January 6, 2026 • 51 mins
Dan Barreiro is back and opens the show wondering why Anthony Edwards doesn't have more All-Star Game votes before ESPN's Kevin Seifert makes his weekly appearance to wrap up the Vikings season including conversations about JJ McCarthy and Brian Flores future.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's that.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
There's too many of you, brother, brother, brother, there's.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Far too many of you that I think.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Anyone who puckers up their lips and presses it against
their bosses buttocks and then smooches, it's an asks I
seem to think, and everything except my work.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm good at my work.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I confine myself to that.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
All I want out of life is thirty shire and
a twenty rating. The man's enlarged my mind.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
H He's a poet, bowyer and in the classic sense,
I'm a little man.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I'm a little man.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
He's a great man.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Think of it as colors. There's black, and it's white,
and in between it's mostly gray.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
That's us.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Now. Gray is a tough color because it's not as
simple as black and white, and for the media certainly
not as interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
But it's who we are.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
This report is sponsored by Gens right, Oh, I love it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
That's not what we want to do.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I thought that was early Kessler for a minute, but
that wasn't no, And I think I screwed up the
whole network.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Now, what the hell know? We're hitting buttons?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, it's been a while, been a while since we've
been in the same studio. I'm not going to do
the leader bit because my voice is not quite year
yet there, but I will say this, I will ask,
this is the Anthony Edwards honeymoon.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Over?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Excuse me, I'm just asking. I'm not suggesting that it is.
I'm just asking whether it might be. I just got
to look via ESPN and now NBA dot Com of
what they're classifying.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
As hold on, let me get to it.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
The second fan returns of NBA All Star Voting twenty
twenty six. Oh yeah, and according to ESPN, Anthony Edwards
did not crack the top ten.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
We're talking about.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
If you put Western Conference vote totals and Eastern Conference
vote totals together, total votes, ant.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Man did not crack the top ten. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Are they punishing him for his inexcusable behavior?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
A couple of was it two weeks ago? Whenever? That was?
Were he in Atlanta left the court in Atlanta, Georgia?
It was last week?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I guess it was last week. Let me look at
these totals now again, Let's see who they picked popularity contest.
We know how that goes. It doesn't necessarily mean they're right.
I just I thought he had reached a point nationally
that he was going to be every year top five,
not necessarily meaning he's a top five player in the NBA,
(03:25):
but top five. I've got Luca, your guy, Luca with
the most votes two point three million.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Votes.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Okay, looks to me like second is Janis Yannis. I
should say, the Greek freak with two point one million votes.
Third the Joker one point nine to nine eight million,
four Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
One point Why is this New York? Yes, one point
nine one six. Then it's Tyrese Maxie. Interesting, Then it's
Steph Curry, Then it's Kate Cunningham. Then it's your guy,
the free throw merchant s g A and then it's
(04:24):
Donovan Mitchell. So our guy didn't crack. Now in the
Western Conference, our guy is sixth, but it's a he's
a distant sixth behind Luca Joker, Steph s g A
when Banyama and then he's number six and he makes
barely ahead of How do you pronounce the Portland guy's name?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Who is it?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
A V D I G A j A from Portland?
I have no idea vija okay? I had Johnny on yesterday.
I should have asked him. Lebron is a eight in
the West Durant who just hit a three pointer to
win a ball game last night, is nine against his
former team.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
That's it. And then your guys, Shngon is number ten
with the Houston.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Rockets. Interesting. Now, I'm not saying that means it's over
for Anthony Edwards, but I thought between you know, his performances,
his personality, anti clauseprice exactly. We're in the holiday season,
he's been on every Christmas commercial out there right and
we're just coming out of it, that he'd be automatic
(05:36):
top ten. Will he take it to heart? Is aunt
the kind of guy who needs those sorts of alleged
flights a'llah once upon a time Michael Jordan to get
even with people.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure if he's wired that way.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I'm just asking what this means. And by the way,
we talk with you Ani about it yesterday. Bumper Bumper
is the name of the program. I think it's a
full three and a half hour tour today. That means
we're going until six.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Thirty of them.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Oh, by the way, speaking of that, did you happen
to read while I was gone the controversial Carl Gerbschmidt
interview a LA John Bream Not only he called him
Jim Beam Jim Beam, yeah, and then that moved to
John Green. We talked to him about it on segment.
(06:27):
Oh okay, yes, we did end up doing the pics
Secite changed his name again. Well according to Gerby, Oh
I see, okay, Yeah according to Gerby, yes, we did
talk to him about it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So not very complimentary review.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Well, no, especially when there's the pretty significant distortion. He
accuses me of working only a two and a half
hour shift. Did he do that on purpose or does
he know once upon a time this was a two
and a half hour show actually Chad Orborero days where
I was four third to seven, more like actually four
(07:02):
forty two to seven. But that was a long time ago.
We've been three and a half hours for quite some time.
So was that twenty years? Was that Gerby just you know,
trying to inject the needle or do you think he
is still confused and thinks we probably were a two.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And a half hour program.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I think it's more the latter, all right, Yeah, And
also Gerby's like a lot of our guests, including Glenn
Mason who will join tomorrow. That doesn't think the show
really goes on when thing's not on it. That's true too,
So there's that part of it as well.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I don't even know how that was a digression, but
I we talked with Johnny yesterday. Did you hear also
about speaking of digressions, the Twitter war that broke out
before the show yesterday between Johnny Athletic and Kevin Fallness, No,
I didn't. The new Fallness bit is I send out
(07:53):
the guest lineup and he doesn't detect any hockey presence
from a guest standpoint, So then he does that monocle
emoji where it's almost like he's looking looking interesting and
I can't find the hockey. Yep, we could talk about
the King's loss last night if we want to bring
it there. That was fun, That's true. I stayed up
for that when I got home. That was fun, Johnny.
(08:14):
Then he responds to the original shot taken and it
ends up becoming a debate about who's got the better league,
the NBA or the NHL. I said, in all honesty,
the culmination of this this battle should be in appearance on.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
What's the Saturday Hockey Show Beyond the Pond.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Beyond the Pond, Yeah, Johnny Athletics should be I don't
know if he's ever been on it before. He should
be booked for Beyond the Pond segment. Wouldn't that be
good radio? I think it would be great, right tense,
but I think it's pretty good. But Beyond the Pond
actually is known for its tension from time to time.
That's true with Blake Moore and Miklett. Yeah, they all
go at they argue with each other a lot, so
so Johnny would be good there.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
That might work there.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
I don't know how much you're even on, so I
don't know how much you had a chance to talk
about it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm a bit well.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
I get bothered by everything, as I proved yesterday with
my meltdown rant on your favorite quarterback JJ McCarthy and
the stupidity of the taunting penalty that.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
That's still lazy.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I know that he's capable of thinking that this is
the time to prove whatever I think I'm going to
prove about non Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
But anyway, I'm.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Bothered even more so, not just by the Anthony Edwards
behavior walking off the court, with by the way, it
wasn't that wasn't a Randy Moss with like eight second
or less than a second or exactly it's halfway through
the court.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes so, But.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Nationally and maybe this is where he is given a pass,
and maybe this does prove regardless of the vote totals,
he's still popular. I think with a lot of other
players there would have been a lot more discussion nationally
about what the hell's going on there? What's that all about?
You can't do that? I mean, that's just not You're
Is he not at this point the captain of the team. Literally,
I think he's the captain. We'll double check that, but
(10:07):
I know he's the de facto captain if he's not
the real one. I mean, he's in charge of the
team right, even at his young age, so everything is
about him. But I I nationally, I felt like it
got barely a mention, and I don't know how much
discussion there was of it here.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And has he yet sort of acknowledged it? Did I
miss that? Does he?
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Johnny claims internally they did talk to him about it,
they weren't pleased about it, But as far as I know,
there was no fine as far as I know, there
was no discussion of suspension, and I'm not here to
say it's automatically worthy of one.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
But that's a line. I mean, you can't cross that line.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
There's a lot of lines you say wow maybe or
you got to learn, but this one is to me
much bigger than that. And I still don't understand why.
I feel like it's been swept under the rug. Maybe
it's the holidays, it's New Year's, people weren't paying as
close of attention.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You've got the NFL by the anti clause commercials.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
The fact that anti claus has given everybody, you know,
Anthony Edwards shoes again in sprite, and everybody's got that.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I don't know, you're right now.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
I haven't been like locked in on the national rhetoric
and roundtables as much as I usually am. So maybe
some people have talked about it and we've just missed it.
That's possible. You're right, it does seem like it should
be a little bit more. Man, It's just that's such
bad form. I there's I just don't think there's any
excuse for it. And I asked Johnny if ever happened.
He said, well, Draymond I said, well, that's true, but
(11:33):
that doesn't even count, and he thought, not great company.
Where's the guard used to play when he's back in Portland?
Went to Milwaukee Dame Lillard. He seemed to remember a
time Dame Lillard did that out of frustrating Interesting. I
don't even remember if that's true, because Dame Lillard's got
a great rep reputation, but that is I just I
don't like that look. I don't like that feel at all.
(11:54):
I don't care if it's his way of saying I'm
disgusted with my teammates because they were that was there.
That was the pitiful game, right, the most pitiful game
they played. Having since bounced back pretty quickly with very
good victories over Miami and then we destroyed the Wizards, right,
and now I think we got Miami tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yes, in a remat at all and is questionable with something.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Oh yeah, that's for sure. Maybe he's bitter about the
vote totals. Maybe maybe he's dobbers down protests. Yeah, I'm
just wondering. The Bumpered Bumper guest lineup for today includes
Luigi at four h two today. Kevin Seffert, I wish
he could be in studio today, but I think he
had some other things that made that impossible. But he's
going to give us extended time to talk kind of
(12:36):
our vikings debrief session with Kevin Seffert as another season
concludes in very memorable fashion at the People Stadium on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Remind me.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
To read you or talk to you about some of
the texts from our guy, Andy Lueger. By the way,
Andy Luger maybe joining us tomorrow by phone. I'll give
you more details on that, whether when it's confirmed. But
he's a you know, Andy Lueger is a sports groupe
big time, and he's not a Max Brosmer fan. No,
and he's I think we become an irrational JJ McCarthy fan.
