Friday Mailbag: How are things different now?

Vikings fans have a lot of questions about what's next after the firing of GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone! Well, a lot has changed since the last mailbag, huh. Let’s dive in..

Reid… Do you think ownership is getting off a little too cleanly? Even if we remove the possibility they changed their mind strictly because Seattle made the Super Bowl, the Wilfs pushed Kwesi and KOC to have a “competitive rebuild,” where they want the team to move into Super Bowl contention but also not take any steps back like teams usually have to. The 7-10 season when Cousins tore his Achilles frustrated them to where they wouldn’t extend KOC, and even then, that wasn’t nearly bad enough for the team to be in position to draft Drake Maye (or Jayden Daniels, Caleb, etc). I want to be clear that I think the Wilfs are among the 5-10 best ownership groups in the NFL, but at a certain point, it’s not a coincidence that the Vikings under the Wilfs’ ownership keep being good in the regular season and never are quite Super Bowl caliber.

I think you gave a pretty fair assessment there. I’ve always felt uncomfortable saying that them wanting to win every year is a negative thing but it does seem that wanting to win every year even when it’s not realistic has objectively hurt their long term success at times. The best examples are 2020 and 2023. Those were very clearly rebuild seasons when the older players had run their course and they didn’t want to really commit to resetting. They brought back Kirk both times and tried to sign some middling veteran players to paper over their problems and it just didn’t work.

The last part is probably a little on the harsh side for me. The Seahawks were able to “competitive rebuild” during the Geno Smith years and put together one of the strongest rosters in the NFL. I also tend to believe that the 2025 Vikings could have made a run at it. The way the defense and O-line played when they were healthy would have been pretty scary to opponents.

But it’s probably worth noting that the Vikings best team of the last decade was sparked by a bad 2013 season.

Yeah, it’s tough man. They give the football leaders everything they need and if the only stipulation is that they don’t want to go to the bottom for a year then it’s on them to figure out other ways to make it work. They have amazing facilities, a huge budget, big coaching staff, top players and coaches want to come here. Hard to be too upset about all that.

Mike… During the interim GM period, Do you see Flores having input/more input into offensive players since the direction of the offense was a concern during his contract talks?

I wouldn’t expect that Flores has more say over the offensive personnel. You can probably interpret the “offense was a concern” report as meaning “what are you doing at quarterback?”

If we take that a step further: “Who’s playing QB that’s not named JJ McCarthy?”

If you want to take that a step further, you might figure that Flores was a guy who wanted Aaron Rodgers and may not have wanted to sign an extension until he saw McCarthy prove it.

(Those parts are just connecting dots and speculating, not reporting).

What a tough couple weeks for McCarthy. He gets injured to end the season, his coach has two chances to commit to him and won’t do it, his GM gets fired, his owner doesn’t mention his name at all in the press conference and then his teammates strongly allude to wanting Sam Darnold back last offseason at radio row.

AnToni… Can you please do a deep dive recap of all the context that many of us may have been missing for Darnold’s collapse last year?? I keep wondering what was happening with the o line, injuries, etc... I know darrisaw was out, but I just need help making sense of and processing the decision to move on from a very talented, YOUNG, and exciting qb with Darnold in a league where it’s obviously so difficult to find a good one.

…Or is Seattle just doing something different with him (play calling, weapons, mechanics, etc) to have gotten the most out of him?

Darrisaw being out isn’t something you can just vaguely mention. Cam Robinson got a 39.5 PFF grade and gave up 12 (!!!) pressures against the Rams. TWELVE.

Another big issue for them losing against the Rams was the path that they took to get there.

The Vikings played at Seattle and won a super stressful game at the last minute. They came back to Minnesota and played a hard-fought victory over Green Bay that also required all 60 minutes. Then they traveled out to Detroit and got their butts handed to them physically across the board. Then traveled back to the West to play at Glendale.

Meanwhile, the Rams, who had won 8 of 10 games after a 1-4 start, went played at home against the middling Cardinals, rested their starters and then had a short plane ride to Glendale.

