Friday Mailbag: The offseason truly begins

Fans have questions about QB options and power structures

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s officially the offseason. Let’s dive into your questions…

Adam B… The post-season JJ narrative has felt like a real pile on - he’s basically viewed as an irredeemable bust or at best a multi-year reclamation project. His character’s been assassinated based on a couple of minor incidents, his good games dismissed due to weak opposition (unlike Drake Maye) and ultimately the sample size is tiny! I also have my doubts but with other QBs having similarly woeful games under KOC’s scheme - Darnold (Jags/Ram), Dobbs (Bears), Cousins (Eagles), Mullins (Raiders), Hall/Brosmer (all) - surely there is a non-zero chance he makes a significant leap, beats out a vet in camp, and gets 10 wins as a starter? Or is that pure cope?

When people use the word “narrative,” it often seems to suggest that it’s a shallow or irrational viewpoint.

Is it “pure cope?” Well, I don’t think anything you said there was a compelling argument for why this is going to work.

McCarthy’s character has not been assassinated. It’s very reasonable to point to the moments of immaturity and wonder if he was really ready to handle this or if Kevin O’Connell feels like he can have the coach-QB relationship with him that we expected.

His “good” games have to be contextualized. Three defensive coordinators got fired. He didn’t finish two of the games. The Packers didn’t play their starters. It was a “dumbed down” offense. Also, remember Drew Lock’s handful of good games for Denver? Every QB has a couple games where you can squint and say it looked pretty good.

Drake Maye had an MVP performance over an entire season, there’s nothing similar about that.

Other QBs had woeful games but they also had a lot of really, really, really, really good games. Darnold threw for 377 and 3 touchdowns vs. the Packers in Week 16 last year. He threw for for 347 and 5 touchdowns vs. Atlanta. He threw for 330 and 2 TD vs. Chicago.

Kirk had tons of similar games to that under KOC. McCarthy started 10 games and had one that you’d say was a quality top-to-bottom showing (vs. Dallas).

Dobbs, Hall, Brosmer, Mullens have nothing to do with JJ McCarthy.

Let me try to help you…

McCarthy has had some bad breaks and was put into a situation that he wasn’t ready to handle. Now that he understands what has to be done and why things went wrong in 2025, he has a chance to take a few months in the offseason to really hone in on the mechanical stuff and the mentality that it takes to play winning QB in the NFL.

If he does that and the Vikings do not go all in on another QB, he will have an opportunity to turn things around. We have seen some other QBs make big progress in short amount of times and overcome a poor start, so there’s still a chance that it works out.

That’s really the best you can do right now. There’s really no defending the performance.

TheDude… Saw the podcast on the subject, but what are your thoughts about Carr as a potential QB? Would NO allow the Vikings to meet him/medical test him before a deal is made?

Because New Orleans was irrelevant it might be easy to forget that Carr was pretty good there. He went 14-13 with 40 touchdowns to just 13 interceptions with a 98.8 quarterback rating and graded as the 8th best PFF passer in 2024 and 19th in 2023. That’s pretty good.

Something to consider is that Chris Olave had 1,123 yards with Carr in 2023 and Davante Adams went for over 1,500 in 2022.

This guy is a good QB. He’s not on the same level as the top guys or the second-tier QBs like Sam Darnold, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Jared Goff or Jordan Love but he’s right behind that. If he was playing with Justin Jefferson, there’s certainly reason to believe he could get them into the playoffs.

Is there a ceiling there? Probably. But I’m not sure he’s ever played on a team built like this.

As far as his medicals, I assume the Saints would work with the Vikings if they were sorting out a trade. If not, the agent would probably provide some info there. I’m not 100% how those things work.

Jimmy B… Can KOC change his offensive philosophy
And or does he need too? I’m not a pro coach but it seems the Vikings might need to run the ball some more. Also how do the Vikings achieve that. What do you think Matt?

It depends on who the quarterback is.

He doesn’t need to run the ball much more if they have an explosive passing game like they did in 2024. If they do not, then the only option is to lean into the run and try to hit downfield stuff off that.

But if you look at the teams that were there at the end, they all threw the ball a lot and they were mostly the most explosive passing games in the NFL. KOC’s overarching philosophy is not wrong.

Could he have changed it earlier this year to adapt to the QB play? Sure. Though JJ missing five games in the middle of the year made it hard for him to know what McCarthy was comfortable with at that point. That doesn’t mean that he’s wrong in trying to push it downfield to Jefferson/Addison.

Brad L… There has been much consternation about letting Darnold get away (understandably). I wonder if the bigger whiff was letting Jones leave the building. Darnold’s price tag was going to make it tough to address other needs. With JJ not being a given does that improve our chances of signing/getting a Jones type QB (someone to honestly compete and possibly start)?

It was not a bigger whiff letting go of Jones than it was the Super Bowl champion QB who won 14 games and top-10 QB seasons in back-to-back years. There’s almost no bigger whiff in NFL history than that.

What I don’t understand about the Jones narrative is the idea that they could have gotten him to return. Jones is no dummy. He knew that he had a much, much better chance to start in Indy than Minnesota because if they were getting rid of Sam for Golden Boy then he wasn’t likely to get a fair shot.

Also, the idea that there was any better backup QB than Wentz is a little funny too. Maybe Joe Flacco plays better? But who else was out there that would have been the difference? Gardner Minshew? Once Darnold left, any fallback option went out the window.

Ben… If the Vikings decide to move on from McCarthy who is a better choice Rogers or Kyler Murray??

Murray by a country mile. Rodgers was OK for Pittsburgh last year but it was very clear that his athleticism is nowhere near what it used to be. If they were to make the playoffs and faced a good defense, he’d probably be cooked on the spot. Murray has two seasons in his career of being legitimately really good and plenty of stretches elsewhere. He is accurate between 10-20 yards throwing and played in much more of a KOC-like offense in 2024 than people realize.