(13:12):
But we'll get into that a little bit later. Let's
come back and talk plenty of purple, plenty of football.
If you have questions for Kevin Seffert, I'll try to
get the Bratshaw on Brian caffe and text line rebooted
at six four.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Six eighty six.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
If I can go through our tight security mechanisms and
pass along any questions or concerns you might have about
your the current state of your favorite football team the
Minnesota Vikings Seaffert is next.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, noticed this and maybe.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
It's a conversation starter with our guest Kevin see for
joining us via the Connectico Water Systems hotline. I think
Ben Johnson, whenever the Bears playoff run ends, and it
could be lengthy, it could end as soon as Saturday night,
(14:18):
I think he needs to go to KOC finishing school
when it comes to media relations.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I don't know if you've noticed this.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
I'm not saying he's abrasive or you know, there's any
kind of ongoing contentiousness, but he doesn't have that easy going,
you know, we're all in this together, well, at least
outwardly approach that you know, has come to be allegedly
the KOC mantra in dealing with the media. I know,
(14:52):
actually this year, you know a number of people said
it's you know, it's had more contentious moments, but it's
just facial expressions generally.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
You know, when he's taking questions.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
He's kind of got that grit on his face and
he's trying to talk through things, and he's pretty amate,
you know, he seems like he's trying to help, and
Ben just looks like sometimes he's he's not zim like,
but he's kind of biting off the words a little
bit like the he's got the pressure of the world
on his shoulders.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yes, And I do think that as a like, there's
a fundamental difference in personalities, and so whether it's you know,
I've always found that when coaches tried to play to
a certain act, and it was no more recently than
last year with Matt Eberflus and the Bears, there was
a whole series of stories about his glow up and
how he had worked with a media consultant outside of
(15:44):
the building, and then as he had had a stylist
change his haircut and the way he wears his beard
and all these kind of things, and everybody kind of
saw straight through it. So I always look at those
as like, I think we're getting we get a in
many cases, not all, but in many cases we get
a glimpse into what the true personality is. You know,
(16:08):
I think, I'm sure I know Kevin O'Connell was probably
more consistently nice in public than he probably is in private.
And that's similar to most coaches I think in and
I think in Ben Johnson's case, whether there's an ability
or maybe just not an interest in putting his best
(16:28):
foot forward publicly, but I think it does give us
a very clear idea of the way he is behind
the scenes and the way he coaches the team, and
also maybe why he didn't necessarily have the highest profiles
prior to you know, his last couple of years in Detroit. Either.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, there might be some truth to that too.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
All right, are we beginning to get the vibe that
the closest the Vikings can realistically thread the needle on
adding a veteran quarterback without you know, making too much
of a commitment to him. Is bringing back number eighteen
in Atlanta, Number eight in our hearts here Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I mean as of right now, yes, But I would
say that, you know, a couple of days ago, I
wouldn't necessarily have thought we would already know that Kirk
was gonna be given away to leave Atlanta without a trade. Yeah,
because when you look at at the Falcons, for instance,
Michael Pennix towards ACL and who knows if he's even
(17:31):
going to be ready. He's torn that ACL multiple times.
They have a new coach and a new GM and
a new football president coming in, and you didn't necessarily
know what they would would think of of Kirk and
whether they would want him or not. So I'm already
surprised that we know as much as we do about
Kirk's immediate future. And so that just gives me some
(17:52):
caution in terms of what else could bubble up between
now and March, because we've already had something that we
didn't necessarily diticipate, at least this quickly. And so as
of this moment, yes, I mean that that would be
the needle threading, but I don't think you're going to
get even Kirk Cousins at this point in his career
to be sort of the let's go to camp guy.
(18:14):
And if JJ is not ready, he'll start, Like I think,
you know, at least from a financial perspective, they're going
to have to if they try to thread a needle
too Finally, they'll find that they'll probably be somebody else
who's able to snag him.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
All right, For those who have not been paying attention
as closely as you're paid to, what is the contract change,
the change to the Cousins deal that may be more
likely to open the door to him moving on.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, they basically a lot of it with salary cap maneuvering.
But basically what they they did was set up a
situation where he can be as long as he's not
on the roster by the end of the day on
March thirteenth, they can get out of the the guarantee
that they have under his you know, the small guarantee
(19:02):
that they have in a cash situation. And he agreed
to push back a bunch of the salaries that he
was going to have for the next couple of years
so that when they release him, they wouldn't have such
a big cap hit in the first year. And so
there's a lot of behind the scenes maneuvering, but basically
what it means is that whereas he once was it
(19:23):
was going to be a really difficult salary cap situation
for the Falcons to release him, now it is much easier.
And that and the fact that both sides agree to
do and suggest that that's what's going to happen, that
he'll be released off of the Falcons roster before March thirteenth,
which I think is the second day of the of
free agency.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Okay, could Tua be that threading of the needle.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's that's the kind the other kind of names that
you know, he's on that list of names that would
be out there that has starting experience and maybe needs
a fresh start, potentially could capitalize on being part of
the Vikings quarterback finishing school that has helped other people
at least prior to this past year. You know, there's
(20:10):
a lot there that needs to be cleaned up. I
wouldn't necessarily feel like if they signed him that he's
definitely their starter, or that you would even necessarily want
him to be your starter, but in terms of reliable backups,
he would be near the top of the list.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
That are you fairly convinced on the basis of the
deep dive that you did, which we talked a lot
about another Sunday show regarding sort of the way this
whole quarterback deal has played out for the Purple the
last year and change that they are confirmed in going that,
(20:45):
even if they haven't yet said it publicly, that that's
the direction they know that they need to go coming
into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yes, and it was what they hoped to have gone
into this year. They just did not execute it well enough.
Ide I think you know, part of the reporting in
the story was kind of led to the clear conclusion
that they really thought they had Daniel Jones locked up,
and that they would be going into the off season
and into training camp with JJ McCarthy and Daniel Jones
(21:14):
as their quarterbacks and let the chips fall where they
may and whether or not, whoever, whether JJ ended up
being the starter at the beginning of the year, they
would have had a pretty strong fallback for when he
got hurt. And I think that that's sort of the
plan that they probably hoped to achieved, or they definitely
hope to achieve this year.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
At a minimum.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I wouldn't necessarily rule out if somebody bigger than that,
you know, becomes available, legitimately becomes available, and it's not
just a team holding of the vikings for Ransom to
try to extract Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson or whoever.
I can't say for sure that I couldn't find anybody
(21:57):
to tell me for sure there's no way that that
would happen. So I think we have to consider it
at least some level of an option. But I think.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I think what.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
We will we can clearly say is that there's almost
there's a very unlikely scenario where they go into the
off season and in the training camp with JJ McCarthy
as their unquestioned starter.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Is that more about what reality has so far revealed
in his performance or in his availability?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I think it's it would be there's both. But if
I if it were me, and what I think that
is weighing heavily on them is the latter, though, is
the like, I mean, you you can you can certainly
make an objective argument that he was better by the
end of the year than he was at his worst
during the course of the season. But and that you
(22:50):
could then you could have another argument about whether that's
even good enough, and like how much more room there
is to grow? But it's very reasonable to think that
a twenty two year old quarterback who's played games has
more room to grow from a development standpoint, and you know,
all the things that we talk about in terms of
accuracy and processing and and the body developing and all
(23:12):
those sort of things. There's a lot of reasons to
think that could happen. But the injuries in part a
function of the way he plays. But the availability, you would,
I mean, you would just be derelict. And I think
they know this. You'd be derelicting your duties if you
did not ignore what was in front of you in
terms of his inability to consistently stay on the field.
(23:33):
And so that alone, regardless of the performance rejections that
you might have for next year, that alone, I think
would makes it the only prudent approach to make sure
that you're much more heavily fortified against possible lack of
availability than they were this year.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
In pulling himself out what after pretty quickly in the
second half, after what one throw? Did JJ McCarthy do
as he suggested the adult thing? Or did he do
a dangerous thing given his inability to close so many
(24:14):
games or stay in games.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
In this particular case, I think he did the only
thing he could have done, because it could not have
been made any more clear by Kevin O'Connell and other
people in the organization after that game in New York
where he did not mention the fact that his hand
was bothering him and he ends up dropping a ball
that gets returned for a touchdown and takes a ten
(24:40):
point lead down to a three point lead, And you know,
you could say whether that game meant anything in the
grand scheme of things, but it was a game they
were trying to win, and because he did not tell
them in a timely fashion, they went on a certain
they made certain football and game plan and play calling
decisions that led to a pretty significant swing at the
(25:02):
end of that first half. And so it could not
have been made any more clear publicly or to him
privately that you can't do that. You have to tell
the medical people, tell the coaches, tell someone when you're
having an issue, and then will decide, will help you
decide if it's something you can you can get through.
Maybe we just call a bunch of run plays, maybe
we don't ask you to make any throws that would
(25:24):
be difficult or what have you, or will pull you out.
But you have to tell us. And so that's what's
on his mind when he starts feeling like his hand
is throbbing. And you could argue, well, maybe he should
have told them at halftime and it would have been
a little less theatrical or dramatic. But and you always
can argue that football players are trained and wired to
(25:46):
never take themselves out of games. But in this very
specific situation where the coach and the boss is on
record saying don't do that. You know you did it once.
