Friday Mailbag: Flores is back, Addison's future and the draft

Taking a look at fan questions as the offseason speculation ramps up

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone! Lots and lots of questions about what’s next for the Vikings so let’s dive in…

Bradley P… What the hell is the NFL thinking? Firing so many coaches in a down true good candidates year? Also, are Brandon Beane and Terry Pegula as stupid as they seem? The throwing of a player WHO’S ON YOUR ROSTER is some kind of word I can’t use on a kid friendly page.

It’s not just the NFL, it’s all sports. The Denver Nuggets won the 2023 NBA championship and then fired Michael Malone 79 games into the season in 2025. The NHL fires coaches with every three-game losing skid. As bad as some losses by LSU or Penn State were this year, it’s absolutely bananas for those coaches to be fired as quickly as they were.

Maybe I’m trying to be a little too college professor-ish here but it feels reflective of society. Zero patience. Everything is a massive overreaction. Outrage outweighs anything else. Team owners are listening to Twitter bots rather than taking methodical approaches.

Not that every situation is the same. Sometimes there’s thing behind the scenes that we don’t know or tension between star players and coaches that is easier to resolve by changing coaches than players.

I didn’t cover Brandon Beane but I do know that he threatened to pull the Bills’ business from PFF after they were critical of the Bills for something. Then there’s the incident with my former co-workers at WGR550 where he went crazy on the radio because they wanted a wide receiver in the draft (which seems like a pretty normal thing to talk about on a sports radio station). I don’t think it’s a leap to start using words like “thin-skinned” or “egotistical” when someone does stuff like that. The McDermott thing reads like Beane convinced the clueless old owner that it was all the coach’s fault to save his own job.

Sometimes people are good at football stuff, sometimes people are good at playing “the game.”

Terry Pegula is definitely lost at the wheel when it comes to owning these teams and he’s been able to hide away because the Bills have been so good with McDermott and Josh Allen. Look at the other team he owns. They are finally winning after a decade of being a complete joke. There’s a lotta stories there too but luckily that’s somebody else’s beat and not mine.

Roger N… What’s the timeframe in which players will be released for Cap purposes?

Usually these things happen in early March after the NFL Combine. That’s when the teams meet with agents and get ready for the start of free agency. For example, it was March 6 when the Vikings released Eric Kendricks back and March 10 when they let go Adam Thielen in 2023. It was March 2 when they released Kyle Rudolph in 2021.

The guys we’re keeping an eye on most are Aaron Jones, Javon Hargrave and TJ Hockenson. Ryan Kelly seems like a foregone conclusion.

Garrett K…Man this season feels different than lots of previous seasons. I’m glad that the chances of bflo returning seems to have increased. But with the question mark at quarterback, and the possibility of needing to find a new DC, it feels like things are on the brink of falling apart. Has this off season, or impending off season, felt unique to you Matt? Thanks for your awesome content!

Thanks Garrett! The last time things were so much up in the air at quarterback was 2018. We have always been pretty sure what was coming next during every other season I’ve been here. Going into the 2018 offseason, we were talking about Alex Smith (who woulda been a great Zimmer fit, in my opinion), and Kirk and Ryan Tannehill etc. but since then it’s always been Kirk and then the plan was very clear to draft a QB in 2024. Now we really have no idea what’s next and the QB options are nowhere near as good as Smith/Cousins were in 2018.

It feels like we’ve reached the final stage of one road here with this regime and whatever happens in 2026 is going to determine whether there’s another stage with them in charge or not.

At the same time, doesn’t it feel familiar? With Flores (likely) back, we can all see how this is going to go. The Vikings will sign Kyler Murray, who will have a career year throwing to Justin Jefferson and the defense will get them into the playoffs and then they won’t have enough juice to play with the teams with top QBs in the playoffs. That movie has been seen many times before here.

But ya never know. Sam Darnold is playing in the NFC Championship, so sometimes finding the free agent QB works.

noodlesintheface…It seems pretty likely that the Vikings will bring in veteran QB “competition” while hoping JJ McCarthy wins out. It seems safe to assume that if JJ doesn’t win the starting job, it’s a nuclear explosion that costs a lot of people their jobs (and his career). How likely do you think it is that if he ISN’T ready, the team claims he is and starts him anyway, to avoid that catastrophe and pray he does well the first few weeks? What goes through the team’s minds if they’re looking at him in August and thinking to themselves “he doesn’t have the juice”?