Do you know how many points that same Rams defense gave up between Week 15-17? Just 24 points in three games. And the Vikings not only got them totally fresh but they also got them after spending two weeks solely focused on the Vikings.

Not to mention that KOC’s roots are with KOC and they could not run the ball.

This was always my point about Darnold playing poorly against the Rams: Why do we watch five QBs per playoffs get killed by a superior defense and shrug our shoulders but when it’s Sam then it’s absolute, unequivocal proof that he actually sucks?

It’s because it confirmed biases about him. Whereas Justin Herbert could go 0-35 in the playoffs with a 1.2 quarterback rating and he’d still rank in the top 5 QBs by most lists next year.

On Seattle, I will say that they have done a very good job of mitigating Darnold’s biggest weakness. He has a tendency to try to do way too much and take sacks. This year he only took 27 sacks during the entire season because Seattle used a lot of big personnel, forced teams to really pay attention to their run and had a spectacular play-action game. Not good. Not fine. Unreal. He was the No. 2 graded play-action QB this year and had a 124.7 QB rating with play-action.

Once the Vikings realized they couldn’t run at all vs. the Rams and then got down, Darnold had to straight drop back over and over and over and just got destroyed.

It’s never one person’s fault when it’s best vs. best of the NFL. Except when it’s Sam.

Sean M… In the live chats you’ve had with Manny you guys discuss that if Kirk is brought back he would have a massive advantage to win the starting job over JJ because he knows the offense so well. I am curious why that is the prevailing thought? Shouldn’t JJ be expected to have a solid, if not complete, understanding of the offense now that he is in year three?

To me if JJ can’t beat out a 38 year old then it would be a sign that he isn’t meant to be a starter in the league and we’ll have a final answer on what he is and this chapter in QB hell can be over. Plus with Kirk at least Jefferson will get 1.5K yards again.

That is the prevailing thought because Kirk Cousins was very good in the Kevin O’Connell offense and knew it inside and out while JJ McCarthy needed it “dumbed down” for him by the end of the year. If McCarthy had been a true rookie, I would understand, but he wasn’t a rookie. He had a full season behind the scenes and still struggled. Cousins has also played in the NFL forever and has a knowledge base that’s 10x McCarthy.

Had McCarthy played the entire season then maybe you could make this argument. Crazy stat alert: Kirk Cousins threw more passes than JJ McCarthy in 2025.

If Cousins is the choice, I would expect that he’s only coming back because he’s going to start unless McCarthy makes a massive improvement and takes it away from him. I’d say it’s possible but doesn’t seem likely. They need a sure thing.

Brad L… Seattle has made two Super Bowl appearances in large part to drafting success. Anybody in their pipeline worth trying to poach for GM? Do you think they have someone in mind, otherwise why not just make Rob B. the permanent GM?

With Bradbury making the Super Bowl I’m curious how he graded out this year?

Nolan Teasley might be a name to know. He’s their AGM and was a pro personnel guy for a long time.

Seattle’s draft history is a funny thing isn’t it. Same GM who took Rashaad Penny, LJ Collier, Jordyn Brooks and had three picks in 2021 is now being celebrated for a bunch of hits. Interestingly enough, Seattle has had 14 top-100 picks since 2022. Nine of those are in the top 40. Two of those picks are in the top 10. Not that they haven’t done a great job but… I’m sensing a trend there.

As far as Garrett Bradbury, he wasn’t a different player this year. Out of 41 centers, he ranked 24th in pass protection. But he didn’t give up a sack. Do you think that maybe the offensive structure and quarterback had something to do with that?

Brian H… How did some of KAM previous draft picks grade out per PFF in college? Was there a correlation to how they played in college vs. the NFL?

Anyone who says he was drafting based on PFF is absolutely full of crap. But you’ll never believe this: Draft picks usually grade well by PFF because they are BEING DRAFTED.

Anyway, it’s really hard to find a trend of them taking the highest PFF graded player though. Someone like Donovan Jackson was a quality prospect but didn’t have unbelievable grades. Same goes for Lewis Cine. Ed Ingram had a lot of red flags on his PFF page. Brian Asamoah was very strong. Mekhi Blackmon was highly graded but they reached vs. the consensus board vs. him.

