The quarterback battle in Minnesota is, is, is huge, and, and I think we need to get into this a little bit.
We do, because it has layers and , and, and the premise of this was, what do NFL fans need to focus on and, and keep their eye out on in the first week?
Yes, first week so the first thing that I thought of was, you know, we’ve done this in Bennett training camps every day in the dog days, uh, you know, forever with our notebooks, and it’s like charting every throw.
Looking at every single thing because this is the only time as reporters and media members you get to watch every single minute of practice.
I don’t know about you, but I’m an early arriver.
I mean, I am like, let’s see who the first guy on the field is.
I like sending that tweet out like, oh yeah, oh, you know, Jaquan McMillan is.
The first guy out on the field.
Um, and so, like, I, I, this is a time in a situation where, you know, everybody’s gonna go, who’s got the first rep?
Who’s got the first rep in this period?
Is it Kyler Murray?
Is it JJ McCarthy?
Everything will be charted from 7 on 7 completion percentage to 11 on 11.
And I, I know a lot of people believe, and I include myself in this, Connor, that Kyler Murray has the upper hand heading into camp.
Yes.
And he’s probably in most people’s minds, the, the more likely starter.
But the reason I wanted to kinda, like, really pick this one in is that Everything that has surrounded it.
Kevin O’Connell has been very open, like, I know, I’m gonna tell you guys everything about this quarterback competition.
That’s not normally the case, right?
You don’t hear head coaches go, oh, no, I’m gonna be like super transparent about who’s leading, who’s, you know, who’s taking the lead, who didn’t.
Have a good day.
I was like, wow, that’s great.
And he wants to put them in really unique situations, really difficult spots.
How does he create that?
I wanna see that week one.
How does he create these situations he’s talking about for both of these guys?
And, and to me, the number one thing, and then I, I, I want your opinion on this is, will Kyler Murray change?
Like, are we gonna see it in the first week?
He wants him to play from the pocket for 7 seasons, he has not played from the pocket.
He’s played it essentially his way.
I think he went to Minnesota with an open mind, thinking this is the guy that can get me to play a little bit different style of offense here.
Let’s see if Kyler takes the time.
That he has during this break because he, he, he did say he’s a little bit behind and with splitting the reps, um, in terms of understanding, grasping the entire offense.
Did he put the extra work in, have it down pat, and does he play the way that Kevin’s gonna teach him?
I think we can start to maybe see that week one, and that’s, I think, to me, the biggest part.
I agree.
And so here, so I did 100 bold predictions, uh, back at the beginning of June, the hardest working guy I know, honestly.
You really are.
It was to commemorate 100 days, uh, leading up to the NFL season.
And I thought that the breakdown of starts would go in this order, Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz, and JJ McCarthy, uh, with Carson Wentz, I think, taking more.
Here’s why I think that.
Kevin O’Connell is the kind of guy like McVeigh in a similar way, that’s like, I can draw it up, right?
Where, I get the receiver with a step, and I just need you to put the ball there.
I don’t care who you are.
I don’t care what you look like.
I don’t care what round you’re drafted in.
I need you to put the ball there.
And for everybody that I think is assuming that Kyler Murray, like, I, I feel like we’re in a similar spot as football watchers, as when Russ left Seattle, where we’re like, oh, now he’s going to cook.
Now he’s gonna be unencumbered.
Now they’re gonna pull the restrictor plates off when maybe Cliff Kingsbury, who’s known the kid since he’s in high school, kind of like, you know, have the right system for him, you know.
Totally.
I watched him play in high school, I remember in person, uh, down there in Texas.
I, I’m just, I’m just, like, I, you, you, you, you brought something up there, Connor, that to me stands out when you’re like, he wants it to be exactly there on time.
You know, the route’s gonna be run.
Justin Jefferson, let’s just say it frankly, is gonna be open, um, like the offense sets him up to succeed.
He puts Jeff Jefferson all over the field.
I, I, I wanna know how he starts to maybe take this.
This is a guy that is off to arguably, I was looking at the stats, the best start of a receiver ever.