I would not assume that if McCarthy doesn’t win the job that everything goes nuclear and they fire everyone. I’ll keep saying this: They are the Minnesota Vikings, not the Minnesota McCarthys. Like Kwesi said in his press conference: His job is to get the franchise back to the playoffs and win, not to worry about being right about Nine. If he’s not good enough, onto the next QB.

Keep in mind that they would have easily made the playoffs and possibly won a playoff game if they had the 17th best QB play in the NFL this year (that was Bo Nix by PFF grade, by the way).

The question that I have is whether they’ve already decided that he doesn’t have it or not. Historically speaking, QBs who perform like this in their first 10 starts do not keep getting chances unless their teams were horrendous like Bryce Young in Carolina or Jared Goff with the Rams. The Blaine Gabbert or EJ Manuels of the world are out pretty quickly. Anthony Richardson and Trey Lance were drafted even higher and their teams didn’t wait around either.

If they are still holding out hope and only take a half measure at QB this offseason and then he doesn’t play well in August, they risk the scenario you’re talking about. But I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t a very serious starting QB brought in.

Matt D…With Flores looking like he is coming back, what do you think the top priority is going to be for the defense this offseason? I’ve already seen some people mocking run stuffing DTs to the Vikings in the first round, but that has never seemed to be a priority for Flores.

That defensive tackle situation might depend on what happens with Javon Hargrave. If they move on, I could see them trying to replace him in the draft. The thing about run stuffing is, there’s a lot of different ways to do it. In the second half of the season, Flores just started putting 5 guys on the D-line and creating a bunch of 1-on-1s and somebody was bound to win. In 2024, Phillips and Bullard were stuffing gaps and moving bodies for LBs to come and make plays.

Personally, I look at interior pressure as king. All four remaining teams have beasts on the inside who get to the QB quickly and I’ve always heard from QBs that they hate the pressure bearing down in their face. At the same time, Kayden McDonald from Ohio State might be a Vita Vea or Derrick Brown type who is so dominant at run D that it’s worth it.

Outside of that, I’d say that safety has to be No. 1. They certainly need another cornerback or two but we saw the drop off when Harrison Smith wasn’t in there. If Josh Metellus moves back into a more traditional-ish safety spot, are they using Jay Ward? Are they drafting someone? Are they getting a veteran in free agency? We did see the absence of Cam Bynum prove costly so it seems in this defense that it’s a massive position.

Joel J…. Hey Matt Love your insight and info. I’m a big fan. Let’s assume that Flores stays with the Vikings. Do you think that might give incentive for Harry the Hitman and Wilson hang on for another year? That would be sweet, particularly if they can solve the offensive Elephant in the stadium . What are the chances of either?

Appreciate that!

I’d be surprised if Harrison decided to come back. He was so emotional about the end of the season, it felt like he knew that this was it. Not that he was struggling to still make an impact but you always worry about guys who are that great stretching it out one more year and not having it work out.

As far as Wilson goes, I think now that Flores is back they will swiftly work out a deal for him to return. He’s not going to be in a better position anywhere in 2026 than Minnesota.

Tim…Any thoughts on who the new assistant head coach may be?

I’m not sure if Flores’ new deal is going to come with that title or if KOC is going to go forward without an assistant or if someone will be added from the outside or bumped up internally. I guess we’ll find out. I suppose bringing in another very experienced voice makes sense to me but I also struggle to have takes on coaching staff stuff like this because I don’t know what the assistant head coach does exactly.

Scott L… Did you know how bad the Bills ownership was when you were covering them? Sheesh. I’ve never been happier to have the Wilfs as owners than after this week

Yes, I did. I covered more hockey than football while I was there and it was a circus.

I’ve said it a million times: If the biggest criticism of the Wilf ownership is that they missed a couple opportunities to take steps back in order to help the long-term vision (i.e. 2020, 2023), then you have a really, really good ownership. Since I’ve been here, Mark has been the most front-facing member of the group and he’s always come across as dedicated to winning and rational. They invest in the team as much as anyone and create an environment where players want to be. There’s also a ton of employees inside the building who have been there for many, many years. It’s a top-notch franchise.

Dermo Man… Hi Matt, keep up the good work. Mel Kiper has the Vikings taking Mansoor Delane, CB, in his first mock draft. What’s your view on that position and player . . . . Or should they just wait to get Mel’s top pick in the fifth round

Thank you! I can’t say that I know much about the player aside from his numbers. PFF loves him as a man coverage corner. He had a 91.0 coverage grade. If you go back a few years here at Purple Insider, you’ll remember my analytics intern Haley (who now works for the Lions) did a study about PFF coverage grades and the correlation with success in the NFL and — not surprisingly — the connection was really high.