There’s no real pattern. Arif Hasan pointed out that just drafting by the consensus board would have yielded much better results than what actually happened.

It always felt like to me that Kwesi was trying to serve a lot of different interests and thread the needle with drafting and then it all fell on his shoulders.

Dermo Man… I know the Wilfs do a lot of good things as owners but they are too remote and the dysfunction stems from them. We like to think the Vikings is a good franchise. But if you look at the teams to not make the Superbowl since the Vikings last appearance, we are just one of 6 teams to not to do so. And something like only 4 teams have less play off wins since the Wilfs took over. We are not in good company and doesn’t give great cause for optimism that it will change unless there is a change in approach from the top. Your thoughts ?

Don’t you think that the main cause of this team not making the Super Bowl is not having a consistent quarterback?

How many teams that have reached the Super Bowl had a QB that they drafted. Let’s see… Drake Maye, Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, Colin Kaepernick, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger…

Seems like the answer is: A lot of them. And the others were already great QBs like Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner.

That’s why I’ll always say that Kwesi was dead on the money in moving on from Cousins and making a big swing for a quarterback in the draft.

Was it questionable to pick somebody with so little experience? Historically, yes. But it was also a terrible break to have him get injured right away and fall behind in development. It was not ideal to thrust him into a situation with this much pressure either.

That’s life in the QB drafting universe. Everybody knows it’s the way to win. Everyone who doesn’t have a great QB is trying to take the same path.

Anyway, that’s not exactly your question. Personally, I don’t think pointing the finger at ownership really fits. It’s a combination of never having that QB and not making it happen when they have gotten those few shots at it. It’s not dysfunction and incompetency. The drama always follows when the bar is set high and they can’t reach it again because… no consistent QB.

Ben… I keep seeing people say the Vikings have an ownership problem ( did yall not watch the Bills presser a few weeks back) Do you think the way the Wilfs operate gives this team the best chance to win??

On almost all levels, I do believe the Wilfs operate in a way that gives the Vikings the best chance to win, yes.

Could they have undergone a total overhaul a couple times rather than scratching and clawing to seven wins? Yes.

But if you think about it: What do most franchises look like who haven’t had the QB?

Florian Kubes…Does KOCs future hinge solely on getting into the playoffs and winning at least one?

If you look at the history of the Wilfs owning this team and you look at how the rest of the NFL has treated coaches, the answer is probably yes.

Hey, didn’t they make their biggest mistake by making a decision based on two games? Wouldn’t it be the same thing if they based their entire future at head coach on one season?

Certainly KOC has had chances to win in the playoffs and hasn’t gotten it done. The thing you have to ask is: If this guy was the HC for the next 10 years, can he get you there with the right set of players?

I don’t know the answer because we haven’t seen it. I do know that he’s been a bit of a victim of his own success in those 13 and 14 win seasons with teams that were probably more worthy of 8-10 wins. I would also say that he’s still early in his coaching career and can learn from mistakes. I thought it was pretty significant when he essentially said that he had to just play to win the game at the end of this year rather than play to win the game his way.

When you get a coach who can get imperfect teams to the playoffs and the locker room is buying in, then it’s hard for me to say that moving on is a good idea.

Topher… If you owned the Vikings, and could pick any current GM in the NFL to run this team, who would you pick and why? Also, who would be 2nd and third choices.

The hard part of a GM search is that most of the candidates are not public facing people so it’s hard to judge them. When it comes to coaches, you can study the philosophies and results of sides of the field. With executives, who knows how much someone had to do with a team’s success.

George Paton makes sense to me though. He’s trusted within the building, he’s been part of a really impressive roster build working with a big-ego coach in Sean Payton and he would have the ear of ownership.

My biggest thing for the GM hire is that I want the chain of command to go: Wilfs-GM-coach. Not collaboration. The GM should be the one who is evaluating the HC and playing a huge role in his future.