It really hurt us, it hurt the team. Please don't
do that again. I have a hard time coming down
on him for doing it in this particular case.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Does did the head coach express, either publicly or privately,
any annoyance and or discussed with the more childish decision
that the QB made on the scramble the stiff arm
and then the bump out of bounce.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, he mentioned that he talked to him, and you
could see it on the tape like he was he
was waiting for him when he came off the field,
whenever that possession was over with, and so I think
there was a very clear message. Since I don't know
that he considered it one of the top offenses of
the year or anything that he's going to dramatically judge
(26:44):
him for, but I think he I think Brian O'Neil
said a few things to him you could see on
the tape, and even if it was just pulling him
away from the official who was trying to tell him
what he had done wrong, and clearly Kevin O'Connell was
waiting for him as well on the side, So I
think the message was delivered, but I don't think that
there was this massive avalanche of disgust at least rained
(27:08):
down upon him.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Kevin Seaford, ESPN an ESPN dot com. Let's stay with
a little more in the quarterbacks before we move on
to some other juicy subjects involving your favorite football team.
The two most interesting nuggets to me from your long
piece regarding the quarterback saga you alluded to one of them,
(27:32):
which we talked a lot about on Sunday, that you certainly,
based on the reporting you did for this story, came
to I think a much stronger conclusion that the Vikings
were trying to hedge with Daniel Jones, even if they wanted.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
JJ McCarthy to be the starter this season.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Do you have any sense of where they went wrong
on their dare I say assumption that they had him,
that there wasn't much doubt that between money and the
short amount of time that he had already been here,
that there was a very good chance they're going to
be able to get their wish.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
It definitely wasn't money, I think over the court, you know,
this has been a process that had been going on
with Daniel Jones since the end of November when they
signed him to the practice squad and we talked about it.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Then.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
The Vikings didn't necessarily go this far publicly, but this
was it was very clearly at least partially designed to
give them, like a six league runway into whether he's
the kind of guy that they would want to bring
in for the following year, the same way they had
with Sam Darnold the previous year. And I think they
got to the end of that and they had They
(28:44):
both sides enjoyed the time, thought it was productive. The
Vikings thought he was a very good fit for what
they would want to do. Daniel Jones said a lot
of nice things internally and publicly about them and the
way that the things he had learned from them in
terms of preparing for games and game planning and and
just the whole process they went through. And so I
(29:06):
don't think that there was if there was ever a
time when Daniel Jones told them, I'm going to sign
with you, like I was not able to uncover that.
But short of that, I think that if there was
an error, they just they underestimated or maybe just didn't
know him well enough to determine whether he was going
(29:29):
to go out on free agency and how serious that
would be. And it turned out to be very serious,
And it turned out that he took the best option
for him in terms of getting on the field, at
least in terms of guarantees, and went forward with that.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Is that part of the miscalculation in that I think
it's very clear that one of the things Jones figured
out was that he was going to have a lot
better chance winning the job in Baltimore or Baltimore in
Indianapolis than he was in minnesot And I guess I
would ask you, is that something the Vikings could have
done a better job of conveying or were in that
(30:06):
Were they in that mode where that's too dangerous. We
got to make sure that JJ understands he's kind of
anointed as the guy.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I got the sense that there was a feeling that
it could have been finessed better. You're not going to
do yourself any favors by lying to him and saying
you're our guy, when when he would know that, you know,
I mean this, JJ McCarthy's the number ten pick. He's
eventually going to at least get a chance to be
the guy. So, but there's a lot of ways to
finesse it, and I think there was probably a feeling
(30:37):
amongst some people around that situation that the Vikings didn't
do a good enough job finessing how the process would
play out and selling why they were his best option.
And you could argue that they were just playing from behind,
that they really just weren't his best option because you
had a team in the Colts, who were a pretty
(30:57):
decent team. But I had a young quarterback who had
already had two years to show them or not show them,
that he could be the guy. And in the case
of the Vikings it was JJ McCarthy had just had
one and so maybe they could have finessed it better.
Maybe some they could have done a better job closing it,
But I still think that ultimately they were playing from
(31:18):
behind on that. But if there was a mistake, it
was like believing too strongly that they would be able
to get that done.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
All right, let's get to for me at least the
other key nugget that the Vikings also, I think, starting
with KOC miscalculated JJ McCarthy's floor. Everyone assumes with a
young quarterback they're going to be ups and downs, But
the question is well, how down are the downs gonna be?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Well, they can't be that down.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
We got good people around them, We know what we're doing,
and so we're gonna be able to navigate through the downs.
And as you point out, and as we've talked about
for months analytically or via eye test, the downs were
rather historic.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
The floor was frightening at times, yes, And.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
So you know, I try to think through it from
their eyes, in part because you know, we were all
part of the hype train in his rookie training camp
when he actually looked pretty good. Obviously the pressure wasn't
on him. He was playing against second teams sometimes sometimes
against the first team, but it was never in a
pressure situation where he was the guy on the field.
(32:29):
And then we saw him in the preseason where where
he did a really good job and they were going
to start getting in more first round first team reps
and who knows how it would have gone. But when
he was hurt, there was definitely a sense and this
was not just like trying to make him feel good
and trying to make themselves feel better, like there was
definitely a sense that he wasn't that far away. And
so what we talked about and I think I found
(32:53):
through reporting as well, is that there was just a
long gap of inactivity and when he eventually did get
back on the field, there was a lot more that
had been shaved away from that, from that high that
he had been at than they thought. And by the
time they were able to see that all the you know,
which was probably into the OTAs and certainly in a
(33:15):
training camp, and the options were way limited. So they
were trying they were trying to do something very difficult,
which was assessed where they thought he could be when
they had a chance to make decisions about even going
as far back as whether they should franchise tag Sam
Darnold or sign or what they should do to get
Daniel Jones or even Aaron Rodgers, and they had not
(33:36):
seen any really, certainly, not any team drills or anything
to give them more information about where he was at.
All they knew was he was working in that early
part of the year to gain back the forty pounds
that he had lost during the previous the rehab, and
so the timing of it was difficult, and they I
(33:59):
think did everything that they could think of to try
to build up the team around him and to trust
themselves as coaches and as personnel people to continue to
build if needed. And they were I think probably as
surprised as anyone at the depth of the levels that
they saw, because even though he had a tough train
(34:22):
not even a tough training camp, but an up and
down training camp, the way he played in that Falcons
game and the way he played when he got back
even towards the middle of the season was lower than
they could have possibly anticipated in their minds.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
All right, let's take a pause here.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
We got time for one more segment if it can
work for you via phone, because I do want to
go other directions, certainly the B flow direction, and then
anything else that is catching your eye as you prepare
to cover this team now that the offseason has in
a sense officially begun. Kevin Seaffert Part two in just
a minute. Lou Nanny at the Top of the Fork
(35:00):
Hours one Night, one Stage one Epic Band, My Chemical
Romance at target Field August twenty fourth. You can grab
your tickets before they're gone. All the details are at
campaign dot com keyword calendar.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Don't forget some.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
Hockey conversation with Luigi lu Nanny at four h two
some a section. Stuff is coming in the five and
part two with Kevin Seffert is coming presently. Questions have
been pouring into the Bratshaw on Brian Kaffean text line,
not surprisingly six four six eight six, before we talk
(35:41):
bflow and other things. There are some quarterback questions that
are pretty good ones.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I think, and you you do?
Speaker 4 (35:50):
You address this in some depth, but not as much
as some other parts of the QB story nine to
five to two. Guy asks, do you have knowledge on
who in the building wanta a roger?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Who didn't?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
I think ultimately none of the decision makers did. I
think it's the best way to put it. There were
definitely people in the personnel department and you know, in
the front office that thought it could be a good idea.
But you know, in the end there's two decision makers
at the Vikings and that's Pacy Dopamensa and Kevin O'Connell.
And I think if either one of them thought that
(36:27):
this was that was the slam dunk right decision that
they would have done.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
It is the ladder in any kind of double secret
or on any kind of double secret probation.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Can come on Cracy, Yeah, I had not gotten the
sense of that. Uh, you know, towards the end of
last week, you know, people that work in the building
every day were not getting the sense that there was
some kind of you know, accountability to mad and coming
(37:00):
that would that would end up costing Quacy Dopamentu's job,
if that's what you mean. But you know, the owners
also are not in the building every day, and so things,
I guess in theory, things could could heat up quickly
in that regard, But I do not think that that
(37:21):
is going to be an outcome of this of this season.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
All right, at this moment, at this moment, Okay, fair enough, let's,
by the way, stay with offense for a minute. Ben
Lieber said something I thought kind of interesting. I asked
him who he's on fired this week?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, very much.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
So I asked him who he believes the number one
running back for the Vikings in twenty twenty six would
be and whether that player is on the roster, and
he said no, he thinks it's likely to be either
a draft pick or another signing. Now, he didn't get
go beyond that regarding you, you know, the two running
(38:01):
backs that at times were pretty effective this year. But
what do you think about that, how do we view
going into twenty twenty six. Are we okay with the
running game with the running backs we have or is
that is that hard to justify moving forward.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
I think that it's a good take by Ben. I
think a couple of things. If Aaron Jones were five
years younger and it was not coming off a year
where he really had to work hard to play on
the field, then that would be one thing. But and
I still think there could be a role for him
next year under the right circumstances, because he's still got
(38:40):
a lot of skills. It's just in terms of how
much you can rely on him on over the course
of a single game and over the course of the season.
And I think they while they like Jordan Mason a lot,
and he had another good seven hundred plus yard year,
I think that they look at him as, you know,
a really good second option that they can use a
fair bit, not to be the guy that is the
(39:02):
sort of bell cow over the course of the entire season.
