Latest / The Skol Hop / A Vikings Offseason Recap and a Great Summer Beer | TSH Ep. 144

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A Vikings Offseason Recap and a Great Summer Beer | TSH Ep. 144 · The Skol Hop

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Hey, Vikings fans, welcome in to another episode
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of the School Hop. I'm Evan and I'm Austin. We're
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: just a couple of dudes from Iowa. We like drinking
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: beer and talking about the Vikings.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. And you know, I just got back
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: from Mexico, so of course this week I had to
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: bring a Mexico inspired.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Beer, and I must say it was delicious. I really
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: enjoyed it. We also chatted about all of the Vikings
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: off season happenings, good and bad, going all the way
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: back to the draft up to this point.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we touched on some of our favorite things
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that have happened and definitely some of our least favorite
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: things that have happened.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: And we tried really hard, really hard to not let
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the quarterback conversation take over. I think we did that.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We definitely talked about it, but not too much.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we devoted the appropriate amount of time
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: to the quarterback position. But it was still good and
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I like that we don't necessarily agree on everything. So
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: go ahead and grab a cold one and listen to
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: episode one of the School Hot School School.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Evan.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: I brought the beer tonight and I'm pretty excited about it.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I haven't had this one before, and when I brought
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: it you kind of seemed like you hadn't seen it
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: before either.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I've never seen this beer before, so I'm excited to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: try it. What is it? So?
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: It is from Confluence Broom Company, who we've had a
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: couple of times recently. I think last episode we had
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: one of theirs, and tonight I was at our favorite
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Devil's Glenn Hive talking to front of the show Jim
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: and I got the Captain LimeWire, which is kind of
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: their play I don't know. It reminds me of that
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: one downloading service from back when we were teenagers, maybe
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: even a little bit younger LimeWire. But this one is
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a Limelogger five point three percent, and I'm really excited
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: about it. Says it's a Mexican style lagger with lime
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: and salt. There's a whole paragraph of maybe a story
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of what it's about. We decided we're not going to
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: read it out loud. Maybe we'll link to the beer
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and definitely Confluence, so check it out below. But I'm
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: excited about this one.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And you just got back from Mexico.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I did, I did just get back from Mexico. My
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: brain is still in Mexico. I joked that my brain
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: left for Mexico a few days before the rest of
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: me did because I was worthless everywhere else, And now
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: my brain is still there. Didn't make the travel back
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: with me.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: But well, hopefully this reminds you a little bit of
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: your time in Mexico.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I didn't have any lime or you know, pilsners or
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: loggers down there. Lime, for sure. There were some light beers,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: but it was mostly the the tropical drinks. But I'm
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: excited for this one skull.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I can dig that. That's good. Oh yeah, you know what.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: That reminds me of an easy drinking.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they make it anymore, but the
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: was it bud light lime that they at least used
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to make. They might still.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe had it like once. I think pretty sure they
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: make a bush light lime maybe. I think it's relatively
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: new because they're starting to like do all the different
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: flavors with bush light like they had peach for a
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: while a popular one, And I think I'm pretty sure
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: they have a bush light lime.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: That's all right now either way, this this lime wire,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: this reminds me a lot of what I remember the
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: bud light lime tasting like, and I was a big
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: fan of that. I like this one a lot. It's nice.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: It's light five point what did I say?
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Five point three? Yeah, man, lawn more scale.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Lawn more scale. I'm gonna give this. I'm gonna give
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: it an eight point one, which is pretty pretty hid,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: which is pretty good. Uh yeah, it's it's not a
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: light light beer. I mean, usually what what are like
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: cores lights are those like four's or something like that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: So this is a little bit hefty year but just
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: in content, so maybe not quite as high on the
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: lawnmower scale. It's like a Corse light. But just for
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that reason, you can throw back a fair amount of
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: these and right after on the lawn you'll be pretty good.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's crisp, it's refreshing. We've just now kind of
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: officially entered into the summer months, so spring is over,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: summer is here. This is a good fit and a
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: good choice for tonight. So thanks for bringing it. Yeah, yea,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Good job confluence.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Well let's get into Vikings talk here. Training camp dates
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: have officially been announced. Yeah, not that that's like late
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: breaking news. That we're going to spend an hour talking about.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: But with those dates being announced, we kind of have
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: a finish line to the summer for our Vikings and
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: we have a starting date a starting line for this
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: upcoming twenty twenty six season. Yeah. So the dates, if
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: you're wondering, Rookies report July twenty six, Veterans report July
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, and then the first open practice for fans
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: begins on August first, and then things kind of escalate
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: from there. They've got, like they always do a night practice, yeah,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and I think there's a few other kind of like
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: cornerstone moments. I think they're doing some joint practices with
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the RAVENSPP towards the end of training camp and getting
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: into the preseason games and stuff. I thought it'd be
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: fun to kind of recap everything that's happened this offseason
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: before we really get into the thick of this new season,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: because there's been a lot that's happened, yeah in Vikings world,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: and we can maybe kind of go back and forth on,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you know, what the good things have been, what the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: bad things have been, and kind of what we're looking
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: forward to moving forward.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, real quick Evan, have you ever attended Vikings
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: training camp?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I have not been to training camp.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, my wife and I did it one time right
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: when we got married. We like took a quick weekend
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: up to Minnesota. It was fun and that was still
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: the main Cato days. It's a good time. I mean,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: it's not anything, you know, life changing, but it's pretty
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: fun to watch training camp. I would like to know
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: if you've ever been.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I would like to go, And I think you and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I had talked about going last year and we looked
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: at some dates and nothing really worked out with the
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: two of us. But yeah, I would definitely be interested
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: in going up for sure. I think it'd be a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: lot of fun. The one bummer that I saw on
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the schedule this year is there's only one preseason game
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: at US Bank. At US Bank, I should clarify, sorry,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: but I took my family to a preseason game last year,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: which was a lot of fun. But this preseason game
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: at home this year, this is just gonna probably not
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: work out, unfortunately so well, but maybe training camp, maybe
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that's the way we can get up there and yeah,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: check things out there you go.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: All right? I have this off season so far for
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: the Vikings. We'll talk about some of the ups, some
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of the downs. I feel like the general consensus is
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: that it's been a pretty quiet offseason. But then, you know,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: right before we started recording, we really took a look
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: kind of at the timeline and all the things that
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: they did do as a team. And I think they
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: actually did quite a few things. I mean, obviously, every
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: team does the draft, and every team, you know, participates
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: in free agency. But you know, an hour ago, if
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: you'd ask me like, oh, what all the Vikings done,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I would have said, like, really not, But it's actually
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: quite a bit. So what should we talk about first?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I think maybe the draft?