I’m not sure they can accomplish that with the current structure. It feels like they want someone to do what KOC/Flores ask. I guess if that’s going to be the case then that’s fine but then we have to know who’s responsible and the buck has to stop with someone. Not this finger-pointing game of “who’s fault was it, anyway?”

IceColdNorth…Is the addition of assistant coach Frank Smith giving Vikings fans false hope that KOC will run the ball more? If not, who are some free agent or trade target RBs who could be a good fit when it comes to running/pass-catching as well as capable pass blocking?

This year is your year, my friend.

They have not had the players to run the ball in a dominant fashion on the O-line or backfield but it’s not like they have never, ever been good at it. In the first six games of 2024, Aaron Jones was averaging 5.2 yards per carry and then Darrisaw got hurt.

Through the first 10 weeks of 2022, Dalvin Cook averaged 5.1 YPC.

Jordan Mason averaged 4.8 YPC this year and they finished above average in EPA/run.

The reason 2026 could be different is that adding Frank Smith should give them some new ideas and a level of identity in the run game that maybe has been lacking but also they should have the dudes up front if they are healthy.

As far as RBs, I really like the look of the 2nd/3rd rounds for explosive players. There’s some quality free agents in Travis Etienne, Javonte Williams, Breece Hall, Rico Dowdle, Kenneth Walker, Kenneth Gainwell, Rachaad White.

I assume Walker’s going back to Seattle. The best fit for an all-around back is probably either Etienne or White. If they had a backfield with a duo of Mason and a veteran free agent and a rookie with some explosiveness, then they’d be cookin.

Brent M… Hey Matthew, You have put out a lot of in depth, quality work recently and I appreciate it! Thank you!
One of those pieces of work was about the QB options. If you were running things, what approach do you take with the QB position? Any predictions or pie charts for what the Vikes will do?

Thanks!

Nobody’s going to like my plan, but I’ll roll with it until the wheels come off.

I’d wait until the Cardinals cut Kyler Murray, then sign him to a veteran min. (see Russell Wilson with Pittsburgh as the example). It would be the first time in his career that he had a good franchise with everything together i.e. line, receivers, run game, good offense for QBs and see what happens.

If McCarthy outplays him in camp, then that’s great. If not, you have a motivated QB who knows $100M waits for him if he performs at a high level.

Everyone will tell me that Murray sucks and can’t possibly be good. OK, great. What did you say about Sam Darnold when the Vikings signed him?

But if he does suck, then you’re in position to give McCarthy another try and if he doesn’t take another step then you can draft a QB in 2027 and start over.

As far as predictions, there’s too many options for a pie chart. I think there’s an equal chance for Rodgers, Kirk, Geno, Murray, Mac or somebody we don’t expect.

Jimmy B… Ok new topic! Tell me what you think.
A 20 game season.
I’m not a big fan of the oversea games. But I guess it’s time for me to get over it.
The changes - each team plays 9 home games, 9 away games. 1 international game and 1 developmental market game at a neutral venue. Like Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Montreal, Calgary, Honolulu, Mexico City, etc.
The players incentive is all contracts increase by their game day salaries plus one game. A raise in the league minimum. Increase number of years players receive health care. Increase the number of teams in the playoffs so no one has a bye. Plus expand the roster to 65 with all 65 game day ready. The players come out very well and the owners will make a crap ton more money. Also some of these international sites need to have permanent facilities. When to start and end the season I have not thought about yet. Have 3 bye weeks etc. I have a lot more ideas on this topic but maybe another day, thanks Matt for your insight on this topic. Skol and Roll Tide.

Appreciate you switching it up here.

I don’t think the human body can play 20 regular season football games. I did try to come up with an idea for 18 games. That was to play the first 10 games of the season in the spring and then the final eight games in the fall. So training camp starts right after the draft and then they start playing in June. They go through August and then start again in October and go through December.

It’s still pretty tough to pull off. Adding more players doesn’t really do much because the same top guys are going to take so much punishment that careers are going to start getting shortened.