And so and even if he was, they would need
somebody else to pair with him in addition to Aaron Jones.
And so I think it's very I mean, I don't
have any like hard facts in terms of them coming
up with this on their priority list and whether they
even have it a priority list yet. But it's very
reasonable to think that they're going to need to add
(39:23):
at that position given the age of Aaron Jones and
some of the injury issues he had, and just what
is the most ideal optimized way to use Jordan Mason?
Speaker 4 (39:34):
All right, are you able right now at three forty
seven Central time to break the story on one hundred
thousand watt radio not to mention the free free free
iHeartRadio app that the Vikings and Brian Flores have agreed
to a contract extension that will make him the highest
(39:54):
paid defensive coordinator in the history of football.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
I cannot say that that is for sure going to happen.
I know, if he does resign it it quite possibly
could be for the highest paid defense coordinator job. But
you know, he's got a fair bit of interest. I
would think it's a defense coordinator and and I think
the Raiders situation and for the head coach job certainly
(40:21):
bears watching. You know who knows that that would ultimately
be a fit on either side. But I feel like
it's it's you know, I certainly don't have any information
to say for a fact that he's coming back, and
I think that there's a lot less to be played out.
While I still think that there's a decent chance that
could ultimately lead him back here.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Is there any reason to think that, for whatever reason,
he might be predisposed towards the allure of, let's say,
being the defensive coordinator who comes to the rescue for
the Dallas Cowboys, now that again that job has become available.
I guess what I'm asking is I get I keep
(41:03):
getting the feeling from other members of the Jackal crew
that it's not inconceivable, given the contract situation, that he
could make a lateral move and be a coordinator someplace else.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Would that surprise you?
Speaker 2 (41:16):
It would, you know? I think at the end of
last week, the Vikings that Leaves felt pretty confident that
he wouldn't leave for in a lateral in a lateral move,
and some people around Brian Flores aren't so sure that
he would do that either, but he certainly Yeah, I don't,
and I don't think that's just self serving on all
(41:37):
their parts. I think that they do feel like this
is not like a cruising towards divorce situation. It's a
I have done a good enough job to expose myself
to a rare opportunity to put myself out there for
the highest bidder, and we don't know what those bids
could be unless I in fact make myself available. And
so I think that's what's happening on the defensive coordinator front.
(41:59):
And it doesn't mean that there couldn't be some kind
of really unusual, very attractive situation where all the boxes
are checked from a football and business standpoint, that could
lure him away. If he didn't think that would happen,
he wouldn't have gone through all this in the first place.
And so I do think that you can't close the
door on that happening. But in terms of do I
(42:21):
think it's likely, you know, and would it be surprising.
I don't think it's likely, and I would be surprised,
but I've been surprised before.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
There's no discernible or significant sign of friction here or
just no people kind of get tired of each other.
Don mean anybody's fault is there. There's no sign of
any of those kinds of many kind.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Of fat not in the ways that would I think
affect his desire to come back. I think there's genuine
affection and agreement on how to move forward with Kevin O'Connell,
and that's the most important relationship that he has to maintain. Obviously,
you know, I can't speak for every single person in
(43:02):
the building, but I don't know that there's anybody in
the building that's going to overrule Kevin O'Connell if that's
if he wants Brian Flores to be a defensive coordinator,
which he does, and so I I don't sense that
he's that Flores is running from it or trying to
give himself an out to run from anything or from anyone.
I think this is this is just about optimizing the
(43:24):
opportunity that he's earned, uh and and seeing what if
anything that could you know that that could lead to
and it doesn't. It could be to simply leverage with
the Vikings in terms of finances. It could be just
knowing what you're worth is and maybe getting in front
of some people that maybe later in your career that
(43:45):
that could help you with. But there's no there's no
real harm in him pursuing what he's pursued. As long
as everybody's communicating is on the same page about what
the what the intent is?
Speaker 3 (44:00):
What does the EPA stats stand for?
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Expected points added? Which basically means how much better is
a team or a person than the average NFL team
or average NFL person over time?
Speaker 4 (44:16):
And as you pointed out earlier today, in that category,
I don't think this is going to surprise anyone. Special
teams finished sixth in the league, defense finished eighth in
the league, and offense finished twenty eighth in the league.
That that that kind of checks, doesn't it? What the
eye test was test.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I mean, I kind of put it out there just
speak to role some people up and not that I
ever do that very well. There is and you've probably
seen it and maybe you participated. There's there's been a
lot of special teams hate on the vikings this year,
and too much, you know, and you know there's a
lot of it was after the Chicago game and I
guess you know, they gave up a kick return that
(44:57):
lost the game, but it had the en fire met
the fire. Matt Daniel's crew was loud this year, Matt
Daniels being the Special teams coordinator, and a lot of
that EPA is probably due to Will Rekerd having one
of the best kick maybe the best kicking year other
than outside of Gary Anderson in the history of the
franchise maybe, and so but but they over the course
(45:20):
of the season, their special teams were pretty good. You know,
there was you tend to focus on the handful of
coverage or miskicks that that happened, or poor coverage or
miskicks that happened, and not on the sometimes play to
play down to down performance and so that was you know,
(45:42):
they they had overall compared to other teams, and you'd
be surprised how many fans of other teams are always
claiming their special teams are terrible and that they need
a new special teams coach. And compared to the rest
of the league, compared to the league average, they were
pretty good. And I think that everybody would have would
(46:02):
have thought that the defense was a top ten defense
as well, and it is. And it's hard to have
the kind of quarterback play that you've had this year
and have anything other than a bottom dwelling offense, and
that's what they had as well. But that was sort
of my semi sneaky, not very subtle reason for putting
that out.
Speaker 4 (46:22):
The high priced player on this roster most likely to
be sacrificed in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Well, in a lot of years, you might consider Jalen
Nalen to be Jalen Naylor to be the type of
player that you would want to keep around, you know,
very quiet, good guy in the locker room. Has becut.
Was a draft pick, one of the few homegrown guys
they have that have turned out to be pretty good.
And it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a
(46:54):
hedge against Jordan Addison in the future. But I don't
see them having the kind of money to at what
he's likely to get on the free agent market. So
I don't know if that's a sacrifice or not because
he's not under contract. But that's the first name that
comes to mind, And and I'm sure there'll be some
salary cap cuts you or at least attempts to reduce salaries.
(47:15):
You look at the two defensive tackles they signed this year,
and both of them are making a fair bit of
money next year, Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, and you
wonder what their immediate futures are. Those two guys come
to mind as well. How about Hackinsa and Hockinson is
you know, I know a lot of people have wondered
about that, and you know, he didn't play the last
two games and he certainly hasn't been as productive post
(47:39):
injury as he was pre injury, and that's something to
keep in mind. But maybe that's a situation where some
contract can be renegotiated. Well, but that's a fair that's
a fair one to keep an eye on as well.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Larry Mondella Guy has checked in.
Speaker 4 (47:53):
He was listening to our conversation with Johnny Athletic that
included some speculation from Johnny on flow. Here's what he
writes because he's listening to you as well. Seaffert's comments
make me even more sure that Johnny Athletic was just
being a shock shock yesterday. He clearly said he has
no specific information or knowledge of a schism.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
He just sensed something.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
In other words, he's trying to boost his sagging ratings
and get some clicks.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
There.
Speaker 3 (48:18):
You have it, interesting, Yeah, shot at your.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Guyne who knew that Johnny Athletic would would would catch
strays on a random Tuesday afternoon for his vikings covery?
Speaker 3 (48:28):
We catch a strays for everything.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
Now any any cheap shots he takes at hockey, Kevin
Falnas rips him.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Now football, he's taken it from Larry Mondellar. Guy. That's
I think. Maybe that's a sign of big time. I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (48:40):
Last b for a question, do we have any sense
that there is a team willing to look past the
ongoing lawsuit that Flores has against the league and says,
bleep it, we don't care.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
We want to hire him to be the head head coach. Yes.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, I think that the team to keep an eye
on would probably be the Raiders. And that's yeah. And
that and for a couple of reasons. One, you know,
of all the owners in the league, I would think
Mark Davis would maybe be less inclined to be offended
by the lawsuits than some others. Maybe I'm projecting too
much Al Davis onto him, but that's a thought. And
(49:21):
I've will and I've and you and I have talked
about this. I've always thought that part of getting Brian
for is a head coaching job was going to require
somebody in that franchise who knows him and will advocate
for him to the owner to sort of explain his
(49:43):
strength and explain the weaknesses and say, look, I know
this guy, you know he's he we should hire him.
I'll vouch for him. And and the Raiders have that
in Tom Brady. I mean we know that he knows him,
and we think he would vouch for him, and he
certainly would as an owner himself of the team, so
he would be able to take some of that responsibility.
(50:04):
And so I think for all those reasons, there's a
lot of the possibilities or a lot of the boxes
are checked there. But also, like you know, they're also
a completely dysfunctional franchise, and if you're Brian Flores, you
have to think through is this where I want my
you know, you don't get many of these opportunities, you know,
is this where I want to take, you know, my second?
(50:27):
You know, if I don't make it in my second,
I'm not going to get a third for sure, And
so that that is something for him to think about
as well.
Speaker 4 (50:36):
Uh, we're done with you today, but we're not done
with you for the season. So as far as I'm concerned,
I'm hoping we can reconvene a week from now and
hopefully in studio as well.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
That sounds good. Sorry, I couldn't make it in today.
We will do that next time for sure.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
Thank you. Okay and Kevin Seaford E s p N
dot com.