I’m into it. Rodgers and Murphy Jr. are a solid pair but they have nobody else and Rodgers is a free agent after 2026.

Also, funny jab at Mel. He’s a legend but it tells you a lot about draft analysis that he missed by that much on Shedeur.

As I’ve said many times: NFL teams do not tell people on the outside who they are going to draft. In fact, they often lie to outsiders on purpose. Anyone who says they know is hoodwinking you.

Purpleric…. Matt, love reading and listening to your content. You always have your finger on the pulse! Assuming we go DT or CB in first round, what kind of value can we get for a center, safety and CB/DT (whichever one they didn’t take in 1st round) with the 2nd and two 3rds? And if this is not your ideal draft scenario, what is?

Thank you! We’re really, really far away from the draft so it’s incredibly difficult to figure out where everyone’s going to slot in before the Combine and pre-draft stuff. My first impression is that the second round is a good place to get a center. Once you get past the first two rounds, you can’t really look for starters. Just take dudes. Maybe a RB?

Jason… Who do you like this weekend?

I picked the Rams to make the Super Bowl before the playoffs so it’s hard to go against my own pick but I think Seattle has every advantage here. They didn’t have a game in the first round, then barely had to play against San Francisco so they’re at full strength. Los Angeles had two really strenuous games already. Seattle’s at home too. But the Rams are very, very crafty when it comes to mixing their coverages and taking the ball away from Sam Darnold. That could even the score. I guess I’ll go Seahawks 24-21.

Obviously it makes the most sense to pick New England. The one thing that’s holding me up is that Stidham is extremely familiar with that offense and might be able to keep the train on the tracks. I’ll say Patriots 21-17.

Bradley P… Does the dropping of the charges change the opinion league wide on Addison? Should the Vikings look at trading him this offseason?

I’m sure that teams around the NFL are looking for a deal when it comes to Jordan Addison. Despite Buffalo claiming that they do not need receivers, it would make total sense for them to trade a second-round pick for him. I saw that report from San Francisco that they could be interested. Makes sense to me.

I’ve said this since his DUI: I do not care if they trade him. He’s not Justin Jefferson. You can find other No. 2 receivers. He’s a really excellent talent and he certainly shined in his first two seasons but only No. 18 is irreplaceable.

Should they trade him? That’s tough. He’s basically on a one-year, $4 million contract right now. It’s hard to ignore that bang for buck and with so much pressure on the leadership of this team going into 2026, they would have to be really, really worried about the off-field stuff getting him suspended again in order to make that deal.

But if they do and re-sign Jalen Nailor, I’m good with that.

Ben… Matt are the Bills lost at sea right now?? The owner roasting a player publicly who is CURRENTLY on the team can’t be good sign of things to come.

Things have probably been going on like that behind the scenes for a while and we didn’t know about it until they unintentionally just spilled all the tea themselves. Here’s the reality: Josh Allen paints over all the problems. As bad as it looks, they’ll probably get a good coaching candidate and win 12 games next year. And their ego maniac GM will be able to claim he was right.

James Q… Matt - Interested in your read on the Flores signing; I’m concerned it allows story of Vikings wanted to keep him but we couldn’t stand in the way of HC offer from Steelers

That would be the case no matter his situation. If he had signed an extension last offseason, they still wouldn’t be able to keep him from getting a head coaching job.

We’ll just have to wait and see. I’m wondering if Flores got the sense that Pittsburgh and Baltimore weren’t happening, so he elected to sign back with Minnesota.

If he gets a head coaching job, it will be well earned.

Clark S… Addison for Aiyuk? Could it work? Or, is it dumb idea?

I don’t see how this is a net positive. Aiyuk has been seriously injured and it seems like he’s a major problem for his team. He might be slightly better than Addison at his best but I’m not sure if he’ll ever return to his best.

Brad L… Any behind the scenes changes you’re aware of to try and improve draft success?

They’ve made some changes over the years. When people ask if they need to fire their scouts, I feel like it might be a fundamental misunderstanding of what the scouts do. The GM and coaches give scouts directives about what they are looking for to fit their schemes and the scouts go out and look for those types of players and gather as much information as they possibly can. They write up reports on tons of players and the coaches and front office members use these reports as a guide to form their draft board.

The team drafted five players last year. How in the world are we supposed to know if the scouts are giving them accurate information on hundreds of players if we only get about 0.00005% of the results publicly?