I know that fans will like the NFL no matter what but it also feels like when you have something darn near perfect that you shouldn’t try to change it too much.

Tony T… Is it possible that Kwesi’s reputation among GMs was damaged by the Cine trade down, which made GMs reluctant to work with him, for instance the trade to draft in the top 3 in 2024, or to get a suitable McCarthy back-up last year? Does ditching Kwesi make it easier to swing big on Burrows or pry off Mac Jones?

Personal question: did you compose and play your podcast theme song? I know you play guitar

Yes, I did compose the intro song.

It’s not that Kwesi made a bad trade and took a bad player that hurt him with other GMs, it was that he didn’t know them in the same way that more experienced executives do. He was the newbie in the league trying to fight for some credibility when other execs were wondering why he skipped the line. The NFL can be a bit of a high school sometimes, probably not different from wherever you work.

I don’t think that issue remained over the years though. Getting a backup would be between him and agents for backups. I would also ask that anybody go look at how backup QBs performed this year and tell me which one other than Mac Jones that might have saved their bacon.

Does him not being here change their chances to make some massive move or get a player like Jones? Probably not. He made a trade with San Francisco to get Jordan Mason last year. He came from San Francisco and worked with those guys.

They believed Daniel Jones was going to stay. There may have been some thought from KOC that if they made a much stronger offer to him that he might have stuck around.

The thing that it might do is have nobody in the way of KOC and Flores to say: “Should we really do this?” when it comes to short-sighted moves.

Kyle R… One name I haven’t heard thrown out as a potential QB is Davis Mills. He seems to check a few boxes that KOC likes, including arm talent. Obviously he’s not an MVP candidate, but I’ve seen some upside from him and he’s proven to be a capable backup. What do the advanced metrics say about his small sample size, and what are your thoughts on bringing him in to compete with JJ?

Mills isn’t very good. He got three wins with a prolific defense but played badly. He graded 33rd of 45 by PFF, averaged 5.8 yards per attempt and had a success rate under 40%. That’s basically the same as McCarthy, only instead of being too wild, Mills is too safe. He really doesn’t have much in terms of physical tools to be any kind of difference maker. If you get Mills, you get him to be a pure backup.

Anglo Vike… Leaving aside the reasons for Kwesi’s departure, is his firing a setback for those people who have championed the use of analytics in drafting players? He seemed to be better with players with existing NFL statistics/data whereas it seemed harder transferring the analytics to college players

When did he use analytics to draft players? Is there anywhere in the actual drafting process where we can see that? He drafted pretty routinely below consensus, took players with high picks at non-premium positions, took players that didn’t have impressive underlying data or PFF grades.

The biggest thing was that they didn’t stack draft capital. It’s analytics 101 to stockpile picks because everybody in the data world knows how random the draft is. Never getting comp picks, trading picks for replacement-level players like Cam Akers or Jalen Reagor… this stuff just tanks your odds at success in the draft.

Also success does that. The drop-off from the top-15 in the draft in terms of success rate to 16-32 is massive. It’s almost a miracle the Vikings have had a lot of success in that area with guys like Jefferson, Darrisaw, Addison and maybe Turner/Jackson.

It is easier to use the data on pros, that’s definitely true. And their moves have largely matched up with the numbers. When you look at AVG, Greenard, Cashman, Rodgers… even a guy like Eric Wilson had some good stuff. That’s why last year was maybe a sign that things weren’t quite going his way because they started signing players whose numbers either justify the contracts or just had an arrow pointed down.

Think about it through an analytics lens. Old DTs, old RB, big money on a guard who had five games of top-notch play, draft capital on another RB… My thought was that you overspend when it’s time to win on the rookie QB deal but they went into that offseason with a chainsaw. Not much about it said, “data-driven.”

Kip Nazda…If you are the New GM, how long do you give KOC before pulling the plug and getting your HC? I’m not advocating for firing KOC, I’m just wondering how long of a leash he gets …

My personal philosophy on this is always that I’d prefer to have players have familiarity with a system and build things over several years with the same coach, so long as the guy is competent and creates a good culture. At least from what players have voted in the NFLPA survey in the past, it seems that’s the case. But you also can’t be inflexible and stick with somebody no matter what.

