assessed Dexter Lawrence's value exactly. How the reporting has
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: come out a late first rounder or an early to
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: mid second rounder. He's twenty eight. He had an injured
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: elbow last year. He hasn't record a sack quite some time.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: So those are the downfalls. His guaranteed money has run out.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Anytime your pro bowler or fringe pro bowler has no
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: more guaranteed money left in their contract, you need to
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: expect that he's not going to play for your team.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: He's going to squawk or he's You're gonna hear trade
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: theories about him all spring and summer. That's just the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: way that it goes. Now, if you're a regular role player,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: you don't have that clout, but when you're Dexter Lawrence,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: you do. Dexter Lawrence is intriguing for all thirty one
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: other teams for one reason. He is a nose tackle
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: who also gets to the quarterback. Usually nose tackles or
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: one trick ponies, they stuff the run, maybe get a
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: couple pressures here and there. Dexter Lawrence does it all. Now,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: his next contract will probably pay him between twenty five
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: and thirty million bucks. That's not gonna be cheap. But
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: I will say, if the Vikings believe they can find
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: it in the extended budget, you know you I don't
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: know if you tear up his contract or you just
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: extend the current one. You can find a way to
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: put the cap hits in twenty twenty eight, twenty nine.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: Like Vikings do it.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: All the teams do it if they perceive themselves as
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: you know, super Bowl contenders right now. There's a way
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: to get this done so well. I would love it
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: if they can find a way to get Dexter Lawrence.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: That's one way to replace Jonathan Allen Javon Hargrave pretty
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: emphatically while not reducing Jalen Redman's playing time. But I
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: will hear the argument that says, you know what, here's
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: what we want to do. We want to draft Peter Woods,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: or we want Dylan Thaman because we should be done
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: with twenty nine year olds, you know, we want to
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: get younger.
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: That is a very fair argument.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: My my knee jerk reaction, maybe just because I'm a
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: jaded Vikings fan, is whenever you know, these these big
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: name superstars become, you know, even slightly available, my knee
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: jerk's like, no, I don't want the guy because he's
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: gonna cost so much and we don't know if it'll
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: work out, and they might as well draft somebody. So
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: that was my my knee jerk, Like I don't want
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the Vikings to get him because obviously he's good, but
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: like it's not like he's you know, Aaron Donald saying
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: he's coming out of retirement and I'll play for anybody,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: you know, Like it's like that would still be I'd
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: take Aaron Donald right now, I think over almost anybody else.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I think it'd be fun. But I just
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: for me, I would almost be jaded negative about it
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: if the news came out like, oh, the Vikings traded.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: I hadn't seen that his value was low first high. Second,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of surprised by that. I think maybe his
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five is dictating that I would have guessed more,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: you know, but at least that sounds doable. So yeah,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: money wise, age wise, those are probably the only negatives.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: And then I mean, but if he was on the team,
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: I'm a Vikings fan and I want the Vikings to win,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: so it'd be fun. There is a compromise. My friend
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: and I teased it about twenty minutes ago. Just sign
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Christian Wilkins for about four or five million. Unapprove it deal,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: and then you can use the eighteenth pick on Peter
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Woods bott A Bang. You got two defensive tackles, one young,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: one not young. There's a way to compromise. And the
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: only reason I keep bringing up this Christian Wilkins thing
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: on the internet and on your show, this is Brian
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: flores first draft pick ever in Miami. I'm not doing
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: this because, oh my god, I want the Vikings to
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: get every cool guy who's on the free agent market. No,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: there is a plausible connection between Christian Wilkins and Brian Flores.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: In fact, when Wilkins went through his bullshit last summer,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: somebody asked Brian Flores, you know An Egan about it,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: and he was like, oh, he's like, I love me
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: some Christian Wilkins. Sad to see you got released. We
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: always keep our ears open. Like he said the right
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: things about the guy. And so long as Wilkins is
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: done with his bizarre locker room thing or whatever it.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Was, and he needs I don't know about that.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, he allegedly likes to kiss dudes. I don't know
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: if it's on the head or where it is. People