Speaker 4 (50:58):
Let's pause with the top of the hour and prepare
for some hockey conversation.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
Kevin fall on us. You can come out now.
What's that.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
There's too many of you, brother, brother, brother, there's.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Far too many of you that I think.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Anyone who puckers up their lips and presses it against
their bosses buttocks and then smooches, it's an asks I
seem to think, and everything except my work.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm good at my work.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I confine myself to that.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
All I want out of life is thirty shire and
a twenty rating. The man's enlarged my mind.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
H He's a poet, bowyer and in the classic sense,
I'm a little man.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I'm a little man.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
He's a great man.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Think of it as colors. There's black, and it's white,
and in between it's mostly gray.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
That's us.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
Now. Gray is a tough color because it's not as
simple as black and white, and for the media certainly
not as interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
But it's who we are.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
This report is sponsored by Gens right, Oh, I love it.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
That's not what we want to do.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I thought that was early Kessler for a minute, but
that wasn't no, And I think I screwed up the
whole network.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Now, what the hell know? We're hitting buttons?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, it's been a while, been a while since we've
been in the same studio. I'm not going to do
the leader bit because my voice is not quite year
yet there, but I will say this, I will ask,
this is the Anthony Edwards honeymoon.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Over?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Excuse me, I'm just asking. I'm not suggesting that it is.
I'm just asking whether it might be. I just got
to look via ESPN and now NBA dot Com of
what they're classifying.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
As hold on, let me get to it.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
The second fan returns of NBA All Star Voting twenty
twenty six. Oh yeah, and according to ESPN, Anthony Edwards
did not crack the top ten.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
We're talking about.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
If you put Western Conference vote totals and Eastern Conference
vote totals together, total votes, ant.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Man did not crack the top ten. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Are they punishing him for his inexcusable behavior?
Speaker 3 (02:56):
A couple of was it two weeks ago? Whenever? That was?
Were he in Atlanta left the court in Atlanta, Georgia?
It was last week?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I guess it was last week. Let me look at
these totals now again, Let's see who they picked popularity contest.
We know how that goes. It doesn't necessarily mean they're right.
I just I thought he had reached a point nationally
that he was going to be every year top five,
not necessarily meaning he's a top five player in the NBA,
(03:25):
but top five. I've got Luca, your guy, Luca with
the most votes two point three million.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Votes.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Okay, looks to me like second is Janis Yannis. I
should say, the Greek freak with two point one million votes.
Third the Joker one point nine to nine eight million,
four Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
One point Why is this New York? Yes, one point
nine one six. Then it's Tyrese Maxie. Interesting, Then it's
Steph Curry, Then it's Kate Cunningham. Then it's your guy,
the free throw merchant s g A and then it's
(04:24):
Donovan Mitchell. So our guy didn't crack. Now in the
Western Conference, our guy is sixth, but it's a he's
a distant sixth behind Luca Joker, Steph s g A
when Banyama and then he's number six and he makes
barely ahead of How do you pronounce the Portland guy's name?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Who is it?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
A V D I G A j A from Portland?
I have no idea vija okay? I had Johnny on yesterday.
I should have asked him. Lebron is a eight in
the West Durant who just hit a three pointer to
win a ball game last night, is nine against his
former team.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
That's it. And then your guys, Shngon is number ten
with the Houston.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Rockets. Interesting. Now, I'm not saying that means it's over
for Anthony Edwards, but I thought between you know, his performances,
his personality, anti clauseprice exactly. We're in the holiday season,
he's been on every Christmas commercial out there right and
we're just coming out of it, that he'd be automatic
(05:36):
top ten. Will he take it to heart? Is aunt
the kind of guy who needs those sorts of alleged
flights a'llah once upon a time Michael Jordan to get
even with people.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure if he's wired that way.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I'm just asking what this means. And by the way,
we talk with you Ani about it yesterday. Bumper Bumper
is the name of the program. I think it's a
full three and a half hour tour today. That means
we're going until six.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Thirty of them.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Oh, by the way, speaking of that, did you happen
to read while I was gone the controversial Carl Gerbschmidt
interview a LA John Bream Not only he called him
Jim Beam Jim Beam, yeah, and then that moved to
John Green. We talked to him about it on segment.
(06:27):
Oh okay, yes, we did end up doing the pics
Secite changed his name again. Well according to Gerby, Oh
I see, okay, Yeah according to Gerby, yes, we did
talk to him about it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So not very complimentary review.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Well, no, especially when there's the pretty significant distortion. He
accuses me of working only a two and a half
hour shift. Did he do that on purpose or does
he know once upon a time this was a two
and a half hour show actually Chad Orborero days where
I was four third to seven, more like actually four
(07:02):
forty two to seven. But that was a long time ago.
We've been three and a half hours for quite some time.
So was that twenty years? Was that Gerby just you know,
trying to inject the needle or do you think he
is still confused and thinks we probably were a two.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And a half hour program.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I think it's more the latter, all right, Yeah, And
also Gerby's like a lot of our guests, including Glenn
Mason who will join tomorrow. That doesn't think the show
really goes on when thing's not on it. That's true too,
So there's that part of it as well.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I don't even know how that was a digression, but
I we talked with Johnny yesterday. Did you hear also
about speaking of digressions, the Twitter war that broke out
before the show yesterday between Johnny Athletic and Kevin Fallness, No,
I didn't. The new Fallness bit is I send out
(07:53):
the guest lineup and he doesn't detect any hockey presence
from a guest standpoint, So then he does that monocle
emoji where it's almost like he's looking looking interesting and
I can't find the hockey. Yep, we could talk about
the King's loss last night if we want to bring
it there. That was fun, That's true. I stayed up
for that when I got home. That was fun, Johnny.
(08:14):
Then he responds to the original shot taken and it
ends up becoming a debate about who's got the better league,
the NBA or the NHL. I said, in all honesty,
the culmination of this this battle should be in appearance on.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
What's the Saturday Hockey Show Beyond the Pond.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Beyond the Pond, Yeah, Johnny Athletics should be I don't
know if he's ever been on it before. He should
be booked for Beyond the Pond segment. Wouldn't that be
good radio? I think it would be great, right tense,
but I think it's pretty good. But Beyond the Pond
actually is known for its tension from time to time.
That's true with Blake Moore and Miklett. Yeah, they all
go at they argue with each other a lot, so
so Johnny would be good there.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
That might work there.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
I don't know how much you're even on, so I
don't know how much you had a chance to talk
about it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I'm a bit well.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
I get bothered by everything, as I proved yesterday with
my meltdown rant on your favorite quarterback JJ McCarthy and
the stupidity of the taunting penalty that.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
That's still lazy.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
I know that he's capable of thinking that this is
the time to prove whatever I think I'm going to
prove about non Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
But anyway, I'm.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Bothered even more so, not just by the Anthony Edwards
behavior walking off the court, with by the way, it
wasn't that wasn't a Randy Moss with like eight second
or less than a second or exactly it's halfway through
the court.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes so, But.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Nationally and maybe this is where he is given a pass,
and maybe this does prove regardless of the vote totals,
he's still popular. I think with a lot of other
players there would have been a lot more discussion nationally
about what the hell's going on there? What's that all about?
You can't do that? I mean, that's just not You're
Is he not at this point the captain of the team. Literally,
I think he's the captain. We'll double check that, but
(10:07):
I know he's the de facto captain if he's not
the real one. I mean, he's in charge of the
team right, even at his young age, so everything is
about him. But I I nationally, I felt like it
got barely a mention, and I don't know how much
discussion there was of it here.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
And has he yet sort of acknowledged it? Did I
miss that? Does he?
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Johnny claims internally they did talk to him about it,
they weren't pleased about it, But as far as I know,
there was no fine as far as I know, there
was no discussion of suspension, and I'm not here to
say it's automatically worthy of one.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
But that's a line. I mean, you can't cross that line.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
There's a lot of lines you say wow maybe or
you got to learn, but this one is to me
much bigger than that. And I still don't understand why.
I feel like it's been swept under the rug. Maybe
it's the holidays, it's New Year's, people weren't paying as
close of attention.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You've got the NFL by the anti clause commercials.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
The fact that anti claus has given everybody, you know,
Anthony Edwards shoes again in sprite, and everybody's got that.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I don't know, you're right now.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
I haven't been like locked in on the national rhetoric
and roundtables as much as I usually am. So maybe
some people have talked about it and we've just missed it.
That's possible. You're right, it does seem like it should
be a little bit more. Man, It's just that's such
bad form. I there's I just don't think there's any
excuse for it. And I asked Johnny if ever happened.
He said, well, Draymond I said, well, that's true, but
(11:33):
that doesn't even count, and he thought, not great company.
Where's the guard used to play when he's back in Portland?
Went to Milwaukee Dame Lillard. He seemed to remember a
time Dame Lillard did that out of frustrating Interesting. I
don't even remember if that's true, because Dame Lillard's got
a great rep reputation, but that is I just I
don't like that look. I don't like that feel at all.
(11:54):
I don't care if it's his way of saying I'm
disgusted with my teammates because they were that was there.
That was the pitiful game, right, the most pitiful game
they played. Having since bounced back pretty quickly with very
good victories over Miami and then we destroyed the Wizards, right,
and now I think we got Miami tonight.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yes, in a remat at all and is questionable with something.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Oh yeah, that's for sure. Maybe he's bitter about the
vote totals. Maybe maybe he's dobbers down protests. Yeah, I'm
just wondering. The Bumpered Bumper guest lineup for today includes
Luigi at four h two today. Kevin Seffert, I wish
he could be in studio today, but I think he
had some other things that made that impossible. But he's
going to give us extended time to talk kind of
(12:36):
our vikings debrief session with Kevin Seffert as another season
concludes in very memorable fashion at the People Stadium on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Remind me.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
To read you or talk to you about some of
the texts from our guy, Andy Lueger. By the way,
Andy Luger maybe joining us tomorrow by phone. I'll give
you more details on that, whether when it's confirmed. But
he's a you know, Andy Lueger is a sports groupe
big time, and he's not a Max Brosmer fan. No,
and he's I think we become an irrational JJ McCarthy fan.