Like, ever.
Through the 1st 5 years, it’s the best start ever.
And I was having this conversation and I, and I thought about Justin Jefferson’s part of this because that’s the other part you should keep an eye on during this quarterback battle is Steve Smith and I on our show were having this lengthy conversation about AJ Brown, but it pertains to Justin Jefferson where it’s about legacy.
And these guys understand when they’re at the top of the top, that they have an opportunity to have a legendary career, to be mentioned for all of eternity, really, with the greatest of all time.
They don’t want to squander a season of that.
That was part of AJ Brown’s frustration.
Like, I’m one of the hardest workers on the planet.
I am one of the best receivers on the planet.
I’m in a great offense, and if this doesn’t happen, every year wasted is extremely frustrating.
Does Justin Jefferson ever get to that point with the situation he has been at in, in Minnesota?
I think he’s been the model citizen.
I think he handled last year very, very well.
Is there a breaking point there, you think, and a reason why we should be watching camp?
Exactly, because we have these teams now, like the NFL is fractured into teams that will trade for established star players and they’ll give up picks.
And, you know, I, I want to say like the F them picks philosophy.
It, it’s overblown, but I think that there are teams that are willing to sacrifice capital for Justin Jefferson at he’s 27, turned, I think this is his age, 28 season.
But of the last 4 seasons, he’s been in the NFL, to have been first-team All-Pro, to have been second-team All-Pro.
You’re right.
He’s on a tremendous trajectory, which is why to kind of, uh, uh, dovetail it back to, uh, the beginning of your conversation, James, is that I think that O’Connell is being fully transparent with this because this is a pressure cooker situation.
This is not.
Um, and I think this is Dan Campbell.
This is Demio Ryan’s rubbing off on offenses too, and I’ll tell you why.
This is no longer about building confidence.
It’s about putting you in your most uncomfortable situations down after down, minute after minute throughout the entirety of practice so that the game feels easier.
Like the, the days of, you know, we’re going to take it easy, we’re not going to turn the fire hose on, that’s done.
Uh, Dan Campbell’s shown what’s possible if you just beat the crap out of everybody for, you know, even in this modern football.
Andy Reid has done it for a number of years.
Andy Reid’s done it.
Damio Ryan’s has done it.
Uh, I think Mike McDonald, uh, uh, you know, to some degree, did it in Seattle where it’s like , hey, uh, you got to learn all this or you’re not playing.
And so for Kevin O’Connell, I, I, I think it’s an encouraging pivot because it’s like, listen, guys, I’m going to go out there and I’m going to tell everybody how I viewed it.
Everybody’s going to be able to see it.
They’re going to have eyes.
And by, by the second preseason game, We’re going to have a pretty good idea of who’s playing with the ones, who’s throwing to Justin Jefferson all the time, you know, who’s taking all the snaps.
And it’s like, you know, it’s, it’s, you know what , or get off the pot.
But that first week, it’s all about showing up with the right attitude, with a complete grasp of the playbook.
And I’m curious your take on this.
I don’t think that JJ McCarthy had that reputation going into last.
This year when everyone thought, oh great, he’s sitting for a whole season, he’s gonna be like, you know, it’s gonna be like a, a red shirt year.
Not the case, at least how I understood it.
No, I, I, I’m, I’m on board with you, and, and that part with JJ which we haven’t gotten to, we’ve talked to Kyler, is, is fascinating to me because one, the general manager who picked him is not there anymore.
Oftentimes, those picks are more tied to the GM than they are the head coach.
We know Kevin has a huge say in the building, but oftentimes that pick is more tied to the general manager, so that tie isn’t there anymore.
And if you remember the draft process, and, and we talked , I think a lot during the draft, Connor, and it’s like, Everybody was all over the map on JJ McCarthy.
Mhm.
It wasn’t like a universal, this is a top 10 pick.
I mean, I remember the Falcons literally canceled their visit with him.
They were like, no, we don’t need to see JJ McCarthy.
I don’t know if they got it right with Pennick, but they didn’t like JJ McCarthy .