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: say he's a little zesty in general for the NFL,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: I really don't care. If he's ready to play football
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: and Flores thinks he's a good fit, then he can
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: be your you know, patchworks solution or you don't have
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: to trade for Dexter Lawrence. And that's interesting, Like we
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: were just talking about Brazenski and the GM job, you
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: could lead me to believe that Brian Flores has as
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: much power, more power to affect the roster than he
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: ever has outside of being a head coach for the
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: Dolphins right now with his you know that triangle of
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: authority idea, I mean, he would be a part of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: that that conversation to be able to say, like, I
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: really want this guy. And I think we've heard in
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the past who like he was pretty instrumental in having
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Lake Cashman signed, and I think Isaiah Rodgers was another
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: guy that it seems like Flores was pound on the
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: table for.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: So I mean, well, and probably every team.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: If the defensive coordinator says like I like this, dude,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: we should look at it. You'd be a crazy team
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: to just show away your defensive coordinator like.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: Whatever, You're not the guy.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: I'm the guy, Like but I would assume Brian Flores
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: has more power now than he ever has, like I said,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: outside of being a head coach, so that would be interesting. Obviously,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: the Vikings need to address that position for sure, because
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: there there are two plan a's from last year it
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: didn't work out. Another guy that seems like we can't
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: stop talking about this offseason, Jonathan Garnard. It seemed like
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: immediately there was hot talk, you know, weeks and weeks ago,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: like oh, he could be traded tomorrow and it could
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: be you know, it could be even a first round
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: pick if the deal was right, and then talk about
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: that at least on Twitter and stuff kind of quieted
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: for a while. It seems like in the last couple
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: of days it's like, well, maybe maybe.
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: There could still be a deal out there.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: What do you think is ESPN right in what they
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: want that Grenard gets traded away or the Eagles gonna
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: pick up the phone? Do you think Garnard's gonna be
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: on this team or is he gonna get traded away?
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: I think this will end in a similar fashion to
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: the d Neil Hunter saga's. You know, there was a
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: couple of summers where he would hold out or appear
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: to hold out, and then they would just kind of
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: add more money onto the following year and call it good.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: That's how I predict this thing will end. So here's
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: where we're at. Remember that thing I said five minut
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: ago that when your pro bowler has zero guaranteed dollars
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: left in their contract, they squawk, they ask for a trade,
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: or you see internet articles about him about trade.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: That's what's happening with your Grenard.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: Two years ago when he signed his contract, it's nineteen
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: million per year. That was absolutely fair market. The NFL
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: market has since reset itself twice and Micah Parsons is
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: making forty seven million and he plays Grenard's position. So, yeah,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: you're Grenard who thinks you're a top fifteen edge rusher.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: You should be getting paid closer to twenty seven, twenty eight,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: twenty nine or thirty million. That's the way it works.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: His problem three sacks in twelve games. How the hell
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: can you go into a boardroom or whatever it is
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: and say I had three sacks, I'm a top fifteen
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: edge rusher. Those things, don't you know, mesh. However, he
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: had a lot of pressures. He's a good locker, room guy.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: So usually if you're contending for the postseason or Super Bowl,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: you're not in the business of subtracting edge rushers. You're
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: doing the opposite. You're hoarding those sons of bitches because
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: that's how you get through the playoffs is with edge pressure.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: So I think because this is the Vikings, they they're
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: always all all in. I think they will find a
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: way to compromise here. The Trayvon Walker contract over the
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: weekend I think really helped this because he is four
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: years younger than Jonathan Garnard. They have similar production and
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: he got twenty seven million per year, which for a
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: while there I was thinking, God, it is Grenard asking
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: for like thirty five or something like, why is it
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: this difficult to just extend the guy. They had no
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: problem doing it for Van Ginkl last year, like no
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: drama whatsoever? Boom twenty three million, hut your mouth play.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: For the Vikings he did. I don't know why that