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, I think for me, the draft is
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: the low point of the off season. It just seemed
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: like that was a really frustrating endeavor for Vikings fans,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: and we've just become accustomed to bad drafts, I think
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: in the last four years at least. Obviously, the Brisness
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: didn't work out as the full time GM. He filled
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the gap after they fired Quacy and before they hired
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Nolan Teasley. But I was disappointed, really, I was disappointed
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: in and I don't even remember his name off the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: top of my head. But who's the first rounder?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Kayleb Banks Kleb Banks.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I was disappointed in that pick for the fact that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: he's injured and it didn't seem like maybe he was
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: going to be ready to play. I think that has
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: soft a little bit with me and with some other
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Vikings fans. I think there's a little more optimism there
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: now than there was when they drafted him. But oh man,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: everybody ripped the Vikings apart. All of the draft grades
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: that came out from all the various sources were just
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: really ragging on the Vikings, you know, D plus D
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: minus for that pick, and and I tended to agree
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: with them at that point, because why would you pick
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: up this this kid that is injured may or may
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: not play, especially after we're reeling from drafting JJ McCarthy
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: tenth overall a couple of years ago, and you know,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: we're we're potentially being faced with that like curse word
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: in the football world of being a draft blust you know,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: like so that that left a pretty bad taste in
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: my mouth. I was pleased that they didn't move on
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: to Rob Brazinski is the full time really GM. I
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: was pleased that they didn't move him into the full
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: time role, but still kept him on. I think he's
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: got a lot of history with the team, and I
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: think he is good for the team. I just don't
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: know that he's the best in that particular role, and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what Noelan Teasley brings. All that
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to say, for me, the low water mark the valley
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the worst point of the off season for me was
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the draft, in specifically that first round draft pick in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Caleb Banks. I really don't think there was a ton
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: of other huge gets in the draft for the Vikings.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: All of that remains to be seen, and I could
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: look like a complete fool. We don't know how they're
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: gonna know, Yeah, but I don't know. Just it didn't
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: seem like they addressed some of the needs that the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: team had position wise, and they didn't go after some
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of the bigger names that we had all kind of
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: i think zeroed in on as a fan base of like,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: we want that one kid. Yeah, we wanted that guy,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and we wanted we wanted a safety specifically to kind
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of fill the void that Harrison Smith is gonna leave
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: when he ultimately leaves, because he will eventually, yeah, whether
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: it's this year, here or later. And I think we
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: wanted a running back because running back has been a
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: struggle for the last couple of years. And Aaron Jones
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: is a great guy and it has shown flashes, but
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: he's just not the same guy that he was when
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: he was with Green Bay. So yeah, I don't know,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: that's that's my low point.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: I guess just the draft as a whole. The draft, Yeah,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I you know, I'm keeping an open open mind about
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: the draft specifically. I think one, a lot of Vikings
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: fans would be way more excited, and I think this
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: might be you, so correct me if I'm wrong. They
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: would have been way more excited about the draft if
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: they would have gotten Dylan Thieneman, solely because that's who
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: ever everybody who ever made a mock draft ever was taking,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: having the Vikings take and two, they would have been
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: way more excited, even with Caleb Banks if it wasn't
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: for the broken foot, you know, if it wasn't for
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the injury immediate injury concerned. But I'm keeping an open
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: mind because I'll be the first to admit the people
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: who work for the Vikings have forgotten way more about
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: football today than I will ever know about football, you know.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: So I'm gonna trust them, trust them and trust that
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: they are doing what they need to do solely because
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: it's their jobs on the line. So Caleb Banks very
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: well could turn out to be a bust. Never play,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: sit out a year or two because of this injury stuff,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: you know, come back in the first practice, get injured again,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: could be go down as the next Lewis Scene or
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: he could go down as the next Kevin Williams. Like
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: we just we just don't know, And I don't think
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: any of us would be mad if he becomes the
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: next Kevin Williams, that would be incredible. But just kind
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: of looking at all the people the Viking's drafted, I
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: kind of think, just being optimistic, there could be as
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: many as five guys to me, in my opinion, that
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: could for no injury reasons, for no higher level performance reasons,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: they could earn themselves some starts this year. I think
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Caleb Banks, if he gets healthy totally is a first
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: round pick, could earn some starts. Jake Golday, the linebacker,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: he was pretty highly touted, highly touted second round pick.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: He could definitely earn himself some starts this year. Dominique
