Ooh.

Because I y- I don't...

You know, Ph- Phil and I went back and forth, but I didn't particularly like this.

You don't, with, with Mason out, you gave the workload to Jones, okay.

But you didn't have anyone else that you trusted.

I mean, Dejuane Dallas had a couple of carries, caught a pass on Sunday, which was a great play by Kyler as well, but at the end of the day, you clearly didn't trust him to carry the football.

Damontre Clayborn was the same exact thing.

... is there gonna be one offensive coach that's just like, "I'm going down with this sort," in a game specific sort of game plan against Flores' defense, try to, try to, try to attack that?

yeahI, I just don't think it can happen because of the financials

I am out on this completely be- because a- as I have continued to say, I don't need a star or a former star, uh, i- in my backfield.

I just want someone who can absorb some carries.

Jordan Mason is coming back.

That's going to lighten the, the load on Jones.

Uh, Saquon is under contract through, it looks like 2030.

I'm not absorbing that contract.

Yeah.

Oh, I love this.

I've got a practice squad bin, which I just gave you.

I've got a trade bin, and then I've got a street free agent bin.

And one of the guys in the trade bin, I think, is a very interesting possibility because he's playing on a one-year contract, $2.5 million, for the 0-4 Houston Texans.

That is 30-year-old Evan Brown.

Evan Brown, he has started four games at center for the Texans and given up two pressures and 183 pass blocking snaps.

But in 2024-25, he was a starter at left guard for the Arizona Cardinals, playing with Kyler Murray.

Yeah.

I think your modest proposal has to do with this, so let's hear it.

Well, I guess, my modest proposal is this.

I think, and I don't think that the Vikings are going to ignore this either, you know, the, the options are Joe Huber starts at left guard, the UDFA from Wisconsin who played almost as many snaps on Sunday as he did all of last season on the offensive line when there were injuries galore.

Um, that's, that's an option certainly.

I don't know it's the best one, but I think they're gonna have to look outside at least...

And today is workout day, too.

So if we're talking about a, as they call them this time of year, street free agent, today is the day to bring guys in to work that, them out.

Mm.

Yeah.

$12 million just for him.

The Gophers, as a team, $18 million.

And so I feel like the – to your point, too, and I feel like going into Washington and stopping a quarterback, who, again, is not great, but he's well compensated, and then Underwood today looked – bad I thought but yeah, that's full credit too.

I also think like coaching played play calling played a role today too because the the fake handoff to Darius Taylor and then the subsequent pitch to Jennings correct that went for after the turnover after the pick by Underwood that went for a 31 yard gain I think from the 35 when the Gophers took over was a great play call.

And Jennings was in the open like every Michigan defender had sucked over to the I guess what would be the Gophers right side, their left side.

And so that side of the field was wide open.

So, I mean, there's a lot of good today, but first and foremost, picking up the victory, huge.

Yeah.

$12 million just for him.

The Gophers as a team, 18 million.

And so I, I feel like the, um, to your point too, I f- and, and I feel like going into Washington and stopping a q- quarterback, who again, is not great, but he's well compensated, and then U- Underwood today looked bad, I thought.

But yeah, that's full credit too.

Um, I also think l- like coaching played, play calling played a role today too because the, um, the fake handoff to Darius Taylor and then the subsequent pitch to Jennings, correct, that went for, af- after the turnover, after the pick by Underwood, that went for a 31-yard gain I think from the 35 when the Gophers took over was a great play call.

And Jennings was in the open.

So I mean, there's, there's a lot of good today, but first and foremost, picking up the victory, huge.

Judd, did you have any other observations from the press conference and particularly from O'Connell's side?

Well, I did ask him, and that question that Chris Long of Channel 5, our colleague downstairs asked, was a great one.

And I thought, because, I mean, that was the question, I think, that everyone had talked about and was like, okay...

O'Connell at this point in this press conference especially needs to be asked about it.

I did ask O'Connell at one point, though, about the quote from August of 24 after McCarthy had undergone the surgery for the meniscus when O'Connell went to the podium and said, we have found our franchise quarterback.

I said, you know, what changed there? I mean, you declared him your franchise QB, which is no small statement, and he's been traded.

So O'Connell said, quote, I wouldn't change anything I said in the moment and would love to be able to go back and change some of the circumstances that may be hindered our ability to see it through the exact way you would want to help him reach his potential as fast and as early as possible within the timeline to also coincide with us winning and what's best for the organization.

Kind of was that sort of your impression, Judd? And what did you sort of take from that aspect of it?

No, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure that they won't.

But that's not my proposal.

My modest proposal... is to bring in a guy who is, as far as I could tell from research, on the street right now, and that is Antonio Gibson.

So Antonio Gibson's a former Washington commander, pretty high draft pick by him, and then most recently a Patriot.

Now, he fits the wide zone concepts, so he will understand what the Vikings are running.

He can catch the ball a little bit.

And again, Dallas Turner ends up having a huge impact in a game where the Vikings hold a team that scored 59 the week before to three points in a big road divisional win here.