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: isn't happening with Grenard. I think what happened is he
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: presented them or Drew Rosenhaus that super agent, presented them
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: with the number and they're like, ooh, I don't know
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: got you got three sacks, my man, Yeah, and then
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: somebody freaked out was like, all right, well then trade him,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: and then Vikings like, all right, we'll see what we
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: can get. So I'm guessing they floated that to the
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: Eagles or the Colts, and the Colts were like, not
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: paying him thirty five million per year, I'll give you
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: a second rounder, but he's not getting thirty five million.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: And I think that cooler heads prevailed. I really think
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: the Trayvon Walker extension helped because it brought everybody back
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: to earth, like, not every guy is gonna get Aiden
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Hutchinson's forty six million, So I think that this will
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: resolve itself peacefully. If he gets traded, then you're gonna
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: have to go to free agency for you know, aj
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Espinessa or jj Jadadan Clowney or use that first rounder
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: on like Keldric Falk or somebody, because I think we're
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: past the days of just having two edge rushers. And
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: you know, Dallas Turner is progressing in the right way,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: but we don't know for sure if he's going to
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: be Grenard esque. So my prediction is that they find
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: a way to bring Grenard back at a reasonable price,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: which is like twenty six twenty seven million.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Sweet, I'd be off for it. I'm a Grenard fan.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: When he's healthy, he's really good. Yeah, he didn't have
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: the sacks last year, but man, he had a lot
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: of It. Seems like a lot of defenders on the
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: Vikings last season had a lot of almost tackles and
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: he had a fair share of almost sacks.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: But I think when he's good, he's good.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I think, like you said, he's an elite
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: pass rusher and you got to keep those guys. And
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: I think one thing that's helping the situation is that
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: we haven't seen anything negative from him, at least publicly.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: We haven't seen the chefter tweet where it says Grenard
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: is asking for a trade, you know, so maybe maybe
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: there are cooler heads in this conversation, and it's not
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: so much about him not wanting to be with the Vikings.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: It's more fair deals and market value. Yeah, and that's
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: that's fine. It's a business. They say it's a business
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: all the time. I always say, I think every player
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: should advocate for every penny they can get while they're playing,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: because they have such short careers to make all this money,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: and they're putting their brains on the line, so get
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: that money. But yeah, Grenard's good. I'm a fan and
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: I want the Vikings to keep him. Hope it works
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: out the way you're saying, And you know, it's not
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: my money. I don't care if these guys are making
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: tons of money. So as long as they're winning, that's
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: all I care about. And speaking of winning, we've kind
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: of said this a couple of times since we've been
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: talking here the last shoot almost an hour now, we've
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: mentioned Kevin O'Connell and how he hasn't won a playoff
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: game yet.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: There seems to be this cloud over the heads of the.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Vikings that I kind of get the feeling that Kevin
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: O'Connell he's not on the hot seat right now. I
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: don't think it's one of those like the leash is
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: short you just said, and I kind of agree, he's
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: basically the CEO of the team right now. But it
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: does feel like if the Vikings don't win a playoff
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: game this into this upcoming season, Kevin O'Connell does not
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: come out of that equation looking too great. I mean,
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the Vikings just fired the GM that they I think
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: his extension just started taking an effect as far as money,
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: so the owners have kind of proven like, all right,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: we're done with this BS. It'll be a costly decision,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: but if we got to fire somebody who needs to
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: be fired, we'll fire them. I don't think KOs is
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: there yet, but without a playoff win, I think that
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: could be much more of a buzz.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: Do you agree with me? Do you think his seat
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: maybe isn't hot but it's getting a little bit warm?
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: No? I disagree.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: I think the seat is hot, like to the Yeah,
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: not to the point where we have to, you know,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: threw our fingernails every game wondering if he's gonna get fired.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: But it is so rare, my friend, for a quarterback
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: or a head coach to go into year number five
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: without a playoff win. And I think it's just because
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: he's a swell dude. Like he does.