Tony T… Seattle signed Sam Darnold for three years for $90 million. That’s pretty cheap for how well he plays. What was the reason the Vikings didn’t just sign him for that contract as insurance, and then if McCarthy was good, you could always trade him.

Sam wasn’t going to sign that contract with the Vikings. He was aware that McCarthy was the golden boy and that he would lose the job at the first sign of trouble. If they wanted to keep Darnold they would have needed to franchise tag him. That would have allowed them to evaluate/develop McCarthy behind the scenes while still competing for the playoffs with Sam.

When they made the move to let Sam go, my assumption was that they must have fully believed in what they saw from McCarthy. But when Kwesi says they had “incomplete information,” it really shines a light on the massive risk they took.

If you were doing it over again, you’d extend Darnold and trade McCarthy. Can you imagine what the fan reaction at the time would have been?

Dan… I can picture McCarthy being a good QB eventually, but it could easily take until he’s 26 or 27. That would be in second contract territory, and I think there are possible timelines where the Vikings see enough to sign him to a “bet on yourself” type of deal. I think there’s still a possibility of getting good McCarthy play on a deal for significantly less than $50M per year, at least for a year or two, but after last year the odds of that ever happening with the Vikings have narrowed.

Often on the podcast I talk about “in theory” versus “in reality.”

In theory, you can sign Kyler Murray to a two-year deal and develop McCarthy over the next two seasons until he’s truly ready to be an NFL quarterback in 2028. He can fully master his fundamentals, mature as a professional and lock down every single inch of the KOC playbook. In this scenario, you’d use the fifth-year option, which would actually be reasonable in comparison to the big QB contracts.

It wouldn’t even be that unusual to have a quarterback start his ascent at 26 years old. Tons of QBs throughout history have done that.

Gosh, that sounds reasonable doesn’t it? But in reality, it’s almost impossible. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube in a few different ways. He isn’t going to accept being benched for two years. Yes, he’s under contract so he has to do whatever the organization says but it’s probably going to get ugly and you’re not likely to get the glorious development you’re hoping for. Second, if he is good on the fifth-year option by the time he plays, then you have to give him $60 million or whatever QBs are worth then and you’ve defeated the whole purpose of drafting him. Third, even if the regime is here to see the entire plan through, fans are going to be calling for JJ after every single bad throw by the starter. It would be a zoo.

So you’re not wrong. In the old days, he could go play in the USFL until he was 26. If we look at recent history, it’s pretty much: Perform really well right away or hit the road.

Jordy V… By most accounts, Daronte Jones is well regarded around the league. That said, the secondary has struggled to identify and develop talent under his tutelage. Players like Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth Jr., and Akayleb Evans were disappointing; Jay Ward and Theo Jackson have had difficulty making consistent contributions; and Mekhi Blackmon and Nahshon Wright found immediate success after leaving. Even Joshua Metellus had a down year.
Would it really be the worst thing if the team moved on and brought in another secondary coach with a stronger track record in identifying and developing talent?

I think there’s some issues and reaches here. You’re forgetting Cam Bynum got $15 million per season after developing under Jones. You’re forgetting that Byron Murphy Jr. was an inexpensive signing when he got here and played his best ball in Minnesota. You’re forgetting that Isaiah Rodgers has never been a starter before this year and finished top-15 by PFF. You’re stretching on Josh Metellus, who went from a literal backup to a lynchpin of the defense who just signed a huge contract. Yes, he wasn’t as impactful this year but Daronte was here for his whole arc. Nobody played as well until Harrison returned.

None of the players you named became good elsewhere except Nahshon Wright. And his season was insane with all the turnovers (he still finished 52nd in PFF coverage grade). Blackmon was 116th out of 122 in coverage grade.

I like where Jay Ward is headed. Theo Jackson was a miss but he’s still quality depth.

The way some of you folks evaluate these things is a little puzzling to me. There seems to be a hard spin toward “everyone sucks, screw ‘em!”

Daronte Jones was a massive part of a defense that just ranked 5th in Expected Points Added vs. the pass in 2025 and 6th in 2024 and you want him gone because Andrew Booth Jr. didn’t work out?

If all you care about is the draft, which seems to be the case for a decent percentage of Vikings fans, then I guess this take makes a little sense. If you care about the results of the secondary they’ve put on the field, then it’s downright bizarre. Daronte was one of the reasons Harrison Smith came back. It’s bad to lose that guy!

