Friday Mailbag:

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, folks! We have seven days of camp to work with so let’s dive into all of your questions…

Steve… what would happen if Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores, along with their entire coaching staffs, were suddenly "teleported" to a 2025 NFL team with a projected win total below .500? Which team do you think they could build into a playoff contender?

It probably depends on the quarterback situation of the sub-.500 team. I’m not sure anybody could make the playoffs with the New Orleans Saints roster but if they had the roster of a team like the Jaguars last year they are probably getting very close to the postseason.

What we see from this coaching staff that would likely transcend the overall talent of the team is schematic uniqueness. If you look at the 2023 roster on defense, was that really a team that belonged in the top half of the league? Probably not. The same goes for the 2023 offense. They missed Jefferson for half of the year and had replacement-level quarterbacks yet they were one drive in Denver, one tush push in Cincy and one terrible INT against Detroit from making the postseason.

No coach is a miracle worker but a great overall staff (we need to mention assistants like Daronte Jones, Keenan McCardell, Josh McCown, Chris Kuper etc.) can elevate a team beyond what they would normally be expected to do.

Bradley P….With the news of how Turner is looking thus far was the consternation that they didn’t pick Verse overhyped?

We’re going to find that out in the regular season. Too soon to call it now after two padded practices, though he’s looked fantastic. One thing that’s clear is that they had a plan for Dallas Turner that wouldn’t have fit Jared Verse at all. Of course, Verse is an absolute monster and deserves the praise that he got from everyone last year but you can see the thought process because they are trying to make Turner another Andrew Van Ginkel, not another Danielle Hunter.

The Verse discussion reminds me of the Laquon Treadwell thing. The Vikings found the best WR combo in the league, yet I swear more people wanted to talk about how they should have picked Michael Thomas. I totally understand the fascination with the Turner pick because they gave up so much, I just think we get a little too obsessed with the SHOULDA DRAFTED THAT GUY thing. If the team was consistently making bad decisions, yes, toss that on the pile, but this front office has built a defense talented enough to be in the top five.

That said, it looks like Turner is going to take a significant step forward here because of his offseason approach. He could turn out to be the guy who pushes this from a really good defense to great.

Eric J… How would you rate Max Brosmer’s arm strength and learning curve? What areas does he need to work on most?

I think Brosmer has an adequate arm to have an NFL career. It’s not going to blow you away and he’s going to need to be very accurate and make great decisions in order to be in the league for a long time but it’s good enough to make the throws. In terms of improvement, he strikes me as already being pretty close to his ceiling. At his age and with his athletic profile, there isn’t a massive upside that he’s suddenly going to find if he does X, Y, Z. What he needs to do is make good decision after good decision after good decision and be a great guy to work with. If they can put him out there to run scout team because he’s worked his butt off on the opponent’s defense, that’s going to be a positive contribution. That’s how you find a niche for yourself. And then show in practice that he could move the offense if he has to go in the game.

I want to be clear: It’s a big compliment to be saying that I think he can be that guy. Most UDFAs are out of the NFL pretty quick. He looks to be like he belongs.

Brian_H… I understand why it matters to the media, fans, and his agent, but is whether Blackmon is 3rd or 4th really that big of a deal? Between injuries, rotations, and the prevalence of multi-receiver sets, it'd seem like he's going to be a big part of the secondary regardless.

Yeah, it is a pretty big deal. Shaq Griffin played 572 snaps last year in that role. You’re one injury away from that player being on the field for every play. Three times last year Griffin played at least 50 snaps in a game. You know how many the next cornerback on the depth chart played? Fabian Moreau had 104 snaps. So if we’re talking about the difference between playing 500 vs. 100 snaps as CB3 and CB4, it’s a significant cap.

In terms of Flores and rotations, the data would suggest that he likes to get different pass rushers mixed in but he doesn’t change almost anything about the secondary. Starters are starters and they play the whole game.

KOC also did mention that they’d like to have Byron Murphy Jr. in the nickel spot more because they really like him in that role.

CJ M… Talk me into: With Addison likely out the first few games, JJ McCarthy adapting to the NFL, and the new o-line gaining cohesion… Vikes go heavy on Jones/Mason and play-action out of 2 TE sets to open the season.

I definitely think that when Addison is out that Josh Oliver is going to play a lot and TJ Hockenson will be the slot receiver. He played around 50% of his snaps in the slot or outside in 2023 anyway. As far as running, that really depends on the nature of the game. If Caleb Williams is getting his face bashed in by the Vikings D-line, then they could handle the run-pass ratio similarly to the way that they did last year in the first couple games where they rushed more when ahead of New York, Houston and San Francisco. If it’s a tight game, then they’re going to have to throw. I suspect against Atlanta and Cincinnati’s offenses, it won’t be easy to just sit on the football and run over and over.

IceColdNorth… Please expand on your Thursday observation that Jordan Mason's play style reminds you of former NFL MVP RB Shaun Alexander.

They’re about the same size by height/weight and both of them were physical enough to straight up run dudes over but they didn’t rely totally on that. Mason has really nice footwork. He can work in small spaces and spot open holes and accelerate through them. The difference between them is that Alexander’s top speed was insane for his size. I don’t think we’re going to see 50-yard runs were Mason leaves people in the dust.

Eldon… It seems like Kirk, Sam , and JJ all struggled early in camp vs the Flores defense, how is JJ handling it compared to Kirk and Sam?

Yep, that’s absolutely true. In 2022, some of the early camp practices were so gnarly that we were wondering if KOC had given him way too much change for one offseason (he might have). Darnold really didn’t have it click until the second week of pads leading into the preseason game. After the preseason game, he was really good from there out, except the first day of the joint practices.

