Friday Mailbag:

We are a few weeks away from camp so Vikings fans have some unique questions

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you’re enjoying the summer days. They always open up the door for some fun questions so let’s dive in…

32BeatWriters If Murray wins the QB job, how do you expect him to be utilized from a rushing standpoint in KOC’s offense?

I don’t think the designed run game is going to be a very big part of the Vikings offense. I see the majority of his running being from the scramble game. In 2024, Murray finished the season with 75 carries and PFF tracked 40 of those as scrambles. I’m not sure that KOC is going to want to put his QB in harm’s way by having him do a bunch of QB draws. My guess is that it will be much more of a surprise thing. Maybe something they use on third down or red zone.

Where Kyler can impact the run game more significantly is with the pistol formation. The Vikings are going to bring some schematic stuff over from Miami where they ran a ton of outside zone out of the pistol with a lot of success. I think the threat of having Kyler’s wheels will be enough to cause defenses to have to worry about whether he’s going ti pull the ball away and take off with it. If Kyler has success with doing that once or twice, every linebacker is going to be hesitant to fully commit to the running back on those looks.

@Stain_12_

In a perfect world, what NFC North quarterback would work the best in KOC’s offense?

There’s a pretty good case for Jared Goff or Jordan Love. It’s pretty clear that Goff is a top three QB in the NFL when it comes to processing information and bringing plays to life. If you can draw it up, Goff can run it as long as he has the proper pass protection. KOC could put anything on his plate and he would be able to execute it. Imagine Goff hitting those timing routes over and over to Justin Jefferson on dig routes.

But if KOC was asking me which one to take, I’d tell him to go with Jordan Love. He might not be as perfect when it comes to timing and accuracy within the system but his arm talent as a downfield passer and his ability to avoid sacks and stand in the pocket and make plays under pressure gives him a higher upside. Love is similar to Sam Darnold with his arm and willingness to take deep shots but he’s got better pocket presence.

The ups and downs would be sharper with Love. The upside would be higher.

@D79169761 What if the Saints didnt come back to score in the NFC Divisional game? No miracle? You the players from that team talk about how mentally exhausting that game was. Do we beat the Eagles? Superbowl? Does Zimmer still have his job today?

The miracle was only a percentage of what made that game exhausting. It was also one of the most violent football games you’ll ever see. Had they dominated the entire game and had an easy win, then there would have been a much greater chance of them succeeding in Philadelphia.

However, I don’t think they win the game. The injury to Nick Easton really threw the O-line into disarray and they barely survived against a good D-line in New Orleans. Philadelphia’s D-line in 2017 was as deep and talented as any team of that decade. I’m not sure how the Vikings would have run the ball or protected Case Keenum enough to put together a strong offensive performance.

I do think the defense would have had a much better chance but the Eagles’ scheme was also a major part of why they won that game in a blowout. They understood Zimmer’s defense inside and out and took advantage of the way the matchups worked.

Even if the Vikings played a better game against Philly or went to the Super Bowl, I have a tough time believing that Zimmer would still be the coach today. Regardless of that outcome, eventually the roster would have been taken down and they would have gone through a more challenging period. Coaches like him can be great when you’re fighting for relevancy but they wear out their welcome pretty quickly when challenging times arise.

@MrEd315 In your opinion, current Vikings player or coach could cut the best pro wrestling promo? Makes no difference if babyface or heel promo.

Probably Josh Metellus. He’s the best talker in front of the camera in the locker room. He has a big personality and a sense of humor if he wanted to do the heel thing. I could also see Blake Cashman being pretty good at it.

@SKOLinMichigan This popped into my head today. Who had a worse QB performance. Josh freeman vs Giants, Sean Mannion vs Packers, Max Brosmer vs Seahawks ?

Answering a question like that requires an adjustment for expectations from the guy. Forcing Sean Mannion into a must-win game at Lambeau Field in the dead of winter against the QB who won MVP that year is pretty darn difficult. Also making your UDFA development QB play the Super Bowl champs with the best defense in football on the road for his first ever start is really unfair as well.

Josh Freeman was new to the Vikings and that’s tough but he had a lot of experience as an NFL starter and more talent than the other two guys combined. The Giants were 1-6 at the time. It’s not like they were a dynamo that year. He should have been much better.

@BaseballNorm When is the drop dead date for Harrison Smith to make a decision?

I don’t think there is one. If he wanted to come back during the last week of training camp and try to play 17 games, they’d be happy with that. If they were 6-2 and needed help at safety and Brian Flores wanted him back, he could return then and it would be fine. If he’s coming back, that’s the most likely scenario in my mind. I’m totally guessing but it makes more sense to me that he would want to wait and see if the team is going to be seriously competitive and I’m not sure that he wants to put his body through 17 games again,

Jason… What players or coaches from throughout routinely get the most vitriol from the Vikings fan base that you find the most and least understandable?

Is it too obvious to say Sam Darnold?

If so…

I thought the most unfairly trashed guy by the fans was Tom Compton. He was never supposed to start that season and then gave them mostly good games. He got absolutely demolished by Aaron Donald and Akiem Hicks, which happens to everyone and was otherwise fine. People acted like he was the most atrocious football player they’d ever seen. He was 34th 56 starters by PFF that year. You would have thought he was 700th. I thought fans went too far with that one and it seemed like they were trying to take the blame off Kirk Cousins by pinning it all on the O-line.