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Orange the big Citrus.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: The big citrus out of Iowa State.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it might be tougher for him just because there
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: is that defensive line is going to be a tough competition.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a nice, beefy, talented defensive line,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: assuming Caleb Banks is healthy too, because you still have
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: l President Levi Drake Roder he goes and you still
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: have Jalen Redman, maybe the biggest steal of the NFL
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: right now. He's a heck of a player and he's
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: still on basically a udf A contract. So but I
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: still think the big Citrus, dom Mique Orange could earn
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: some starts. Another third rounder, Jacoby Thomas safety. Every highlight
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I've seen of him seems like he's out there to
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: murder other players. He just hit so hard. He could
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: earn himself some starts, especially depending on what happens with
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: the Harrison Smith situation. Max Brettison the full back, he's
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: definitely gonna get on the field and he's the mission. Yeah,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: he was a tight end, but they're they're saying he's
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the best fullback to come out of college this year.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: At least he kind of plays that like full back
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: slash tight end slash flinker, yeah, like utility guy mm hm.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: And then you know Charles Demings the quarterback, corner back, sorry,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the depth of that room, he could earn himself some starts.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: And then you never know. Gavin Gerhart the center. They
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: just the Vikings didn't address center outside of drafting him
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: in the seventh round. You never know, he could earn
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: a starter too, depending on that might be more injury concern.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: But I do think while it wasn't the huge, splashy draft,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: and it's not like, you know, the draft grades right
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: after we're saying, hey Vikings, Hey, Plus they got multiple
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Hall of Famers, I think there's some guys that you know,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: who knows in a year or two, we're talking, hey,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: none of these guys are on the team anymore. Or
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: there could be some sneaky like long tenured Vikings here,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: and I'm choosing to be optimistic about that.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: I would just like to speak for all of Vikings
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Kingdom for a moment. We want the splashy drafts. We
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: want the big sexy picks. That's what we want. That's
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: what we want. That's what makes the draft so much
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: fun to watch is when you're like, oh my gosh,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: did you see that I just picked? Not the like,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: who's that guy? Yeah, exactly, I never heard of him before?
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Ala Banks, he's hurt. Why did they pick him? That
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: makes no sense?
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Well, and we say it all the time about ourselves specifically,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: we're not elite draft minds. We're not elite college football
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: mind so for most of us. I mean, shoot, I
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: was sitting next to the front of the show for
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: us when the Vikings drafted Jordan Addison, and he was
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the one to be like, WHOA, that's a good pick.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: And I was like, I've never never heard of this kid.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Is he good? What position does you play?
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Again?
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Like, and you know what, on the field, Jordan Adison
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: has turned out to be pretty good. So off the
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: field so far though, so far, let's knock on the
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: school Van's center here. But yeah, I think I'm cautiously
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: optimistic about the draft.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Well, it'll be interesting to see how that all pans out.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: One thing that I am kind of interested in slash
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: kind of excited about is other than the draft. It
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: seems like there's kind of been this positive traject for
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: kind of all things Vikings. And I'm just going to
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: spout off a couple of things, some observations, some anecdotal evidence.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: You could say Juwan Jennings was a good free agent.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Signing Nolan Teasley the new GM seems like that's a
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: good fit. There's a healthy competition at the quarterback position,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and it doesn't seem like it's wrapped up at all.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I know some people would say, oh, man, Kyler's got
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: it wrapped up, and other people are like, no, JJ
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: is going to do it. You're wearing your JJ.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: And remember, listeners and viewers, I will be wearing this
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: JJ McCarthy jersey until I think I finally landed on
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: it last episode. I'll be wearing it until it's announced
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: that he is not the starter. So potentially I could
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: be wearing this jersey for the next ten years or
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: the next one episode. You know, like you never know.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: But what's interesting to me about that, and we can
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: circle back around to this JJ seems to be improving.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: That's what the headlines are saying out of ot as
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: this last week is Oh, he's he's doing all the
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: things that the coaches have asked him to do. We've
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: already briefly referenced to Jordan Addison. No one's gotten in
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: trouble yet not gone, would he?
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Why'd you say it out loud?
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I not trying to jinx us, but somebody from the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Packers already did. Yeah, he was it, Josh, Josh Jacobs. Yeah.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: And if that's true, man, that's so rough.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Like for once, it happened to them, not us, which
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: is a good thing. Cap space seems to be in
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: a decent spot now and could potentially improve. We read
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: an article pre show by Viking's Territory. One of Dustin's
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: co writers over there wrote about some potential extensions to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: guys like Andrew Vane Goal and who's the other one?