(13:12):
But we'll get into that a little bit later. Let's
come back and talk plenty of purple, plenty of football.
If you have questions for Kevin Seffert, I'll try to
get the Bratshaw on Brian caffe and text line rebooted
at six four.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Six eighty six.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
If I can go through our tight security mechanisms and
pass along any questions or concerns you might have about
your the current state of your favorite football team the
Minnesota Vikings Seaffert is next.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, noticed this and maybe.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
It's a conversation starter with our guest Kevin see for
joining us via the Connectico Water Systems hotline. I think
Ben Johnson, whenever the Bears playoff run ends, and it
could be lengthy, it could end as soon as Saturday night,
(14:18):
I think he needs to go to KOC finishing school
when it comes to media relations.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I don't know if you've noticed this.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
I'm not saying he's abrasive or you know, there's any
kind of ongoing contentiousness, but he doesn't have that easy going,
you know, we're all in this together, well, at least
outwardly approach that you know, has come to be allegedly
the KOC mantra in dealing with the media. I know,
(14:52):
actually this year, you know a number of people said
it's you know, it's had more contentious moments, but it's
just facial expressions generally.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
You know, when he's taking questions.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
He's kind of got that grit on his face and
he's trying to talk through things, and he's pretty amate,
you know, he seems like he's trying to help, and
Ben just looks like sometimes he's he's not zim like,
but he's kind of biting off the words a little
bit like the he's got the pressure of the world
on his shoulders.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yes, And I do think that as a like, there's
a fundamental difference in personalities, and so whether it's you know,
I've always found that when coaches tried to play to
a certain act, and it was no more recently than
last year with Matt Eberflus and the Bears, there was
a whole series of stories about his glow up and
how he had worked with a media consultant outside of
(15:44):
the building, and then as he had had a stylist
change his haircut and the way he wears his beard
and all these kind of things, and everybody kind of
saw straight through it. So I always look at those
as like, I think we're getting we get a in
many cases, not all, but in many cases we get
a glimpse into what the true personality is. You know,
(16:08):
I think, I'm sure I know Kevin O'Connell was probably
more consistently nice in public than he probably is in private.
And that's similar to most coaches I think in and
I think in Ben Johnson's case, whether there's an ability
or maybe just not an interest in putting his best
(16:28):
foot forward publicly, but I think it does give us
a very clear idea of the way he is behind
the scenes and the way he coaches the team, and
also maybe why he didn't necessarily have the highest profiles
prior to you know, his last couple of years in Detroit. Either.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yeah, there might be some truth to that too.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
All right, are we beginning to get the vibe that
the closest the Vikings can realistically thread the needle on
adding a veteran quarterback without you know, making too much
of a commitment to him. Is bringing back number eighteen
in Atlanta, Number eight in our hearts here Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I mean as of right now, yes, But I would
say that, you know, a couple of days ago, I
wouldn't necessarily have thought we would already know that Kirk
was gonna be given away to leave Atlanta without a trade. Yeah,
because when you look at at the Falcons, for instance,
Michael Pennix towards ACL and who knows if he's even
(17:31):
going to be ready. He's torn that ACL multiple times.
They have a new coach and a new GM and
a new football president coming in, and you didn't necessarily
know what they would would think of of Kirk and
whether they would want him or not. So I'm already
surprised that we know as much as we do about
Kirk's immediate future. And so that just gives me some
(17:52):
caution in terms of what else could bubble up between
now and March, because we've already had something that we
didn't necessarily diticipate, at least this quickly. And so as
of this moment, yes, I mean that that would be
the needle threading, but I don't think you're going to
get even Kirk Cousins at this point in his career
to be sort of the let's go to camp guy.
(18:14):
And if JJ is not ready, he'll start, Like I think,
you know, at least from a financial perspective, they're going
to have to if they try to thread a needle
too Finally, they'll find that they'll probably be somebody else
who's able to snag him.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
All right, For those who have not been paying attention
as closely as you're paid to, what is the contract change,
the change to the Cousins deal that may be more
likely to open the door to him moving on.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, they basically a lot of it with salary cap maneuvering.
But basically what they they did was set up a
situation where he can be as long as he's not
on the roster by the end of the day on
March thirteenth, they can get out of the the guarantee
that they have under his you know, the small guarantee
(19:02):
that they have in a cash situation. And he agreed
to push back a bunch of the salaries that he
was going to have for the next couple of years
so that when they release him, they wouldn't have such
a big cap hit in the first year. And so
there's a lot of behind the scenes maneuvering, but basically
what it means is that whereas he once was it
(19:23):
was going to be a really difficult salary cap situation
for the Falcons to release him, now it is much easier.
And that and the fact that both sides agree to
do and suggest that that's what's going to happen, that
he'll be released off of the Falcons roster before March thirteenth,
which I think is the second day of the of
free agency.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Okay, could Tua be that threading of the needle.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's that's the kind the other kind of names that
you know, he's on that list of names that would
be out there that has starting experience and maybe needs
a fresh start, potentially could capitalize on being part of
the Vikings quarterback finishing school that has helped other people
at least prior to this past year. You know, there's
(20:10):
a lot there that needs to be cleaned up. I
wouldn't necessarily feel like if they signed him that he's
definitely their starter, or that you would even necessarily want
him to be your starter, but in terms of reliable backups,
he would be near the top of the list.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
That are you fairly convinced on the basis of the
deep dive that you did, which we talked a lot
about another Sunday show regarding sort of the way this
whole quarterback deal has played out for the Purple the
last year and change that they are confirmed in going that,
(20:45):
even if they haven't yet said it publicly, that that's
the direction they know that they need to go coming
into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yes, and it was what they hoped to have gone
into this year. They just did not execute it well enough.
Ide I think you know, part of the reporting in
the story was kind of led to the clear conclusion
that they really thought they had Daniel Jones locked up,
and that they would be going into the off season
and into training camp with JJ McCarthy and Daniel Jones
(21:14):
as their quarterbacks and let the chips fall where they
may and whether or not, whoever, whether JJ ended up
being the starter at the beginning of the year, they
would have had a pretty strong fallback for when he
got hurt. And I think that that's sort of the
plan that they probably hoped to achieved, or they definitely
hope to achieve this year.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
At a minimum.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I wouldn't necessarily rule out if somebody bigger than that,
you know, becomes available, legitimately becomes available, and it's not
just a team holding of the vikings for Ransom to
try to extract Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson or whoever.
I can't say for sure that I couldn't find anybody
(21:57):
to tell me for sure there's no way that that
would happen. So I think we have to consider it
at least some level of an option. But I think.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I think what.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
We will we can clearly say is that there's almost
there's a very unlikely scenario where they go into the
off season and in the training camp with JJ McCarthy
as their unquestioned starter.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Is that more about what reality has so far revealed
in his performance or in his availability?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I think it's it would be there's both. But if
I if it were me, and what I think that
is weighing heavily on them is the latter, though, is
the like, I mean, you you can you can certainly
make an objective argument that he was better by the
end of the year than he was at his worst
during the course of the season. But and that you
(22:50):
could then you could have another argument about whether that's
even good enough, and like how much more room there
is to grow? But it's very reasonable to think that
a twenty two year old quarterback who's played games has
more room to grow from a development standpoint, and you know,
all the things that we talk about in terms of
accuracy and processing and and the body developing and all
(23:12):
those sort of things. There's a lot of reasons to
think that could happen. But the injuries in part a
function of the way he plays. But the availability, you would,
I mean, you would just be derelict. And I think
they know this. You'd be derelicting your duties if you
did not ignore what was in front of you in
terms of his inability to consistently stay on the field.
(23:33):
And so that alone, regardless of the performance rejections that
you might have for next year, that alone, I think
would makes it the only prudent approach to make sure
that you're much more heavily fortified against possible lack of
availability than they were this year.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
In pulling himself out what after pretty quickly in the
second half, after what one throw? Did JJ McCarthy do
as he suggested the adult thing? Or did he do
a dangerous thing given his inability to close so many
(24:14):
games or stay in games.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
In this particular case, I think he did the only
thing he could have done, because it could not have
been made any more clear by Kevin O'Connell and other
people in the organization after that game in New York
where he did not mention the fact that his hand
was bothering him and he ends up dropping a ball
that gets returned for a touchdown and takes a ten
(24:40):
point lead down to a three point lead, And you know,
you could say whether that game meant anything in the
grand scheme of things, but it was a game they
were trying to win, and because he did not tell
them in a timely fashion, they went on a certain
they made certain football and game plan and play calling
decisions that led to a pretty significant swing at the
(25:02):
end of that first half. And so it could not
have been made any more clear publicly or to him
privately that you can't do that. You have to tell
the medical people, tell the coaches, tell someone when you're
having an issue, and then will decide, will help you
decide if it's something you can you can get through.
Maybe we just call a bunch of run plays, maybe
we don't ask you to make any throws that would
(25:24):
be difficult or what have you, or will pull you out.
But you have to tell us. And so that's what's
on his mind when he starts feeling like his hand
is throbbing. And you could argue, well, maybe he should
have told them at halftime and it would have been
a little less theatrical or dramatic. But and you always
can argue that football players are trained and wired to
(25:46):
never take themselves out of games. But in this very
specific situation where the coach and the boss is on
record saying don't do that. You know you did it once.