Sean Mannion was another guy. There are like three or four backup QBs in the NFL that have any capability to win enough games to keep their team in the race and a lotta folks acted like it was an affront to the game that the Vikings didn’t have one of those guys. Mannion was great for the QB room and has such incredible knowledge of the game that he got an offensive coordinator job just a few years after retirement. I could never really understand why people thought that Randall Cunningham was available as QB2 in 2021.

It’s much easier to say guys that don’t deserve it than guys who did because there’s a lot of players who just weren’t that great and got crushed by the fans for it.

One guy that got a lot of noise that proved later that it wasn’t deserving was Klint Kubiak.

john m… Can’t believe you didn’t have Marcus Sherrels on Jim Kleinsasser on you list. Every year Sherels, an undrafted free agent was expected to be cut and he made the team. He returned kicks and punts and was a gunner on kickoffs. And the Vikings would Draft defensive backs who didn’t seem able to cover people and they stick them in part way through the game and he seemed to get the job done. Jim Kleinsasser had to babysit Bryant McKinney and help him block defensive ends. Sometimes they just let Jim block them on his own

Les Steckel hands down gets all the vitriol he deserves. Why they ever made him head coach as a head scratcher.

So this was something that we really battled with during the process. The word “underrated.” Sherels being from Minnesota and having the backstory that he had, I feel like he was unequivocally beloved by fans. I’m not going to say he was overrated by Vikings fans because he was outstanding at his job and a great teammate who was willing to take on any task. Underrated would mean that fans or media (local or national) missed something about him and didn’t appreciated him enough. I thought he was properly rated as an awesome returner and amazing story.

Same for Kleinsasser. Anyone who watched any Vikings broadcast from that era would hear the broadcasters fawning over him and fans are over the moon about how great the guy was as a blocker and a versatile piece on offense. If you asked 100 Vikings fans who were around for that time period to name their favorite non-star Viking, you might get 65% of them saying Kleinsasser.

Again, 1000% deserved. He’s an absolute joy to watch block defenders into oblivion. Properly rated as super cool and good at football.

We wanted to highlight guys who would be totally forgotten like Tom Johnson or players who were actually elite and never got their due as superstars like Linval Joseph. The lines certainly were blurred by guys like Carl Lee and Anthony Carter but Lee had one great season overshadow a really good career and Carter’s team being the best WR crop in history made his greatness go forgotten in history outside of 80s fans.

That was the thought process. Totally understand if some fans would have gone with a different criteria.

Arin J…. Matt loved the Underrated players Hassan Jones was amazing in 87. I listened to Tom Brady on The Heights and he was asked, paraphrasing, with all the QB gurus are QBs more prepared enter the NFL, he said No the NFL with the NFLPA has reduced practice and that trickled down to college and high school. Very interesting.

I took a look at Brett Favre early years as I think JJ McCarthy is very similar, a gunslinger cares and Brett had a propensity to believe in the fastball early on his 3rd year in the NFL he threw more interceptions than tds. He also had more seasons of college than JJ 1994 his 4th season with great coaching Mariucci, and Holmgren he won MVP. McCarthy has only had 10 games and needs more time on task having said that, I am excited for Murrays improvement under O Connels, O Connels got the best version of Cousins, Darnold, Dobbs, etc and I believe a combination of better skill players and coaching we will see the best of Murray. McCarthy no trade if he improves start next year unless Murray takes them to the NFC championship

I agree with Brady to some extent. I also saw Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix and Drake Maye all reach championship weekend by Year 2 and Caleb Williams come within a hair of that.

The recent data goes against Brady. Young quarterbacks are actually performing better than ever overall, which shows you how hard it used to be when they didn’t have those things like QB trainers from a young age and access to playbooks and all that stuff.

I don’t mean to rain on your thoughts there but I don’t see anything similar between Favre and McCarthy. By age 23, his first year as a starter, Favre a Pro Bowler (when that used to mean something). He was instantly incredible and was never anything less than a megastar. From the first game he ever played, he was unbelievable.

To be fair, comparing anyone to Favre is pretty much a no go. He’s one of the most unique QBs in NFL history and has a great argument for the strongest arm of all time and was brilliant, insanely tough, a great teammate and his will and desire to win was unmatched. This isn’t something that can be replicated in any way.

(I know what you’re getting at with the touch on the ball but I think Favre’s fastballs are just a different story).

The name you should be looking for is Ryan Tannehill. He was inexperienced in college, asked to play right away and was pretty terrible and then worked his way into being a reasonably good starter by his third season. He was a really good athlete and had a strong arm but struggled with decision making and consistent accuracy. Once he got into the right situation and developed a lot more, he turned into a quarterback who could win games. I could see that being the case with McCarthy.

The hard thing about McCarthy’s development is that his raw talent is just OK. He’s a good athlete and throws the ball hard but the tools aren’t off the charts. That means the technical elements have to be there. That’s going to take time and the Vikings don’t have a ton of time.

Steve T… If Kyler Murray has a big year, do the Vikings do whatever it takes to lock him in long term considering the Sam Darnold situation?