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: He's able to.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Whisper to quarterbacks who aren't rookies, like he's able to
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: do every single one of them that's not a rookie.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: He can cook with the rookies. Don't ask him to
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: do that.
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: That doesn't work. So, you know, yeah, that's a good point.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: So he carries a locker room I think the leadership
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: is there. I like his offensive play calling. There's a
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: lot of people that don't like that anymore. But I
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: think he's on the hot seat because if they go
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: nine to eight to miss the playoffs, or eight to
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: nine and you have this interim general manager in Rob Prazinski,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: you haven't won a playoff game eight nine or nine
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: and eight without a postseason appearance. Something would have gone wrong,
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if you can just keep running
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: it back over and over with the same guy. Now, thankfully,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: I think the Vikings are gonna be really good. I
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: would say to keep his job securely, they have to
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: get to the postseason and then whatever happens in that
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: playoff game, like there's some fluke ending that nobody could
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: have ever predicted in their life. I don't think that
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: O'Connell would be fired, but if they look like idiots
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: in the first playoff game, or they don't make the
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: playoffs at all, I would say there is a plausible
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: chance that he would be fired on Black Monday. And
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: I love Kevin O'Connell. I hope he doesn't get fired.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: I trust him, Like the only thing I'm worried about
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: at all is that the NFC North is suddenly really
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: really competitive. This isn't the old days where you could
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: just laugh at two of the other teams. They're all
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: competitive and they all think they're gonna win the NFC North.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: But I will say that, for accountability's sake, in full
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: job security, very least get to the postseason and probably
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: win a game. All right, let's get a few steps
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: ahead of where we should even be in this conversation
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: right now. But let's pretend you know we are in
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: black Monday, January twenty twenty seven. Vikings didn't make the postseason.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell is getting fired. Mike Tomlin is not a
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: head coach in the league right now.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: Do you think he'd be a he'd be a fun
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: or even you know, option guy that the Vikings would
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: look at as a head coach in the league.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean he fits the Vikings perfectly. He's perfectly.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: He's guaranteed to go nine to eight. That's music to
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: the Vikings ears, Like seriously, that's like what their mantra is.
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: He got his start as a defensive coordinator for a
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: season twenty years ago. Now with the Vikings, I think
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: there's you know, a mutual admiration society between the two.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: The only problem with that is it's that bullshit. We're're
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: gonna have to trade for him because he's still a
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: contract Steelers. And remember, we don't even talk about this anymore.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: The Saints got a first rounder for Sean Payton and
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be doing any of that. Don't don't
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: ask me about that on any podcasts. I'm not trading
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: a first rounder for a head coach. But if there's
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: some way that he can be released from that, I
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: think you would hear that Ryan Flores could be an option.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Like let's say the defense hums and Kyler gets hurt
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: and McCarthy sucks or something like that. I think Flores
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: would be at the top of the list promotion, and
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: then I would like Grant Yudenski to get an interview.
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: He was the Vikings assistant head coach and now he
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: cooked as the OC and Jacksonville. I don't think we'll
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: have to talk about this because I think O'Connell will
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: resurrect or I guess, salvage his time in Minnesota and
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: we won't have a rerun of last last year. Will
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: always bug me for a very long time, because I
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: still do this, Like I'll be talking to somebody about
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: the Vikings and I'll say, well, yeah, after such a
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: shitty season, and I'm like, wait a second. They finished
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: nine and eight, like it just felt like an horrendous season,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: but they won their last five games, you know, screwed
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: up the draft pick. It really wasn't that bad of
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: a season when it was all said and done. But yeah,
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: I would expect Tomlin to be there so long as
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: the trade price isn't outrageous, Ryan Flores to be right
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: in the mix, and then the field will wood thicken
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: by then because there's gonna be another hot shot offensive guy.
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: There's probably some dude from the Vikings pass we're not
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: even thinking of.