It really hurt us, it hurt the team. Please don't
do that again. I have a hard time coming down
on him for doing it in this particular case.
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Does did the head coach express, either publicly or privately,
any annoyance and or discussed with the more childish decision
that the QB made on the scramble the stiff arm
and then the bump out of bounce.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, he mentioned that he talked to him, and you
could see it on the tape like he was he
was waiting for him when he came off the field,
whenever that possession was over with, and so I think
there was a very clear message. Since I don't know
that he considered it one of the top offenses of
the year or anything that he's going to dramatically judge
(26:44):
him for, but I think he I think Brian O'Neil
said a few things to him you could see on
the tape, and even if it was just pulling him
away from the official who was trying to tell him
what he had done wrong, and clearly Kevin O'Connell was
waiting for him as well on the side, So I
think the message was delivered, but I don't think that
there was this massive avalanche of disgust at least rained
(27:08):
down upon him.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Kevin Seaford, ESPN an ESPN dot com. Let's stay with
a little more in the quarterbacks before we move on
to some other juicy subjects involving your favorite football team.
The two most interesting nuggets to me from your long
piece regarding the quarterback saga you alluded to one of them,
(27:32):
which we talked a lot about on Sunday, that you certainly,
based on the reporting you did for this story, came
to I think a much stronger conclusion that the Vikings
were trying to hedge with Daniel Jones, even if they wanted.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
JJ McCarthy to be the starter this season.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Do you have any sense of where they went wrong
on their dare I say assumption that they had him,
that there wasn't much doubt that between money and the
short amount of time that he had already been here,
that there was a very good chance they're going to
be able to get their wish.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
It definitely wasn't money, I think over the court, you know,
this has been a process that had been going on
with Daniel Jones since the end of November when they
signed him to the practice squad and we talked about it.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Then.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
The Vikings didn't necessarily go this far publicly, but this
was it was very clearly at least partially designed to
give them, like a six league runway into whether he's
the kind of guy that they would want to bring
in for the following year, the same way they had
with Sam Darnold the previous year. And I think they
got to the end of that and they had They
(28:44):
both sides enjoyed the time, thought it was productive. The
Vikings thought he was a very good fit for what
they would want to do. Daniel Jones said a lot
of nice things internally and publicly about them and the
way that the things he had learned from them in
terms of preparing for games and game planning and and
just the whole process they went through. And so I
(29:06):
don't think that there was if there was ever a
time when Daniel Jones told them, I'm going to sign
with you, like I was not able to uncover that.
But short of that, I think that if there was
an error, they just they underestimated or maybe just didn't
know him well enough to determine whether he was going
(29:29):
to go out on free agency and how serious that
would be. And it turned out to be very serious,
And it turned out that he took the best option
for him in terms of getting on the field, at
least in terms of guarantees, and went forward with that.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Is that part of the miscalculation in that I think
it's very clear that one of the things Jones figured
out was that he was going to have a lot
better chance winning the job in Baltimore or Baltimore in
Indianapolis than he was in minnesot And I guess I
would ask you, is that something the Vikings could have
done a better job of conveying or were in that
(30:06):
Were they in that mode where that's too dangerous. We
got to make sure that JJ understands he's kind of
anointed as the guy.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I got the sense that there was a feeling that
it could have been finessed better. You're not going to
do yourself any favors by lying to him and saying
you're our guy, when when he would know that, you know,
I mean this, JJ McCarthy's the number ten pick. He's
eventually going to at least get a chance to be
the guy. So, but there's a lot of ways to
finesse it, and I think there was probably a feeling
(30:37):
amongst some people around that situation that the Vikings didn't
do a good enough job finessing how the process would
play out and selling why they were his best option.
And you could argue that they were just playing from behind,
that they really just weren't his best option because you
had a team in the Colts, who were a pretty
(30:57):
decent team. But I had a young quarterback who had
already had two years to show them or not show them,
that he could be the guy. And in the case
of the Vikings it was JJ McCarthy had just had
one and so maybe they could have finessed it better.
Maybe some they could have done a better job closing it,
But I still think that ultimately they were playing from
(31:18):
behind on that. But if there was a mistake, it
was like believing too strongly that they would be able
to get that done.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
All right, let's get to for me at least the
other key nugget that the Vikings also, I think, starting
with KOC miscalculated JJ McCarthy's floor. Everyone assumes with a
young quarterback they're going to be ups and downs, But
the question is well, how down are the downs gonna be?
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Well, they can't be that down.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
We got good people around them, We know what we're doing,
and so we're gonna be able to navigate through the downs.
And as you point out, and as we've talked about
for months analytically or via eye test, the downs were
rather historic.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
The floor was frightening at times, yes, And.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
So you know, I try to think through it from
their eyes, in part because you know, we were all
part of the hype train in his rookie training camp
when he actually looked pretty good. Obviously the pressure wasn't
on him. He was playing against second teams sometimes sometimes
against the first team, but it was never in a
pressure situation where he was the guy on the field.
(32:29):
And then we saw him in the preseason where where
he did a really good job and they were going
to start getting in more first round first team reps
and who knows how it would have gone. But when
he was hurt, there was definitely a sense and this
was not just like trying to make him feel good
and trying to make themselves feel better, like there was
definitely a sense that he wasn't that far away. And
so what we talked about and I think I found
(32:53):
through reporting as well, is that there was just a
long gap of inactivity and when he eventually did get
back on the field, there was a lot more that
had been shaved away from that, from that high that
he had been at than they thought. And by the
time they were able to see that all the you know,
which was probably into the OTAs and certainly in a
(33:15):
training camp, and the options were way limited. So they
were trying they were trying to do something very difficult,
which was assessed where they thought he could be when
they had a chance to make decisions about even going
as far back as whether they should franchise tag Sam
Darnold or sign or what they should do to get
Daniel Jones or even Aaron Rodgers, and they had not
(33:36):
seen any really, certainly, not any team drills or anything
to give them more information about where he was at.
All they knew was he was working in that early
part of the year to gain back the forty pounds
that he had lost during the previous the rehab, and
so the timing of it was difficult, and they I
(33:59):
think did everything that they could think of to try
to build up the team around him and to trust
themselves as coaches and as personnel people to continue to
build if needed. And they were I think probably as
surprised as anyone at the depth of the levels that
they saw, because even though he had a tough train
(34:22):
not even a tough training camp, but an up and
down training camp, the way he played in that Falcons
game and the way he played when he got back
even towards the middle of the season was lower than
they could have possibly anticipated in their minds.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
All right, let's take a pause here.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
We got time for one more segment if it can
work for you via phone, because I do want to
go other directions, certainly the B flow direction, and then
anything else that is catching your eye as you prepare
to cover this team now that the offseason has in
a sense officially begun. Kevin Seaffert Part two in just
a minute. Lou Nanny at the Top of the Fork
(35:00):
Hours one Night, one Stage one Epic Band, My Chemical
Romance at target Field August twenty fourth. You can grab
your tickets before they're gone. All the details are at
campaign dot com keyword calendar.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Don't forget some.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
Hockey conversation with Luigi lu Nanny at four h two
some a section. Stuff is coming in the five and
part two with Kevin Seffert is coming presently. Questions have
been pouring into the Bratshaw on Brian Kaffean text line,
not surprisingly six four six eight six, before we talk
(35:41):
bflow and other things. There are some quarterback questions that
are pretty good ones.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I think, and you you do?
Speaker 4 (35:50):
You address this in some depth, but not as much
as some other parts of the QB story nine to
five to two. Guy asks, do you have knowledge on
who in the building wanta a roger?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Who didn't?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
I think ultimately none of the decision makers did. I
think it's the best way to put it. There were
definitely people in the personnel department and you know, in
the front office that thought it could be a good idea.
But you know, in the end there's two decision makers
at the Vikings and that's Pacy Dopamensa and Kevin O'Connell.
And I think if either one of them thought that
(36:27):
this was that was the slam dunk right decision that
they would have done.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
It is the ladder in any kind of double secret
or on any kind of double secret probation.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Can come on Cracy, Yeah, I had not gotten the
sense of that. Uh, you know, towards the end of
last week, you know, people that work in the building
every day were not getting the sense that there was
some kind of you know, accountability to mad and coming
(37:00):
that would that would end up costing Quacy Dopamentu's job,
if that's what you mean. But you know, the owners
also are not in the building every day, and so things,
I guess in theory, things could could heat up quickly
in that regard, But I do not think that that
(37:21):
is going to be an outcome of this of this season.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
All right, at this moment, at this moment, Okay, fair enough, let's,
by the way, stay with offense for a minute. Ben
Lieber said something I thought kind of interesting. I asked
him who he's on fired this week?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, very much.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
So I asked him who he believes the number one
running back for the Vikings in twenty twenty six would
be and whether that player is on the roster, and
he said no, he thinks it's likely to be either
a draft pick or another signing. Now, he didn't get
go beyond that regarding you, you know, the two running
(38:01):
backs that at times were pretty effective this year. But
what do you think about that, how do we view
going into twenty twenty six. Are we okay with the
running game with the running backs we have or is
that is that hard to justify moving forward.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
I think that it's a good take by Ben. I
think a couple of things. If Aaron Jones were five
years younger and it was not coming off a year
where he really had to work hard to play on
the field, then that would be one thing. But and
I still think there could be a role for him
next year under the right circumstances, because he's still got
(38:40):
a lot of skills. It's just in terms of how
much you can rely on him on over the course
of a single game and over the course of the season.
And I think they while they like Jordan Mason a lot,
and he had another good seven hundred plus yard year,
I think that they look at him as, you know,
a really good second option that they can use a
fair bit, not to be the guy that is the
(39:02):
sort of bell cow over the course of the entire season.