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I forget Bran O'Neill. Potential extensions to those guys that
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: could open up even more cap space for this coming season.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: So I don't know, Like I'm also cautiously optimistic. Like
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: you said you were referencing the draft, I'm referencing everything else.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: But it also like it kind of it leaves me
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: with this unsettling feeling like it shouldn't be this good,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Like we're not used to this as Vikings fans, we're
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: not used to this quiet of an off season, and
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: we're not used to this, like nothing's falling apart at
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: this moment. Nothing is like a train wreck at this moment. Now,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: it could be a total disaster when they show up
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and play Week one, or they could go out and
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: play like perennial powerhouse. Yeah, you just you don't know
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: at this point. So I don't know. I've got this
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: cautiously optimistic, this like I know they're probably gonna let
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: me down type of attitude.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Because about that's all they've done for the last sixty
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: plus years.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: It's all they've done for my entire lifetime.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think now that you say that, the
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: people say about the NFL, like it's just there's parody
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: every year. And what do they say, Like half of
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: the teams that make the playoffs in a given year
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: miss the playoffs the following year, Like there's that much turnover.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: And that's one of the reasons the NFL is such
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: a fun sport is because you really could go from
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: worse to first, and I mean your team there literally
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: is always next year, you know, like baseball teams the Twins.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: You know, yeah, sure they could win a game, they
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: could theoretically go on a run and be a good
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: team out of nowhere. But if you're not putting resources
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: into your team. People knew, you know, in spring training
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: that this year's twenties, Yes, yeah, the Twins were not
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: going to be good this year. Whereas the every NFL team,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: like even down to the Browns, Like there's so few
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: games in the season, seventeen games. Injuries happen to every team.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: So even if you have a dream team in June
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: with you know, all stars and MVPs and everything, and
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: two guys tearing an ACL and training camp could totally
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: derail your season. So like everybody's in it, and truly
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: everybody who's zero and zero right now, anybody could win
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: the Super Bowl as of right now. And I think
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the Vikings are one of the perfect examples of that parody,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: especially the way they sit right now. Because you know,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: we always say the quarterback position is the most important
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: position in sports, and I truly believe that Vikings have
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: two guys that I honestly believe. Yeah, I'm a JJ guy,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: but like Kyler Murray breaking news he has played well
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: in his career football. Yeah, Like, they have two guys
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: that could play really well. And if even one of
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: those is like, oh man, all right, that's something here
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: that could there's eight wins right there, just on having
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: a good quarterback, you know, like there's so many things
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: that like, just like you were saying all year last year,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: all off season last year, like we have reason to
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: be excited about the Vikings, I'll say that same thing
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: about the Vikings right now. There's reason to be excited.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: There's there's a lot of good things to look forward to.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: And I think every team, every fan, every podcast out
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: there like ours that's talking about their favorite team right
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: now says something similar to that, like there's always this
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know, it's summertime, it's nice outside. People are
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: generally more optimistic. There's a little more freedom, you go
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: on vacation to Mexico or whatever. So but again, but
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: that's my point is that legitimately every team could do
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: even the New York Jets could do something right now,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: unless you believed the whole stuff with Gino in the
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: last few days about you know, what's that video about
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: him getting called out by a baby mom. I don't
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: even know. Well, I'd be more concerned with the whole
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: if I were the Patriots. The whole Mike Vrabel Diana,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: it seems to have really sizzled out though, well at
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: least publicly, but I think it's still there. Sure, still
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: kind of a big deal. But anyways, I'm not disagreeing
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: with you, and I feel that same sense of optimism,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: but that optimism has been soured just a little bit
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: by history, and it's been soured a little bit by
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: just like all of the change and turnover that the
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Vikings have been through. I mean, I don't know it.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: You got to play the games, yeah, right, and so
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: we're not going to know anything until September.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a little while ago. I think you mentioned the
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: draft kind of being your your least favorite part of
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: what has happened this offseason. I'm gonna say my lowest,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: my least favorite part is kind of the lack of
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: what seems like the lack of attention giving to given
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: to the running back position and the center position. And
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: maybe the Vikings coaches and now new GM are maybe
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: they're totally comfortable with Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, and
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: then you sprinkle in the what was he a six
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: round pick? Yeah, demand Claiborne. Maybe they're comfortable with that,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: but I don't know, it's felt like they should have
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: done more to address that, and that's at the running
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: back position, but the center position specifically. I really thought
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: they they would give it at least a third round pick,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: if not higher.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: It seems like Blake Brandell's got that locked down.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: And if he does well, maybe they're super comfortable with that.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: They know more about football than I do, and I
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: take solace in that. I think we've had a friend
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: of the show, Dustin, on this show a handful of times,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: and he has said a few times specifically to you
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: and I that no matter what the offensive line, you know,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: kind of feels like to fans, you kind of have
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: to trust Kevin O'Connell because his entire time as a
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: coach with the Vikings, barring injury, his offensive line has
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: played pretty well. And yes, there's there's other factors that
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: go into that. You got to have the right players
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: and the right O line coaches and stuff like that,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: but barring injury, Dustin's right. The offensive line under Kevin
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: O'Connell throughout his coaching career has held up and played
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: pretty well, even if you don't know the guy's names.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: You know, so I guess I'm trusting the coaching staff.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: But when the most they do to address the position
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: where the former starter retired. All they do is draft
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: somebody in the seventh round. Yeah, they've maybe they're shown
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: more confident in confidence in Brandell, but I feel like
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: they should have beefed it up a little bit more so.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Those are two positions, specifically running back and center, that
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I'll be keeping an eye on, and I'll definitely perk
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: up whenever anybody tweets like, Hey, I'm watching training camp