We'll, we'll st- we'll let you lead off here today.

I appreciate that.

And you know what? Um, I...

My afterglow is gone.

Like, I had the, uh, the 24-hour rule was in place, right? So you beat the Packers, you beat them, uh, soundly, which is unbelievable.

I still don't know how you b- how you beat them by what, 17 points.

But that's done now.

W- what did you see, and are you ready to get over your skis on the Dallas Turner, uh, breakout season hype?

Yeah.

Because there's this notion they can sign on July 1st.

If they're not signed by July 2nd, something's gone wrong.

And Kaprizov, we went through that right before the regular season starts.

He signs, it gets done, and people are nervous.

But on this one, it's the level of trolling by Devils fans who, who are insistent that all the brothers, you know, that the Wild's gonna have to trade Quinn.

So I, I, I think that n- no matter what anyone has said, including Bill Guerin at the state fair, who's about as straight a shooter as, as an executive gets.

Yes.

And my

proposal, it might not, at first blush, it might not seem...

But the more you dig into the numbers, it actually is.

It actually is.

And to me, it's one of the most important things, among the many important things, to the Vikings making the playoffs for the third time in what will be Kevin O'Connell's five seasons.

And that is very simply from the quarterback position.

And this will involve, you know, O'Connell's play calling, being more tailored to what Kyler Murray does well.

I just don't see them making the playoffs in this division.

And now Pauline has doubled down on it, that the new regime is not super happy with Caleb Banks and probably would have done something else outside of submit a card for him at 18.

Which is probably the least surprising thing of all time.

And this was the thing about hiring a GM in May or in late May, early June, when the...

when the draft was coming up in April and you fired Kwesi in late January instead of like the day after the season.

This is the least surprising thing of all time, because as you pointed out at Mystic Lake on draft night, I mean, this was a controversial pick.

The kid has broken his foot twice.

Now, did I think he was going to come into camp out of shape.

It certainly had to feel like that was, to go

Yeah.

I do.

I, and, and so I'm keeping six on the defensive line.

Uh, but I also think there's a very good chance that, again, because of the new practice squad rules in the last five years or whatever it is, L- Loudermilk gets through waivers, and you reassign him to the practice squad, and he could easily be in activation for a couple of weeks off of the practice squad.

So, like, this is the thing.

That practice squad now, it's become the Wild Wild West.

It used to be it had to be, what? Within three years.

Yeah

On the offensive line, are they keeping 9 or are they keeping 10? And if it's 10, who's the 10th that is

being kept? i've got them keeping 10 they kept 10 a year ago now we could debate this and it might make more sense to keep nine unless guys get hurt which of course we've seen before right now just based on not based on quality of play but based on reps and who's been used where my 10 and there's a break glass in case of emergency 10 okay is actually henry bird not walter rouse Henry Bird spent two weeks ago, and it didn't work out well in the Ravens game at all, but he spent that week playing left tackle because Caleb Tiernan's out.

Okay.

And then last week, I noticed they flipped it.

And Ryan Vandermark, the kid from Buffalo, he went from right tackle a week ago to left tackle this week.

And Henry Bird was at right tackle.

And Henry Bird's listed as a guard.

The availability might be

Hmm.

Aaron Jones gets hurt.

I think he's gonna be good, but he gets hurt, and he's not young.

Jordan Mason looks in great shape, but if you lose Jones, right now your backup is either De'Von Clayborn, Xavier Scott, or both.

Now, Clayborn we have-- I've seen enough of.

I like the potential, and I think he makes the roster.

But do I think he's ready if Aaron Jones goes down on September 13th? Do I think that Clayborn is ready to step in as the number two behind Mason? No.

... rivalry jersey for the Vikes.

Are you one of them?

No, I'm not.

No, I'm not.

And, um, I, I...

It's funny, I do think so, you know, we're recording this on Tuesday, and we got the joint practices against the Ravens on Wednesday and Thursday, and I do think those are gonna be incredibly important because my g- you know, De'Von Clayborn was not throwing a pass in the Giants game.

He did, I think he was given credit for one really nice play in pass pro and one missing pass pro according to PFF.

Um, and, and he didn't really wow you, but you saw the speed potential.

Where do you stand with that?

What you got?

All right, I want to talk about the quarterbacks, and here is my proposal.

I think to Kevin O'Connell, it probably goes beyond modest, but I don't care.

And here it is.

Starting with Saturday's game against the Giants, you need to play both quarterbacks in preseason games.

Number one, you don't have a starter.

So it's not like, oh, my God, we might get Kirk Cousins hurt or we might get our starter hurt.

we we don't want it maybe to drag on for that long so you real these next two weeks are so important and again i would drag them into deep waters and and see who who fails see who succeeds and both of them fail you have to pick between lesser or two evils is you know do that right but but like we we need some more stuff to evaluate here

Or just take it.

Just take it, right? Yes, this is perfect because this is not a bombshell proposal, but it's very...

It's a very sound one.