And so, like, the perception of him in the league, talking to other coaches is, oh, the Vikings are done with him.
I don’t know, the Vikings aren’t gonna say that, and I don’t think the Vikings are fully done with him, but that’s a perception with enough people around the league that I’ve talked to.
That have said, oh, they’re, they’ve completely moved on.
And so, where is JJ McCarthy?
Because the one advantage he had over Kyler, and I, it might be the only advantage, is that he’s been in the system longer.
That, uh, to me right now, that might be the only advantage he has, so, I toss it back to you with this.
Is he tradable?
I don’t think he gets traded, just where I stand right now, today.
But is he tradable because the longer you wait, the control you would have over him if you’re the new team, the age, all of that, as time goes on, is not as valuable for you as the new team, or for you as the Vikings to get as much for him as possible.
Do you see him as tradable?
I don’t see him as tradable for two reasons.
One, if you’re Kevin O’Connell, I mean, I would need to control the destination because I was thinking about this with Anthony Richardson to a lesser degree.
Um, but if you’re, you know, you’re looking at Mac Jones in San Francisco now or Sam Darnold and what he did in San Francisco, and if you’re Kevin O’Connell, like there’s probably a part of you that wants the best for, for everybody.
But if you’re a former NFL quarter, Back, can you stomach this guy going to the Rams and backing up, you know , uh, backing up Matt Stafford and, uh, and Ty Simpson and then getting in a preseason game and throwing for 350 yards?
It’s like the number one fear in the NFL, honestly, a quarterback playing better in a different building and, and, and the, the, the, the disease of I can fix it among quarter.
Quarterback coaches, offensive coordinators, and head coaches with a background on offense, it is pervasive.
It’s like the hantaviruss.
It’s like anytime these guys see somebody throw a football in a on another team that’s bad, they’re sitting there going, Oh, I can fix it.
I can wait till I get my hands on it.
Wait until I get my hands on him, right?
And so I, if if that’s O’Connell, it’s, it’s almost like .
It’s not an Ayuk situation, but it’s like, I’d rather just sit on him and then, you know, let him go to free agency.
I’ll get a comp pick and then we move on, we wash our hands of it.
I see that being the more realistic path.
I also look at what Kyler has done in terms of health-wise the last several years, since 2022, it’s 11, 208, 2017, and 2005.
Um, so is he staying on, like, I, I would just say, you might see both of them play this year, um, and so this one is to me, uh, you have to watch, and then the other part with JJ is.
I There was a certain traffic stop that happened, and a certain comment was made.
Reporters gonna ask about that, Connor, like right from the jump, because I, I hate to, I hate to go this route because this story has been just, but If there is a text exchange with the head coach, and then JJ McCarthy sucks has said, there are going to be enough people that say, is that either the opinion or an influenced opinion or information from the head coach.
I would think Kevin’s going to get asked this on the first day.
Another reason why to to watch this first week in in Minnesota.
I, you’re absolutely right.
And I didn’t think about that for context, for those of you who don’t know, uh, so Diana Rossini, the, the sort of the second leg of this Diana Rossini story was a, a traffic stop where she claimed to FaceTime an NFL head coach to get out of a ticket.
Turns out she didn’t, uh, FaceTime an NFL head coach, but the body cam footage, uh, revealed that the cop was a Vikings fan and she said something to the effect of, oh, well, your quarterback sucks.
Um, Diana, uh, is, you know, it’s not like we, we have to, she’s interviewed Kevin O’Connell.
I mean, there’s videos of it.
You can, I mean, she, she showed the text messages that she’s exchanged with Kevin O’Connell, then says your quarterback sucks.
I’m just saying I’ve gotten messages from people in the league going like, aren’t people gonna put Put that together that that’s like, is that coming from Kevin O’Connell like and even if, even if a reporter doesn’t, you know, you, you can bet that JJ McCarthy has, right?
It’s a perfect way to put it.
Yeah.
And so I think that that’s something that at least needs to be, um, addressed in the building.