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: and you know all the reporters do and they're like, Hey,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: we're watching drills and my goodness, this player looks great,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: or holy cows, somebody made a great catch. Somebody's gonna
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: be tweeting looking at the online specifically like hey, everything
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: looks good and oh my goodness, Brandell looks like he
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: you know, you can't stop. He could stop anything. Or
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: they're gonna be like rough day for Brandell. We might
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: be seeing like a training camp acquisition for a center, and.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I honestly, I don't think that that's super likely at
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: this point. I think Brandell he's kind of been that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: utility knife on the offensive line. He can, he's that guard,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: and I think he's played both sides and he's filled
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: in at center, So I think he can do it all,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: and I think all that experience builds on itself. And
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: you've got to be smart when you play the center position,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: and you've got to have a good relationship with your quarterback.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: And maybe that's one of the reasons they wanted to
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: keep a guy that's been on the roster for what
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: five or six years now and keep some of that stability.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: He's familiar. Brandell is familiar with Kevin O'Connell's offensive scheme.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: So when you've got these two guys coming in battling
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: for a quarterback position, you've got that rock solid foundation
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: at the center position, you don't have to worry about that.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Blake's got it and he's going to get the ball
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: to the quarterback, and he's also going to command the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: troops on that front line, get him where they need
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: to be, adjust the protection pre snap as it needs to,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: and hope for the best. And that could be why
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: by extension they didn't really us the running back issue. Well,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: if the offensive line problems are fixed, we get Christian
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Darisaw back healthy, and we've got Brian O'Neill on the
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: other side, we've got good protection in the middle. We
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: don't need to do anything because he's the heck of
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: an athlete, so is Jordan Mason. They can handle their own.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: They just need good blocking up front, you know, and
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: same for the quarterback play right Like, Man, if these
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: guys can run block and pass block, well, then there's
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: no issues here and we don't need to go address that.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: We can bring in a depth guy in the seventh
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: round like they did with Gavin Gearhart. They do have.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: I was just looking at the roster while you were
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: talking a minute ago. They have four rookies on the
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: roster that are currently designated offensive line and just ol.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: They don't have any sort of indication. Tristan Lee delb Lemieux,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Thomas Rymack, and Caleb Tiernan.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Tiernan specifically was drafted he played tackle in college. I
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: think he's tackle size.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Maybe he's the tallest and the heaviest.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so good. I mean if I think Brandell was
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: drafted as a tackle as well, so he's a little bit.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Smaller tackle scale. He's a better guard center. But anyways,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: all that to say, I think the depth pieces are there.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: It'll be really interesting to see how they trim that
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: down for the fifty three man roster. When we get there,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: who stays who goes? Because not only do you have
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: those four guys, but then you have Brandell Gerhardt the rookie,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: and Michael Jurgens, who's listed as a center.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, and I think Jurgen's spots started one or two games. Yeah,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: I think you're I will say too specifically on offensive line.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Me personally, I'm not too concerned about it. I know
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: a lot of people there are question marks as far
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: as health, but I think from everything we've seen, sounds
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: like Derisol good to go. His injury a couple of
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: seasons ago was rough and it yeah, he played last
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: season and played okay, but like it sounds like he
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: needed that was one of those like year and a
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: half recoveries, and it's everything sounds like he's he's good
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: to go.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: He's back.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Donovan Jackson, the first rounder from last year, good to go.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: He's he did everything I needed him to do.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: He had a great year last year. He missed, he.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Did what do he have? Surgery on his wrister hand.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: At one point he missed four games. But he came
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: back and we never said his name, like, oh my gosh,
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: who was the one offensive lineman. The Vikings just seemed
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: to always re sign seventy eight Dakota Doser. They just
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: didn't let that guy go, and he was just terrible.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: He was a turnstile. He must have practiced pretty well. Uh,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Donovan Jackson is like the opposite of Dakota Joser. He
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: actually plays well. If whoever they put at center plays well,
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: I'm good with that. I know a lot of people,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: for whatever reason, aren't huge fans of right guard Will Fries.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I think maybe that's because he makes a lot of money.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: It was like a four year, eighty ninety million dollar contract,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: which is a lot for a guard. But I mean, yeah,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: he wasn't the number one overall guard in the league
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: last year, but he was still pretty darn good and
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: we rarely said his name. And then Brian O'Neil when
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: he's healthy, which is most of the time. He gets
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: banged up, usually one or two games every year, but
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: for the most part, Brian O'Neil is still for me,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: one of the best right tackles in the game. So overall,
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: I feel pretty darn good about the offensive line. That
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: center is a big, big position though for me.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: And I think injuries. The other thing, yes, right, like
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: can they stay healthy? Can they be consistent? Right, That's
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: one of the things that the commentators will even point
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: out during a live broadcast a bit, Well, this crew
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: they've played this many games together, or this is the
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: first time this combination of these five has been together
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: at all ever, you know, and so it definitely matters.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: It is a big deal. And health, I think is
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: the biggest thing for those guys. They're doing hand to
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: hand combat every rep, every snap, every play. The only
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: break they get is when the offense comes off the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: field usually or if they get yanked for whatever reason
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: they need a break, or they're not playing well and
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: they need to re set refocus on the sideline. But
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: for the most part, and I think the coaches would agree,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: you want to keep those guys in as much as
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: possible because you want that consistency. You want their brains
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: in their brond to really carry the team and keep
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: moving the ball forward. And you can't do that if
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: you don't have a big, solid, smart offensive line.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Yep. So all RIGHTV I think we have both specifically
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: pointed out our least favorite either move or situations, you know,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: yours being kind of the draft and mind being just
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: the lack of running back and center attention. Have either
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: of us we've kind of hinted around, have we specifically
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: said what our favorite moves are? Evan laid it on us.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: What's your favorite thing that has happened for the Vikings
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: this offseason?