And I will say this, as somebody who's watched Brandl struggle to snap to Murray, I think he's partially concerned, and this has been a problem, about snapping the ball over Kyler's head because Kyler's short.

And then there also are snaps off to Kyler's right that sometimes have sort of tailed off like pitches.

And so, yeah, I like this.

I could totally see this.

Is there anything that JJ could do to win this job outright, or is his viability for the job, in your opinion, more to do with there's that idea of the only way he could win it is if Kyler just falls on his face? Is JJ McCarthy winning, is there anything independently that he could do to seize that job, or is that more to do with Kyler would have to get injured or

Judd, is there any chance, is there any chance whatsoever that this defense could be, even if just by a little bit, better than last year's?

year's?Oh, boy.

Once we start playing games, Harrison Smith out, it depends on how the safety position goes, es- especially as far as, as being an o- on-field extension of Flores, which is what Harry was.

Like, my, my thing about being...

D- do I think this defense is gonna be good? Yes.

My thing about saying it, is it going to be better without Harrison Smith is part of what makes this defense so good in games is the, the smarts of a lot of these players, but then the ultimate ability to make changes on the fly, which, which is what Harrison initiated a ton.

So be- it's basically, it's essentially an Ivy League defense as far as smarts go, and that's where it gets difficult.

Is there anything independently that he could do to seize that job, or is that more to do with Kyler would have to get injured or fall on his face?

What was your initial reaction of the signing of Jamal Adams?

Well, I was a little bit surprised at first because I'm like, wow, it's late.

But then I looked into it and I didn't know that he had been converted to – a linebacker, and then played in all 17 games for the Raiders last season, which I found to be super intriguing because the previous three years with a multiple, he played for like the Titan.

I think it was like the Seahawks, Titans, and Lions.

The previous three years combined, he played 15 games.

He has been hurt a lot.

His career essentially after 2020 derailed by injury.

Is that sort of how you see that thing?

Question number two, if Brosmer is released, will he get through to the practice squad?

Um, I'll take question two first.

Yes, he will, because he'll be released in the final cutdown when the, when the waiver wire is flooded and teams actually are putting more of a priority on trying to get their own guys back.

Um, unless m- unless you think that Max Brosmer absolutely is, you know, the bee's knees.

Um, I, I...

N- now, could he be signed off of, off the practice squad at some point during the season? I think there's a better chance of that, but I think he gets through.

So a high percentage, uh, 90% chance he gets through, or yes, he clears the waiver process and is back on the practice squad.

Uh, ge- getting cut are Luke Wysong, Marcus Sanders Jr., Dante Fleming, Jeshaun Jones, Terrell Davis, Trayvon Rudolph, and Michael Briscoe.

Question number two, if Brosmer is released, will he get through to the practice squad?

I'll take question two first.

Yes, he will because he'll be released in the final cut down when the waiver wire is flooded and teams actually are putting more of a priority on trying to get their own guys back.

Unless you think that Max Brosmer absolutely is the bee's knees.

Now, could he be signed off the practice squad at some point during the season? I think there's a better chance of that.

But I think he gets through.

So high percentage.

Price and coverage match limited by state law.

[laughs]

But it was a gift delivered from the, uh, play calling of Kevin O'Connell instead, but I'd like to see more.

My modest proposal is this.

Based on Jordan Addison's 65-yard touchdown run, which was the longest touchdown run by the Vikings last season on a jet sweep, uh, in that 23 to 10 Christmas Day win against Detroit at US Bank Stadium, I got to thinking, "Why can't Jordan be more involved in the run game at times?" No, I'm not saying make him a running back.

I'm not saying an- and I'm not saying crazy stuff.

Uh, but did you know that in 2025, he actually had two carries as a, as a rusher for 81 yards, so 65 yards a- and then, what, 16 more yards? Both obviously were first downs.

And in his career, six rushes, 103 yards, two touchdowns, three first downs, over three seasons.

I, I'm not as surprised with Sam Darnold, but, uh, Joe Burrow was listed as a dual threat in that class.

Judd, why don't you kick us off?

I certainly will.

And you know what? It's weird 'cause the, these are, like, the only three weeks where it's just absolutely football-wise dead.

Like, but beyond that, there's always stuff.

So I had to mine long and hard for this one, but I, you know what? I found it, and I found it on Christmas Day.

That's right, like a gift delivered from Santy Claus.

But it was a gift delivered from the, uh, play calling of Kevin O'Connell instead, but I'd like to see more.

I, I'm not as surprised with Sam Darnold, but, uh, Joe Burrow was listed as a dual threat in that class

Does that psychology strike you as interesting, first and foremost? And how does the psychology this time compare to previous iterations with Ponder, with Teddy Bridgewater, if you can kind of like conceptualize that and go back a little bit in your past?

So I feel like each one takes its own form.

And part of why I'm excited for this camp is to see this.

Like the Vikings have been selling.

It's a competition.

And quite frankly, you know what? The amount of access that we get to the OTAs, which is very staggered.

And then the mini camp, which is three consecutive days, but it's not a ton.

I mean, it's right at the beginning of August.