And so and even if he was, they would need
somebody else to pair with him in addition to Aaron Jones.
And so I think it's very I mean, I don't
have any like hard facts in terms of them coming
up with this on their priority list and whether they
even have it a priority list yet. But it's very
reasonable to think that they're going to need to add
(39:23):
at that position given the age of Aaron Jones and
some of the injury issues he had, and just what
is the most ideal optimized way to use Jordan Mason?
Speaker 4 (39:34):
All right, are you able right now at three forty
seven Central time to break the story on one hundred
thousand watt radio not to mention the free free free
iHeartRadio app that the Vikings and Brian Flores have agreed
to a contract extension that will make him the highest
(39:54):
paid defensive coordinator in the history of football.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
I cannot say that that is for sure going to happen.
I know, if he does resign it it quite possibly
could be for the highest paid defense coordinator job. But
you know, he's got a fair bit of interest. I
would think it's a defense coordinator and and I think
the Raiders situation and for the head coach job certainly
(40:21):
bears watching. You know who knows that that would ultimately
be a fit on either side. But I feel like
it's it's you know, I certainly don't have any information
to say for a fact that he's coming back, and
I think that there's a lot less to be played out.
While I still think that there's a decent chance that
could ultimately lead him back here.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Is there any reason to think that, for whatever reason,
he might be predisposed towards the allure of, let's say,
being the defensive coordinator who comes to the rescue for
the Dallas Cowboys, now that again that job has become available.
I guess what I'm asking is I get I keep
(41:03):
getting the feeling from other members of the Jackal crew
that it's not inconceivable, given the contract situation, that he
could make a lateral move and be a coordinator someplace else.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
Would that surprise you?
Speaker 2 (41:16):
It would, you know? I think at the end of
last week, the Vikings that Leaves felt pretty confident that
he wouldn't leave for in a lateral in a lateral move,
and some people around Brian Flores aren't so sure that
he would do that either, but he certainly Yeah, I don't,
and I don't think that's just self serving on all
(41:37):
their parts. I think that they do feel like this
is not like a cruising towards divorce situation. It's a
I have done a good enough job to expose myself
to a rare opportunity to put myself out there for
the highest bidder, and we don't know what those bids
could be unless I in fact make myself available. And
so I think that's what's happening on the defensive coordinator front.
(41:59):
And it doesn't mean that there couldn't be some kind
of really unusual, very attractive situation where all the boxes
are checked from a football and business standpoint, that could
lure him away. If he didn't think that would happen,
he wouldn't have gone through all this in the first place.
And so I do think that you can't close the
door on that happening. But in terms of do I
(42:21):
think it's likely, you know, and would it be surprising.
I don't think it's likely, and I would be surprised,
but I've been surprised before.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
There's no discernible or significant sign of friction here or
just no people kind of get tired of each other.
Don mean anybody's fault is there. There's no sign of
any of those kinds of many kind.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Of fat not in the ways that would I think
affect his desire to come back. I think there's genuine
affection and agreement on how to move forward with Kevin O'Connell,
and that's the most important relationship that he has to maintain. Obviously,
you know, I can't speak for every single person in
(43:02):
the building, but I don't know that there's anybody in
the building that's going to overrule Kevin O'Connell if that's
if he wants Brian Flores to be a defensive coordinator,
which he does, and so I I don't sense that
he's that Flores is running from it or trying to
give himself an out to run from anything or from anyone.
I think this is this is just about optimizing the
(43:24):
opportunity that he's earned, uh and and seeing what if
anything that could you know that that could lead to
and it doesn't. It could be to simply leverage with
the Vikings in terms of finances. It could be just
knowing what you're worth is and maybe getting in front
of some people that maybe later in your career that
(43:45):
that could help you with. But there's no there's no
real harm in him pursuing what he's pursued. As long
as everybody's communicating is on the same page about what
the what the intent is?
Speaker 3 (44:00):
What does the EPA stats stand for?
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Expected points added? Which basically means how much better is
a team or a person than the average NFL team
or average NFL person over time?
Speaker 4 (44:16):
And as you pointed out earlier today, in that category,
I don't think this is going to surprise anyone. Special
teams finished sixth in the league, defense finished eighth in
the league, and offense finished twenty eighth in the league.
That that that kind of checks, doesn't it? What the
eye test was test.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I mean, I kind of put it out there just
speak to role some people up and not that I
ever do that very well. There is and you've probably
seen it and maybe you participated. There's there's been a
lot of special teams hate on the vikings this year,
and too much, you know, and you know there's a
lot of it was after the Chicago game and I
guess you know, they gave up a kick return that
(44:57):
lost the game, but it had the en fire met
the fire. Matt Daniel's crew was loud this year, Matt
Daniels being the Special teams coordinator, and a lot of
that EPA is probably due to Will Rekerd having one
of the best kick maybe the best kicking year other
than outside of Gary Anderson in the history of the
franchise maybe, and so but but they over the course
(45:20):
of the season, their special teams were pretty good. You know,
there was you tend to focus on the handful of
coverage or miskicks that that happened, or poor coverage or
miskicks that happened, and not on the sometimes play to
play down to down performance and so that was you know,
(45:42):
they they had overall compared to other teams, and you'd
be surprised how many fans of other teams are always
claiming their special teams are terrible and that they need
a new special teams coach. And compared to the rest
of the league, compared to the league average, they were
pretty good. And I think that everybody would have would
(46:02):
have thought that the defense was a top ten defense
as well, and it is. And it's hard to have
the kind of quarterback play that you've had this year
and have anything other than a bottom dwelling offense, and
that's what they had as well. But that was sort
of my semi sneaky, not very subtle reason for putting
that out.
Speaker 4 (46:22):
The high priced player on this roster most likely to
be sacrificed in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Well, in a lot of years, you might consider Jalen
Nalen to be Jalen Naylor to be the type of
player that you would want to keep around, you know,
very quiet, good guy in the locker room. Has becut.
Was a draft pick, one of the few homegrown guys
they have that have turned out to be pretty good.
And it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a
(46:54):
hedge against Jordan Addison in the future. But I don't
see them having the kind of money to at what
he's likely to get on the free agent market. So
I don't know if that's a sacrifice or not because
he's not under contract. But that's the first name that
comes to mind, And and I'm sure there'll be some
salary cap cuts you or at least attempts to reduce salaries.
(47:15):
You look at the two defensive tackles they signed this year,
and both of them are making a fair bit of
money next year, Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, and you
wonder what their immediate futures are. Those two guys come
to mind as well. How about Hackinsa and Hockinson is
you know, I know a lot of people have wondered
about that, and you know, he didn't play the last
two games and he certainly hasn't been as productive post
(47:39):
injury as he was pre injury, and that's something to
keep in mind. But maybe that's a situation where some
contract can be renegotiated. Well, but that's a fair that's
a fair one to keep an eye on as well.
Speaker 3 (47:52):
Larry Mondella Guy has checked in.
Speaker 4 (47:53):
He was listening to our conversation with Johnny Athletic that
included some speculation from Johnny on flow. Here's what he
writes because he's listening to you as well. Seaffert's comments
make me even more sure that Johnny Athletic was just
being a shock shock yesterday. He clearly said he has
no specific information or knowledge of a schism.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
He just sensed something.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
In other words, he's trying to boost his sagging ratings
and get some clicks.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
There.
Speaker 3 (48:18):
You have it, interesting, Yeah, shot at your.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Guyne who knew that Johnny Athletic would would would catch
strays on a random Tuesday afternoon for his vikings covery?
Speaker 3 (48:28):
We catch a strays for everything.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
Now any any cheap shots he takes at hockey, Kevin
Falnas rips him.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Now football, he's taken it from Larry Mondellar. Guy. That's
I think. Maybe that's a sign of big time. I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (48:40):
Last b for a question, do we have any sense
that there is a team willing to look past the
ongoing lawsuit that Flores has against the league and says,
bleep it, we don't care.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
We want to hire him to be the head head coach. Yes.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, I think that the team to keep an eye
on would probably be the Raiders. And that's yeah. And
that and for a couple of reasons. One, you know,
of all the owners in the league, I would think
Mark Davis would maybe be less inclined to be offended
by the lawsuits than some others. Maybe I'm projecting too
much Al Davis onto him, but that's a thought. And
(49:21):
I've will and I've and you and I have talked
about this. I've always thought that part of getting Brian
for is a head coaching job was going to require
somebody in that franchise who knows him and will advocate
for him to the owner to sort of explain his
(49:43):
strength and explain the weaknesses and say, look, I know
this guy, you know he's he we should hire him.
I'll vouch for him. And and the Raiders have that
in Tom Brady. I mean we know that he knows him,
and we think he would vouch for him, and he
certainly would as an owner himself of the team, so
he would be able to take some of that responsibility.
(50:04):
And so I think for all those reasons, there's a
lot of the possibilities or a lot of the boxes
are checked there. But also, like you know, they're also
a completely dysfunctional franchise, and if you're Brian Flores, you
have to think through is this where I want my
you know, you don't get many of these opportunities, you know,
is this where I want to take, you know, my second?
(50:27):
You know, if I don't make it in my second,
I'm not going to get a third for sure, And
so that that is something for him to think about
as well.
Speaker 4 (50:36):
Uh, we're done with you today, but we're not done
with you for the season. So as far as I'm concerned,
I'm hoping we can reconvene a week from now and
hopefully in studio as well.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
That sounds good. Sorry, I couldn't make it in today.
We will do that next time for sure.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
Thank you. Okay and Kevin Seaford E s p N
dot com.
Speaker 4 (50:58):
Let's pause with the top of the hour and prepare
for some hockey conversation.
Speaker 3 (51:01):
Kevin fall on us. You can come out now.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.