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I think my favorite acquisition was Juwan Jennings. Okay, I
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: don't know. I've always been partial to the wide receiver position,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: and I don't know. The Adam Thielen experiment obviously failed
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: last year. Yeah, they brought him back, didn't work, he left,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: and there's just there was always that hole in that
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: wide receiver three spot last year that they just couldn't
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: fill for whatever reason. I think he steps in well.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: I think he fills that spot very very nice.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Did Kyler Murray call him like a like a dirty
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: dog or something like that. He said something like a
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: dirt bag or something, but he meant it in like, man,
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: that guy he's a dirt bag. He really gets in
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: there and he plays it. He meant it as a compliment,
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: but like, yeah, Juwan Jennings, he's not just a pass catcher.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: I think he's a good blocker. He's a good team guy.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's a that's a great move.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So I think that's my favorite, and I'm excited
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: to see just the entire skill player realm of the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Vikings on offense how that develops. Obviously, the guy throwing
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: the ball matters a lot, probably the most. But then
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: you've got two really good arguably the two best one
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: two combo in all of football in Justin Jefferson and
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Jordan Addison. You've got a really good combo of running
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: backs in Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. You've got a
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: guy who has historically played well, he's just had a
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: down year or and some of that's been due to injury.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: T J. Hawkinson.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, I'm a big TJ guy.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: So I'm excited. I'm excited to see how they play.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I think that that git of Juwan
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Jennings was that was a good one.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that nice cherry on top of the acquisitions of
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: the offseason. Yeah. For me, you know, I thought about
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: just saying Nolan Teasley seems like a really good GM.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Admittedly I'd never heard his name before the Vikings announced
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: that he was like one of the finalists, and but
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: what gets me excited is that he everybody else is
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: excited about it. People who know more about, you know,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: the inner workings of the league than I do, keep
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: saying like, yeah, he's he's really good, and this should
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: be a good, good signing. You know, not just Vikings people,
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: but NFL people are saying like, yeah, this, the Vikings
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: got a guy, but I'm gonna cheat and I'm gonna
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: do two, so Nolan Teasley. But also I really enjoy
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: that this does seem like a true competition at the
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: quarterback position. I like that the team just didn't see
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: a struggling young quarterback who in two seasons has played
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: ten games and said, all right, we're done with him.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: We already fired somebody for drafting him, so all our
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: hands are washed. Let's let's get somebody else. I like,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: I am excited that the Vikings signed Kyler Murray. That
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: this could that could be the next big signing. It
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: could be the Seahawks signing Sam Darnoland. You know, it
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: could be a really big deal. But at the very least,
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: it's good competition for another guy who I thought would
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: be a franchise quarterback for the Vikings in JJ McCarthy
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: and if it takes a true competition to unlock the
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: best in either of these guys, Kyler Murray or JJ McCarthy.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: I think there's only good out comes for the Vikings
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: unless both of them decide to throw major hissy fits
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: and burn the whole thing down. And we're saying, like
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: both of these guys joined together and totally destroyed the Vikings.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't see that happening. I see both
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: of them raising each other up, at least in play.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Maybe they're not best friends that are competing for the
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: same job, but I just see, what do we say
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: all the time, like competition is the best way to
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: get the best things ever. Like, I'm a big iPhone guy,
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: but I'd be pretty pissed if all of a sudden,
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: Samsung's like, yeah, we're done making phones, because I'd be like,
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: what the heck iPhones are gonna suck now because there's
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: no competition, you know, like we want competition to be
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: the best. So I and it does seem, at least publicly,
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: that the Vikings are splitting snaps between both of these guys.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: They are giving resources to both of these guys, and
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: that'll change at one point. They'll either publicly announce or
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: we will totally see Like oof, one of these guys
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: went from getting half the snaps two days ago to
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: now he only got one snap and he's not injured,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Like, we'll either see the vikings,
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: which I think it'll be an announcement sooner rather than later.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: Koc is gonna come out and say all right, this
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: is our guy and we're gonna go for it. I
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: don't think they're gonna go into the third preseason game
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: saying well, I don't know yet. We'll see. But either way,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: this quarterback competition being a true competition is my favorite
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: part of this whole offseason. It's frustrating as a fan
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: to watch and not know, but for me, the outcome
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: is going to be, you know, the best guy is
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: gonna play, no matter who it is.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: I could see I'm just gonna speculate for a minute,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: and again could be way off by the time September
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: rolls around. But first two games are divisional games, one
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: at home, one on the road, and I could see
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell maybe being a little bit more tight lipped
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: and maybe dragging his feet a little bit. Now here's
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: a deal with training camp and with those joint practices
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: and the preseason games, like, there will be stuff that
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: comes out, whether it's officially from the team or whether
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: it's just some random dude in the bleachers with his
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: phone who's like, oh, hey, by the way, Kyler got
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: ninety percent of the reps in practice today when they
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: did these joint practices with the Ravens. I promise you
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: there will be a ton of that.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I promise you. It's not gonna be some random dude.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: We're gonna see every no, it's gonna we're gonna see
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: every respectable, non respectable everybody who attends media portions, fan portions.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: They're gonna be counting snaps. And I see what you're saying,
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: Like Kevin O'Connell might keep it close slipped, so you know,
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: we're knocking out as the starter until game time of
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: the Green Bay Packers game.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: I well, but but let me finish my train. I
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: thought here. There have been coaches who've been known to
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: do that, one of which would be Bill Belichick, I believe,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: not at the quarterback position, because his quarterback decision was
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: pretty easy. It's like Tom Brady or these other guys
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: that's easy. But at other positions, I think he was
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: known to be pretty like we'll see yeah, maybe, and
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: then you know, you wouldn't know until a day or
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: two before the game, you know.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's no, I don't care who the
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: who the coaches. That's real hard to do with the quarterback.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: But I think I don't know. There's I'm just spitballing
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: a little bit, but there's a competitive advantage to withholding
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: some of that information. And I could even see him
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: structuring practice in a way where it's like, well, no,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: it's not going to be this ninety ten split. We're
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: going to give each of them an equal opportunity, and
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: we're going to make a decision and we're going to
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: make a decision as late as we possibly need. I
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: don't know, I could be way wrong, but I could
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: see that happening. Yeah. I could also see it going
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the other way, and it's like it's pretty clear, like
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: August first, Yeah, a month to go before the first
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: regular season, is like, no, it's gonna be JJ's job,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: or no, it's gonna be Kyler's job.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: You know, I think as long as those two guys
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: are getting close to the same amount of snaps as
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: each other are with the same position groups, you know, like, oh,
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: it's obviously Kyler's with the starters today, or obviously jajit whatever.