So if I’m the new GM, I’m coming in with fresh eyes on the situation. I know that I’ve got a coach who can get to a certain level and I know that he’s going to have to elevate a quarterback again. Let’s see what happens.

But the issue with the HC decision is that if you’re going to commit after 2026, you’ve really gotta commit because there’s a chance that we’re talking about drafting another quarterback and rebuilding. Is he going to be able to work through that or do we need somebody new?

Sometimes the reason to fire a coach is that they’ve become so beaten down by losing that they’ve lost people in the building. I think that was part of what happened with Zimmer. It wasn’t that he couldn’t still win in the NFL. In fact, I bet he easily makes the playoffs with the 2022 team if he stuck around. But losing had taken such a toll on him and subsequently everyone around him that it had to change.

Patrick G…

Looking at the Kyler Murray situation, is it realistic he gets cut? normal cut he counts $2M more against the cap than being on the roster; even a post june1 designation, they only save $5M on the cap. I don’t like trading for that contract. Likewise, is it realistic that the raiders would outright CUT Geno even if they draft Mendoza, or would they potentially keep him as a bridge? IF trading for a QB, do you think potentially Mac Jones and pic #58 from the 49ers for Jordan Addison and pick #82 from the vikings be a reasonable trade?

Yes, it is. Nobody is going to trade for him and after benching a quarterback to tank there is no coming back from that. Firing the coach isn’t enough. You still have the same dope owner who is calling the shots and the same GM that would have sent the orders down to the HC to keep him sidelined last year. If I’m Murray, there’s no way that I play another down for a team that stole half a year from me.

The cap situation is irrelevant in this equation because they’re still rebuilding and they were gonna have to work around it anyway.

Is it realistic the Raiders could cut Geno? Of course. I can’t see them keeping him after picking Mendoza. You want a backup who’s going to be his support system.

Your trade for Jones makes a lot of sense. My question would be whether you can really trade Addison in a situation like this. He’s still a very, very good football player and he’s very affordable. It would be pretty risky to move on from him and leave it to Jalen Nailor (if he will re-sign).

That said, they need decent QB play and you can draft another WR. Hm.

Robert S… How does not having a GM affect the team’s ability to get/keep free agents or make a trade for an impact player? I would hate to see the Vikings wait until after the new GM is in place to address the veteran QB position. By then, their options could be even more limited.

It may be part of the idea of handing things over to Brzezinski that they don’t lose ground when it comes to that. It’s all about relationships with players and agents when it comes to that stuff and Rob has always been known as a guy with a great reputation with agents and KOC and Flores have their connections with players. I wouldn’t expect it to be much different.

If things do change, then it’s probably because they don’t have anywhere near the cap flexibility as last year. Some current FAs (there aren’t many) also might have some questions about what’s happening here.

Jason… What is Brzezinski’s job security as he takes on a larger role? I wouldn’t want the Vikings to lose him with what he is really great at because he takes on more for now.

If he becomes the general manager, then he is either the direct liaison to the Wilfs and the most powerful guy there or he’s part of the KOC regime and it’ll last for him as long as KOC is here. I’m truly not sure which way it’s viewed internally.

If he’s just the acting GM and is going to hand it over to a new GM, I have to imagine he remains with the franchise in a top position. The Wilfs have wanted him around this long, they’re not going to bump him into this spot and then get rid of him. He’d probably be the main point man on the GM hire.

Bradley P… Can you name a single point of analytics that the Vikings have done since hiring Kwesi? Maybe letting go the older vets. Other than that I can’t think of anything.

What does it say if the Vikings hire the GM from within? What does it say if they come from outside the organization?

Yeah, let’s not overdo it.

The entire philosophy of “competitive rebuild” was overall executed quite well. They won right away and built up credibility and then moved on from a ton of older/expensive pieces after a 13-win season, which is never done in the NFL, and then they rebuilt it through extremely strong free agent moves with the cap space and won 14 games with a $10 million QB. Letting people go is as important as signing new players.