Mark T… Matt. . . I keep using the NFL Draft Simulator and am starting to get a feel for who should be drafted by the Vikes. #1 is Kayden McDonald DT from OSU. As more and more teams look at running, he would help to stop the yardage up the middle and he is a Beast. #2 This is tougher as we could use a Safety or RB, as the exceptional RB are smaller in quantity I have been going with Jonah Coleman RB from Washington. (5’ 9” & 230 lbs). This guy reminds of Saquon Barkley, jumping over players, stiff arms and he is a great receiver for screens etc. #3 Looking at what safety is left I would go with Dillion Thieneman. Then find a CB. It is a start and hopefully the compensatory picks come through for us.

Are more and more teams looking at running? In terms of rushing yards per game, here are the last 10 years per team per game: 116.9, 119.8, 112.7, 121.6, 115.2, 118.9, 112.9, 114.5, 109.7, 108.9.

The slight uptick from around 2016 is probably the addition of some running QBs like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson to the league and the exit of Brady/Brees/Ben. In terms of actual carries per game, the league averaged 26.8 this year and that number has been nearly identical since around 2008.

Here are the numbers if you’d like to look yourself.

That doesn’t mean I hate the idea of a fat guy, I just like to check to see if stuff is actually true or it just seems like it.

Your draft sim would be good with me. They need more explosiveness in the backfield and safety is going to be important in Flores’ defense.

What I have to ask about is center. There’s nobody in free agency. I’m not sure if they feel Jurgens is a starter. Are they rolling out Brandel for 17 games?

Michael H… What do you think happens with Hockenson? Status Quo, Cut, Restructure?

Most likely scenario is restructure. I don’t see much advantage to cutting him. There were quite a few times this year that he showed he can still play (the seam route vs. Dallas, for example) but the QB play sunk him just like everyone else.

Matt R… Even though the state of Florida dropped the charges on Addison, the story (if true) still sounds like irresponsible behavior. How do you think the Vikings and the league will react?

With the charges dropped, the league shouldn’t do anything.

As far as the team, I’m not sure. At some point, the Wilfs have to be tired of getting embarrassed by this guy. But trading him for pennies on the dollar doesn’t make much sense either. My guess is that they keep him, try to convince Nailor to stay as insurance and that’s about it.

If they make a move though, I wouldn’t be against it. He’s run out of second chances.

Stanley H… Who do you like as OL coach hiring? Who are potential fullbacks that can pass block?

I try to stay within my range of knowledge and it’s outside of that range to start suggesting O-line coaches. The guy from Atlanta had success there but I can’t begin to tell you who the other candidates are or what their strengths are.

CJ Ham is tough to replace in pass blocking. He was the third highest graded PFF pass blocking running back/fullback this season. The guy I have my eyes on isn’t a fullback but Jacksonville’s free agent RB Travis Etienne. He was sixth in a similar system. Free agent Javonte Williams of the Cowboys was also pretty solid.

Gotta have somebody because pass pro is not Jordan Mason’s forte.

Walt K… I see a lot of different names bandied about as far as QB additions to the roster, but one name that I haven’t heard talked about much is Marcus Mariota. Seems like he would be a great guy to have competing with or backing up JJ. He also might find it more attractive to come here and compete whereas he’d be the clear cut backup in Washington. Thoughts?

The problem with Marcus Mariota is that he’s Marcus Mariota.

He’s an outstanding backup quarterback. He’s just like Tyrod Taylor. Under the right circumstances, he might be able to get you into the playoffs but he’s really not a starter. Anything less than a perfect situation and he’s too inconsistent to give you a shot at contending.

But they might end up having to go with him anyway. If they don’t want Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers or Geno Smith, then someone like Mariota, Jimmy G, Trubisky, or Kenny Pickett would get the nod. To me, those guys can’t save you.

JeffInSeattle… The Greenard, Van Ginkel, Turner trio has to be on the field as much as possible. I see Van Ginkel as a key to Flores defense due to his smarts, flexibility & raw ability. I’d like to see Greenard & Turner as the edges & Van Ginkle at outside linebacker and a primary blitzer - but that means a 4-3 base set. Has anyone asked Flores about this? What is your opinion?

I don’t know that we’ve asked Flores specifically about it but during 2025 training camp they routinely had all three guys on the field at the same time with AVG and Turner mixing and matching and Greenard switching sides. Now that we know Turner is a much better fit for pure pass rushing, they can use him more like that in a rotation on early downs and definitely put all three of them on the field on later downs.

TheDude… I know you are not a fan of bring in Tua... With the rehiring of Flores it seems... Pretty difficult to imagine Tua (short of a trade that will not happen) choosing the Vikings as an FA would be....Rather difficult...

I was never even vaguely in on the idea of Tua, so I’m good with that.

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