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: I think as long as those snaps state somewhat similar
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: between like each two day segment or whatever, then it's
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: an open competition. Whether the Kevin O'Connell publicly announces anything
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: or not, we will know. Okay, this guy got eighty
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: percent of the snaps for three days straight. That's pretty clear. Like, yeah,
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: he's a starter, regardless of whether or not Kevin O'Connell
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: announced it.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: And I think Kaos and most other coaches are smart
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: enough to know that that's the case, and so he
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: can play that game too. Say, I know who the
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: starter is, but I'm still going to give both of
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: them an equal amount of reps, mostly just to like cloak.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: My decision is going to be, you know, like there
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: are ways around that you don't have to Now, it
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: would be pretty obvious if let's say Kyler is playing
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: terribly and JJ is you know, playing admirably, he's playing
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: which way? Yeah, either way? And I'm using JJ as
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: the the good example here because I've been anti JJ
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: for most of the time, So I'm trying to balance
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: the scales here a little bit. But like Kevin O'Connell
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: could play that game, and he could play his cards
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: just right, and he knows, you know whoever I tip
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: my hand to in practice, everybody's gonna latch onto it,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: and every single reporter that sits out in front of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: me at those press conferences is gonna ask me about it,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: and I'm gonna have to answer to it. So he's
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: either going to address it right away, I think, nip
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: it in the butt and say maybe yeah, going into
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: these preseason games, going into these joint practices with the Ravens,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: going into that Week one game against the Packers, this
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: is who's this is the guy? Or I think he's
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: gonna be super tight lipped and divvy things out equally
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: among the two of them and really not give an
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: indication until he has to.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Here here's why I think Kevin O'Connell will not play
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: the game within the game and publicly divvy out snaps
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: even let's just pretend he knows who the guy is
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: after the first preseason game. In my mind, I think
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: once he knows the world will know whether he publicly
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: announces or we see the snaps and here's why we
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: said it a thousand times. You and I attended the
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: final Vikings game of the twenty twenty five season. It
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: was January twenty six against the Packers. They went to halftime,
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: they came out. I believe JJ played one more drive
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: after halftime before he took himself out. Yeah, and it
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: was like a pass to Justin Jefferson to finally get
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: him over a thousand yards. I might be misremembering details
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: a little bit, but I do know right after JJ's
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: final drive, because he like finished off a drive and
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: then went off to the sidelines, there was something like
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: you and I we were watching the sidelines, and I
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: remember thinking like, oh, JJ's got a baseball cap on.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: He's like hugging guys, Like what's happening? And then I
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: took my phone and zoomed in as much as I could,
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: and on the sideline, Kevin O'Connell was on a knee
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: in front of Max Brosmer, talking to him and like
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: going over the iPad Like it was like he was
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: trying to push as much knowledge, game plan everything into
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: Max Brosmer, who had bright eyes and was like yep, yep, yep,
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: helmet right next to him, not a baseball cap on.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: And I might have even taken a video. If I did,
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: I need to find it. And it was Kevin O'Connell
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: like just pushing out as much as he could because
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: he knew a couple of minutes later or the next
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: time Rosmer is the guy he had. And yes, it
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: was in game, meaningless game or not. Kevin O'Connell wants
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: to win every game.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: You know, it's your.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Job, right. It was in game, in the fire, in
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: the thick of it. But he didn't care about somebody
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: who wasn't playing. He didn't care, you know, JJ said
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: he's out all right, Max, Let's go like just straight
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: into Max. And it was it was kind of a
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: sight to see. I'm sure that I took a terrible
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: quality video thinking like, oh man, maybe Max is going in,
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: and then sure enough, a couple of minutes later and
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: the next drive, Max Brozmer played the rest of the game.
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: So for that reason alone, I think once Kevin O'Connell
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: has made the decision all in one hundred percent, let's
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: go your QB one and it's going to be all
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: resources go into QB one and that's how it should be,
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: whether it's Kyler or JJ. I think it'll be pretty
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: clear to see who is QB one.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: And it you could be right, but again I'll just
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: push back for the sake of playing Dounel's advocate. Like
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: it could also be like I just I don't know
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: what I have in these two, or I need to
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: see more out of these two. You know, I might
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: be grasping for straws a little bit. Sure, I'm I'm
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: just trying to try argument going a little bit. And
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: I think too, we've already talked about there's a lot
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: of stability on the offense. The offensive line seems really stable.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: All of the other skill positions, running back, tight end, wide, receiver,
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: they seem very stable at this point. So if the
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: only big issue that you have to solve, the only
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: big puzzle piece you need to place correctly is that
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: quarterback position, albeit it's probably the most important position, I
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: don't know. I would take my time and I would
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: make sure that I've got the right Oh yeah, and
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: they will, and I don't know that I would be
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: this all in like op, yep, he's the one, you know,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: and just dismiss the other guy. Well, quickly.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: And all I'm saying is once they do take that time,
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: once they do make sure Kevin O'Connell will be all in,
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: this won't be a night before Green Bay. Oh man. Well,
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: we'll see who warms up better. We'll see who puts
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: the right Bible Verse on their eyeblocks.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: They can't do that either.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: No, yeah, like, but I just know.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: I think they have to announce the starters at least
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: a day before, don't they.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: No, they don't have to announce a start. It's injury
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: stuff they have to announce. And that's even then. That's
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: like the ninety minutes before kickoff, and that's just for
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: like gambling and fantasy football purposes. They have to announce
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: who they're forty six man, who's who's dressing. They don't
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: have to announce anything about starters or who's coming in
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: and out. I know baseball they have their lineup thing.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: That's weird.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I guess I thought it was a little
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: more restrictive in football.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: But now all they have to fully announce is I
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: think they have to have the forty six man dressing
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: team ninety minutes before kickoff. That's the only restriction Now
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: there are rules like if a guy, if you know
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: somebody's got a broken ankle, you.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Have to you have to disclose that. You have to
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: do stuff like when you buy a house. Yeah, yeah,
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: the previous owner has to tell you the basement flooded
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: or there's been issues with the furnace or whatever. Like,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: I get that.