How is he handling it? Seems OK. I thought there were some moments on Day 2 of pads where he seemed frustrated and the rest of the offensive guys looked exasperated. It’s just too early to tell how they are going to build off this. We can’t just keep saying “the defense is good!” for the whole camp. The offense should start moving the ball. Over the next few days, they have a string of practices including the night practice. That’s always a good early-season barometer for where they stand.

Adverb… Where are the pressures coming from? Interior? Exterior? LG? EVERYWHERE?

I’m going to go with everywhere. Jonathan Greenard has looked like a man on a mission. Turner has been beating people with his speed. Van Ginkel won a bunch of reps the other day. The interior push has been good. Yeah, it’s just a sick D-line and when they throw blitzes and confusing pressures and coverages at McCarthy, it’s really, really tough. The O-line hasn’t worked together at all, remember. Nobody has worked with McCarthy until now. It’s going to take some time to get sorted out.

But I do think this is a pretty accurate representation of how nightmarish the front-seven is going to be.

Timothy G… Is there any indication that the offense will incorporate more power running schemes similar to the Harbaugh scheme JJ ran at Michigan vs the zone schemes they've used under KOC?

It looks to me like it’s going to be more outside zone. They hired Keith Carter to help with the run game and his Tennessee teams ran a lot of outside zone with Derrick Henry. Not to mention Mason was almost exclusively a zone runner in San Francisco. The only thing that’s really going to be similar about his college offense is being under center. He seems very comfortable running play-actions from under center, which KOC did use a lot last year with Darnold.

Dermo Man… We have heard a few negative vibes from the Chicago training camp. I haven't heard anything from Detroit or Green Bay. Have you heard anything interesting from either ?

Just some injury stuff from Detroit and it sounds like the Packers reporters like how their young receivers look. With both of those teams, there aren’t many headlines from camp that are non-injury related that can move the needle from what we think they’re going to be. Maybe if Matthew Golden is an absolute beast in camp — and it sounds like he’s doing well — then maybe you’d think a little bit more highly of the passing game.

Other than that, could any camp update from Detroit or Green Bay make you change a bet on their over-under? Probably not. But with Caleb Williams and JJ McCarthy, you might if they were looking great or terrible.

Jake J…I’ve heard multiple different people say KOC’s offense is very complex, but also QB friendly. Can you elaborate on this?

Sure. I actually asked a receiver this question the other day. It’s complicated in the way that receivers can line up in any position on a given play and be asked to motion or shift into any position. The quarterback has to understand everything he’s seeing from the defense pre-snap to dictate the motions, checks and play changes. That’s a big mental load. The play calls build in a bunch of things to let the QB get into the look he wants. Everybody has to know all of it or there’s going to be mistakes.

It’s QB friendly because when it works, the receivers are open. If you set the protection correctly, motion the receiver to the right spot, read the coverage properly pre and post snap, somebody will be there for you. We saw when Kirk and Darnold really got it, they were hitting open receivers left and right.

Matt D… Any updates on how Jurgens is looking after a few days in pads?

I don’t think I have a great feel for it yet. I want to see more padded practices from him. Everybody on the lines has had a rough start against the 1st team D-line but as camp goes on we’re going to see more 2s vs. 2s and I’ll try to get a better sense for how he’s coming along. Really though, the preseason games are going to tell us a lot more about some of these younger O-linemen.

Chuck A… Who are the training camp referees? It's not actual NFL refs getting reps in, is it?

I believe most days they are local refs but sometimes they have actual NFL refs there getting in reps. Insert your own snarky comment there but it really helps when it comes to holding / cornerbacks grabbing etc.

Stephanie… listening to the pod about Day 6, specifically your comments about how the drills in the red zone didn't go so well. Made me wonder if other teams scout other teams' training camps? Is tape of JJ McCarthy's performance in red zone drills (for instance) something they would use to plan for the regular season?

1000% they do. I know this for an absolute fact. The videos that fans are making from the stands and tweeting out or putting on IG with the perfect All-22 look at the play are absolutely being saved and studied by the Chicago Bears. That’s why the team puts a big sign up that asks fans not to send those out and why the media doesn’t film the plays at practice, just warm-ups. Some teams don’t care because they only run base stuff when fans are in the building and that’s probably true for the Vikings too.

Probably every professional football coach could identify the concepts they’re using as being typical stuff but there is an advantage to potentially be gained there when you can see the hand signals and the entire route combos. During Zim’s era, we used to shoot tight shots from the sideline where you could see someone make a catch but couldn’t really identify the plays. That’s what you usually see from other medias who are allowed to shoot and the team’s video.

Bradley P… What should we expect once the first team offense starts playing against the first team defense?

They have been doing that quite a bit and that’s where all the brutal reps have come from. What we should expect this week is progress. Not perfect practices, flawless accuracy and impeccable blocking, just daily improvement where they are blocking up the defense a little better, getting the ball out a little faster and putting together more positive reps.

Jason…As a Utah Alumni and Vikings fan, I really want Vaughn to make the team. What does he have to do to make the 53?

Right now it looks like he has a very good chance to make the 53. Maybe they keep Murphy, Rodgers, Okudah, Blackmon, Vaughn and McGlothern. I’ve raised an eyebrow at the fact that Vaughn is playing a lot more than McGlothern with the 2s thus far. I wonder if they want to get a closer look at Vaughn because they already have a good sense for McGlothern. When it comes to the back end of the roster, I really think the preseason is going to matter quite a bit this year.

Ronan M… Any concerns about how McCarthy's feet have looked, we know it's something he couldn't work on with the injury, and he seems to be swinging his back leg on some of the bigger throws?