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: There would be options.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is crazy you say twenty twenty five.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: I have the same thoughts, like, man, it's such a
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: garbage season. Everything went wrong, The pen's heads are falling off.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: Everything was terrible, and it really wasn't like you could
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: argue they were one poorly defended kickoff away from making
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, or at least being more into that conversation
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: that that kick off that the Bears wide receiver returned
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: and yeah.
• 55:09
  Speaker 3: And difference.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: The only difference is the Packers would have played their
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: starters in Week eighteen. That game would have been for
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: all the marbles, believe it or not, but yeah, it
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: really did come down. I remember leaving that game thinking
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: that was the game, that was the one we needed
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: to win, and then a couple of weeks later I
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, maybe I was just too dramatic.
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: It turns out that was the game.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: That single tackle that somebody needed to make would have
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: given them a puncher's chance as it turned down to
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: win the division in Week eighteen.
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep, should have, could have, would have.
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: Every year we can point to two or three scenarios
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: like that where man, if he just would have made
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: that one tackle, or if he wouldn't have dropped that
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: one interception, things would have been way crazier. But that's
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: that's why football is so fun to watch, just because
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: things can can change so dramatically, just based off one
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: or two things, and then we're we're always saying, hey,
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: there's always next year.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: So that's why I love it is because it's so close.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: You're always that close to you know, getting to the
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: to get into the promised Land. And for Vikings fans,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: it's never worked out, at least at least not yet.
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: Maybe twenty six.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: Is our year and we'll all be wearing Kyler Murray
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: er Kyler Murray jerseys and you know JJ McCarthy who,
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: and it should It'll be fun. That's the that's the thing.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: Like we talked about nine and eight last year, in
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: a season that felt dreadful, they finished nine and eight,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: and now they have Kyler Murray. Like there were so
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: many games last year that I either tweeted or told
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: my wife, we just need an average quarterback and we'd
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: be winning by to a ten points like Seattle. Like,
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: believe it or not, that game was winnable. Sam Darnold
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: did nothing special in that game against the Vikings zero.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: It looked like one of those games where he wanted
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: to have like a complete turd, but we didn't allow
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: it because our offense couldn't do anything. So if you
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: look at a team that went nine and eight with
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: the NFL's fifth worst quarterback play for EPA for dropback
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: EPA like the fifth worst quarterback play, the team finished
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: nine and eight. Kyler Murray is not is now in town.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Even if he's like the fifteenth best quarterback, the Vikings
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: are gonna win eleven or twelve games based on the numbers.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: So that's another reason that I am reinvigorated about Kyler
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: Murray being here is that we're not starting from the boy.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: We're three to fourteen. Maybe Kyler can drag us respectability. No,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: they were this close to being a playoff team, yep,
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: and quarterback play is only going to be helped out
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: no matter who's playing. It's gonna be Kyler, but no
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: matter who's playing, just because the O line should look
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: better as long as the Vikings can do something at
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: the center position. I actually didn't hate how Will Fries played.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Donovan Jackson I thought had a pretty good rookie year.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: Christian Darrisaw, he's one more season removed from that horrific injury,
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: which it sounds like there was just some some healing
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: complications that were happening with that. So the more healed
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: he is, the he's already shown. Darsaw I think is
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: probably the best left tackle to not have a Pro
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: Bowl NOD so far. And then Brian O'Neill. He's Brian O'Neil.
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: As long as he's healthy, we don't have to worry
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: about that. So I think the offensive line is going
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: to be much more improved as far as on the
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: field play in twenty six and they were in twenty five,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: which is only going to help out the quarterback position too.
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: All right, Dustin, you and I.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: We could keep going for another five, ten fifteen hours
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: just talking about the vikings until the draft starts, but
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: we probably shouldn't do that.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: So I really appreciate you coming on.