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: But as far as NFL rules goes, Kevin O'Connell doesn't
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: have to say who's starting at punter, you know, until which,
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: by the way, they never have to announce.
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: That's a position we didn't really talk about in our list.
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: Of there could be a nice little competition there.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Nice competition in Also Ryan Wright not punting for the
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Vikings anymore so.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: First time in a while.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of off season things, you made a promise
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the episode that we wouldn't make
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: this about the quarterback, and I think we've done a
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: pretty good job of not making it a quarterbacks only episode.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: We had to talk about it, Yeah, you got to
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: keep that.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: And you know what, we will devote as much time
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: every episode until they announced and even after they announced
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: a starter, as we did for every episode, as we
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: did today, and it was probably twenty minutes worth you know,
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: so sorry listeners, but I think that's what everybody is
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: thinking about, right.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: It wasn't the wasn't most of the episode. Now, that's
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: what you promised, and I think we held true to
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: that promise.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: I will agree with you though, I think we both
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: had the mindset. We have some optimism going into this season,
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: even after a down year, which was a winning season
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: at nine to eight, technically a winning season, the third
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: in the Divisionally, yeah, but you could argue one win
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: away from making the playoffs, and yeah, that Packer game
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: would have ended different if the Vikings were in the
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: hunt more and things would have been different. But the
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: Vikings were probably one win different from being in the playoffs.
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: And that's saying something because last year for a long
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: time felt pretty awful and all that to say, even
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: after all that, we feel okay about the team right now.
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: I'm not thinking doom and gloom. Oh, who are the
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: Vikings going to pick with the first or second overall
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: pick in the draft this upcoming year, which could still happen,
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: but I'm not expecting that. I'm thinking they're gonna push
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: for the playoffs this year. And there's always optimism. Everybody's
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: zero and zero and here we go.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty optimistic about this beer. Yeah, as well, what
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: do you think?
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: I like it a lot. I think, you know, as
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: far as regular beers go. A lime logger, who's gonna
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: argue about that. There's nothing nothing bad about it. It's
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: just good confluence. I think this is a relatively new
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: beer for them. If they keep making it, I'm gonna
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: keep buying it. Good job confluence.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I like the fact that it doesn't try
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: to do too much like I thought when I first
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: saw it, like, ooh man, this is gonna be like
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: Hitchy in the face with some lime kind of thing. Honestly,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: it like I would garnish this with a lime like
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: you would like a corona, Like I would put a
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: lime in there, and it would be pretty darn good,
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: I think. And it would add even a little bit
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: more of that lime flavor to it, enhance it. But
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: it's there. It's a hint of lime, and I can
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: taste the salt a little bit too, which I like.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: It enhances the flavor as well. Yeah, but it doesn't
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: pretend to be something that's not. And it's just a
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: very straightforward, easy drinking high on the lawnmower scale.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: Beer very high on the lawnmower scale. The only thing
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: that would put it higher is to lower the ABV
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: a couple of points, but I'm not saying they should
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: do that. It's I think it should be proud to
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: be what did I say, eight point one on the
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: lawnmreer scale. That's great. Some of the best beers in
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: the world are pretty low on the lawnmower scale, so
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: that's pretty great. I will say, looking at this can,
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: if you're not someone who likes sours, you might look
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: at this can and think, oh, that's going to be
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: a really limey sour, and you might walk away just
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: looking at the can. The can's pretty cool. But I'll
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: say the flashiest thing about this beer is the can.
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: The beer is perfect. I think it's just it's a nice.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: Straightforward, easy, you know.
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: It's a nice light line blogger, and I will gladly
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: have many more in the future.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Good stuff. Yeah. Tell people where they can connect
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you want to keep the conversation going, we
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: are on all the socials possible, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, if
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: you hopefully if you're watching you're watching us on YouTube.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: We are on TikTok. I've been trying to do a
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: little bit more. For a long time, I was doing
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: clips for everything and it got away from that. But
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: now I've been trying to do a little bit more
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: clips on you know, all the socials again, but TikTok
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: and YouTube and Facebook and stuff like that. So we're everywhere.
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: If you google the skull Hop, you will find us
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: if you want to send us an email if you
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: have opinions. I mean, if somebody sent us an email
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: and it was like a cool enough opinion, I think
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: we'd really read it on air. Oh yeah, so go
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: ahead and send us an email. We'll probably if it's
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: you know, not even if we think it's crazy, we'll
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: read it on air and that'd be that'd be fun.
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: Maybe we can get that started. That'd be a lot
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: of fun. But yeah, and we do have a couple
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: of stickers left over. If you send us an email
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: and you want one, we can send you a skull
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: Hop sticker. We have merch on teapublic dot com. Just
• 54:24
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• 54:27
  Speaker 2: couple of couple of options for merch where we are everywhere.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: Please interact with us we will interact back with you.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: Well, all that to say, I think we had a
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: good discussion.
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, we.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: We always do. But I felt like we had a
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: good back and forth. I like that.
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it, and I really like that there's a
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: couple of things we found that we can politely disagree on.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it should make for an interesting season. Yeah.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: I can't wait for purple punishments this year.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: That'll be fun. And I couldn't agree with you more
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: of this beer is super good, So I don't good
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: good beer, good talks.
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe have you best episode yet?
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: School? Let scull at at.
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: At at at at a