If the GM comes from outside the organization, that means that person is evaluating all things KOC unless it’s a hire from someone in KOC’s circle. In that case, it would be with the intent of getting him on the same page with the GM and appear to be a sign that they are all in on him.

Jimmy B… I watch your podcast most nights, I subscribe and read your newsletter and read and reply to your Substack. I figured it up. That’s about 14-20 hours of content a week. How many hours a week do you work man? I’m reading your book also. Do you have another book in the works? Keep working this hard and you’ll get a Pat mcAfee type contract from FanDuel. A lot of us Vikings fans out here really do appreciate your time and effort.

The only part of this that I consider “work” is when I have to do business stuff. I’m not an accountant or a CEO or a producer and there’s a surprising amount of all of that stuff when it comes to this. But any time I’m writing or podcasting, that’s not work at all. I don’t think about it as “hours.” I’m just talkin’ and writin’ ball. That’s what I always wanted to do, so it’s great.

As far as a new book, I’ve bounced around a bunch of ideas but I haven’t settled on anything. Now with the amount that I live stream, I’m honestly not sure there’s time for another one.

Appreciate you getting Football is a Numbers Game. Much appreciated!

Arin J… Hi Matt, how much blame falls on KOCs shoulders 1) not understanding McCarthy preparedness, 2) for publicly calling out his QB? In trying to be transparent he dumbed down the o. How much the two above arguments hold water?

The only people who know everything are the ones who were inside those rooms but we all have common sense, right? This was KOC’s draft pick. He called him the “franchise quarterback.” He had the strongest voice having just won Coach of the Year and been dubbed the “quarterback whisperer.”

It was on him and everybody around him to see that it was going to be really hard for McCarthy to get there so quickly. But they believed they could coach him up and create an environment that would help him get through the bumps. I’m not sure they considered how likely it was that a QB who only threw 700 passes in college wouldn’t be anywhere near ready. And then they couldn’t have predicted the injury in Week 2.

Patrick G…

can you go into more detail about why you and many other are so high/confident on Malik Willis? yeah, he’s been solid for green bay, but the sample size is SO SMALL. he’s only attempted 89 passes in the last 2 years in game, and 618 passes in college. we’re concerned about the small sample size of JJ, Willis’ is smaller. I am having trouble seeing how anyone could bring him in and confidently make him the starter.

I’m not sure that I’ve said I’m “confident” in Malik Willis. I like the idea because he is very physically talented.

Yes, he hasn’t thrown a lot of passes in the NFL or college but he has been practicing every day behind the scenes in a tremendous environment and when he came into those games this year he was 100% prepared and ran the offense like a pro quarterback. That’s something that you can’t fake.

Also, did you see those 89 passes? Did you see the situations in which he played? In big games versus good opponents?

The sample size is not smaller than JJ because JJ has missed so much time that he’s probably practiced 1/10th as much as Willis.

Signing him would be about the upside. Because he has great arm strength and athleticism and has improved his touch and accuracy greatly since college and can run a similarly-rooted system in Green Bay already, there’s a chance it really works. Not only that, he’s a phenomenal runner. Not just OK. Could be elite.

Does that mean I’m confident it will work? I have no idea if it’ll work. But I’d prefer a chance to find out over bringing in a QB who I’m fairly sure will win 8-9 games.

TheDude… Given that KOC`s job is on the line, how badly do you think he will waste away much of next year`s draft capital? That is my big worry? Rob I am sure will not be much different than Kwesi (the coaches/scouts seem to have run the show on draft day). It seems too easy for KOC to move up with next year`s 3rd rounder in a very marginal deal.

Well, it does feel like if there’s as much pressure as we all think on KOC that he will push to use draft capital to fill needs right away. At the same time, I would assume that part of Rob’s job throughout the is process is to have some sense of the future as I’d expect that he will be part of this thing no matter what.

If there’s a reason to sell assets and spend every red cent of cap space, it’s that they built everything for this two-year window. Might as well go for it.

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