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: In seasons past, we have had a really good rotation
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: of you know, about once a month you coming on
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: and giving us your takes. We need to get back
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: to that because I think the school hop is better
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: when you're on every handful of episodes. So invitation is
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: always out there, but I'd love to have you on
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: more often if you're up for it. Yeah, you should
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: line me up for like that week right after the
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: draft and we can decompress what that hall looks like. Yeah,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: that'd be really good. And I'll actually have heard those
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: guys' names by then, so and I'll be convinced they're
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: all Pro bowlers. Iowa round three center, he's twenty five
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: or he's gonna be twenty five. That pisses me off,
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: but he should be game ready at age twenty five
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: to be the Viking Center.
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: Well, I think the further we get away from those
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: COVID years, we'll start seeing rookies be more and more
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: younger than twenty five again.
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: But I think there's.
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: Gonna be a weird era where we see these twenty
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: five year old rookies coming in. But all right, destin
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: where can people find you if for some reason they
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: haven't already heard where you put out your stuff before?
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: Vikings Territory dot com is where myself in about six
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: seven others right daily almost hourly, and then at dust
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: Baker on Twitter. That's the main one. And then my
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: second book is on Amazon. It is called The Invaders.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: It is a suspense thriller that has like kind of
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: political Don't worry, it's not like, you know, a whack
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: job book, but it has like governmental overtones. So I
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: would suggest your readers go buy that on Amazon ebook
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: or paperback. It's called The Invaders by me. Awesome, you're
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: gracious enough to send me a copy.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: I still need to dive in.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: But if it's if it's anything near as good as
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: The Motor Out was your first book I can't wait.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: I'm sure it'll be great, and I will.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: Give you my honest opinion, but honestly, I'll be shocked
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: if it's anything less than great. The motor Oute had
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: some fun twists and turns, and there's at least one
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: point where I said, what the heck is going on
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: in this book? So maybe I don't know, maybe that'll
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: be at least one twist in this next book, But
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to dive in.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: Readers, go check really both of those books out. The
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: motor Out your first book, and then The Invaders, Is
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: that right, your most recent one? And it sounds like
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: you've You've mentioned before you're gonna keep chugging these out?
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: One two Agree is about nice? The Summer awesome. Are
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: you gonna do any audiobooks?
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: Are you gonna You're gonna read these aloud and post
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: them up or anything like that? And I think, I
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: think if I get cool enough where these books catch on,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: then I can pay a service or some sort of
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: AI to read them. I don't know that anybody wants
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: to hear me reading it, but I haven't had that
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: my uh, one of my cousins is hearing a paired
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: and so she keeps pounding the table like she's got
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: you gotta do this. I'm like, yeah, I'm just a
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: small timer. First, let me hit my groove and then
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: we'll get.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: To all that.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: But yeah, for sure that that's got to be on
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: my to do list.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I'm definitely more of an audiobook consumer, but
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: when it's yours, I have no problem opening up the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: book and actually turning the pages and reading it like
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: the Stone Age.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: But I can't wait to dive in listeners.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: Definitely go check out Viking's Territory, vikes Now, dust Baker
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: on Twitter, everything else.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: It's uh.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: Vikings Territory is my favorite place for Vikings news related content.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: So thank you Dustin again, thanks for coming on.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll definitely we'll have you on, if not right
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: after the draft, within the weeks after the draft, I'd
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: love to get your immediate thoughts on whoever the Vikings
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: pick up, and then who knows, maybe we'll have more
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: news on a GM situation soon after the draft as well.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 3: And the schedule about a month.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: I always forget the schedule just comes right around the
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: draft and it's like, oh, Hey, it's always a surprise
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: to me. It's one thing I don't have to sit
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: and look forward to. It's like, oh, hey, scheduled day,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: and then what game am I gonna go to? Because
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: I usually get to one a year if I'm lucky.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: So yeah, but uh yeah, thanks again for coming on,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: Dustin h fun as always. Was there anything else you
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: wanted to bring up before we wrapped everything up? No,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: I just got school, baby,