If there is any available QB who can be “the next Sam Darnold” it’s him. They both were top draft picks, played for bad organizations and have a thing around them (i.e. seeing ghosts/playing video games).

That doesn’t mean it will be the same but it wasn’t that long ago where Murray went for 3,800 yards and 500+ rushing.

Brad L… You’ve convinced me of the potential upside of Kyler Murray. What is the risk/downside? What’s made AZ potentially willing to part with him?

Thank you. I’ve been working hard on the Kyler Murray angle.

The risk would be that he gets hurt or that he’s a bad locker room fit and things devolve because of that.

Arizona’s main reason for parting ways with him is his contract. He has a $52 million cap hit this year and hits of $43 and $46 million over the next two years. If they move on from him now, they can take their medicine for a year and then have very little dead cap space for 2027 and none in 2028.

You could ask: Why wouldn’t they just keep him for 2026 then? Well, because they just hired a new coach and need to start figuring out their future. Normally you’d negotiate an extension once the guaranteed money runs out (which it does in 2026) but it’s almost impossible to see them doing an extension making sense for either side. So you cut bait and then get started on your future. Maybe that’s signing Malik Willis or a bridge QB who helps you get a top draft pick in 2027. They are in full Bears/Lions tank mode so it doesn’t make a ton of sense to have a QB who can get you to eight wins.

Also he hasn’t been a great quarterback, consistently healthy or a face-of-the-franchise type like they were hoping for. Certainly not all his fault but the overall mediocre results and injuries make him movable.

Scott Lepsch… If the Vikings were a Succession-style drama, who are you rooting for next season - and who’s actually in control one year from now? This season ended like a classic boardroom coup: the coaches essentially staging a revolt against an unpopular GM. So what’s the next episode? A real alliance that finally delivers playoff success, or KOC vs. Flores in a power grab to become the true “CEO”? Do we get a new GM who comes in full Logan Roy, or do the Wilfs tell them all “you are not serious people” and clean house if this ends without a playoff win?

I’m going to tell you the truth: I’m aware enough of Succession to make the connection but not familiar with the show enough to actually understand specific references.

The next episode is pretty much this: KOC is looking at a make or break type of season. The team is hiring a new GM, the owners are growing impatient waiting for playoff success — which they haven’t had any since 2019 — the locker room is all looking at him as the guy that’s now largely in charge of the roster to get them back to the postseason while they are still in their primes.

I suppose if you were painting an HBO series type of scene, the closing scene of the 2025 season would have KOC standing alone in his office looking out the window down at the field as Darnold’s Super Bowl parade speech was playing in the background.

The biggest question that I have regarding the whole power structure is whether the Wilfs are going to hire a GM who is their No. 1 or if they’re going to keep doing this “everyone please be friends” thing. My preference would be that they hire a GM who answers to them and the coach answers to the GM.

Maybe you can’t put the genie back in the bottle after how powerful they’ve made KOC and Flores but I think the buck needs to stop with someone. If that person is going to be KOC, then that’s like Sean Payton in Denver and he’s the one that’s responsible for everything right or wrong with the team. Since we have four years of ups and downs and a lot of stuff on both sides of the ledger, I’d rather have a fresh pair of eyes evaluating everyone and reporting back to the Wilfs on what they should do.

I didn’t like Brandon Beane’s handling of the Sean McDermott stuff because it was embarrassing for him but I did think the fact that the GM was the guy who wielded the most power and made the call on McDermott made sense to me.

Bill F.. Matthew- great pod and I appreciate the well reasoned ideas you share. Something I wonder about: does Jefferson on the field contribute to KOC calling long shots even when the o-line is leaking? Like the Rams playoff game last year? Early this year?

Really appreciate it, Bill!

Think about it this way: When Justin Jefferson was targeted on throws over 20 yards in 2024, his PFF grade was 99.9. He caught 14 of 23 passes, went 100% on contested catches and averaged 36.7 yards per catch.

When the ball traveled between 10-20 yards toward Jefferson in 2024, He had a 99.1 PFF grade on 58% completion percentage and averaged 18.4 yards per catch.

Now keep in mind that the stat that correlated most to success this year offensively was explosive passing plays.

What would you do? Throw screens to him?

Here’s some more stats for those who think KOC has it wrong in terms of trying to push the ball downfield: When JJ McCarthy threw between 0-10 yards (quick game), he had a 52.8 PFF grade and 79.7 QB rating. When he threw 10-20, his grade was a 75.7 and he had a 94.4 QB rating.

McCarthy’s PFF grade when throwing under 2.5 seconds was 41st of 45. More quick game!

He was at his best in the area that KOC’s offense likes to attack the most.

I don’t disagree that they got outcoached against the Rams in the playoffs. They absolutely did. We can also give the Rams some credit for taking away the run and quick game because they are absolute beasts up front who were extremely well rested from the previous week.

I don’t disagree that McCarthy didn’t have a great opportunity in Week 2 vs. Atlanta because of the amount of quick pressures.

But quarterbacks are responsible for a very high percentage of pressure and sacks. PFF pinned McCarthy with 18% of his own pressures this year but that doesn’t even totally factor in that his average time to throw was over 3 seconds and his average time to sack was 3.8 seconds (14th slowest of 45 QBs).

I do think KOC’s top goal this offseason needs to be reducing sacks/pressures within his offense. Even more than emphasizing the run. Sacks are killers. But throwing deep to Jefferson has been an insanely successful model between years 2020 and 2024.

Matt D…I know it’s still early, but what are the alleged strengths of this draft class? I was annoyed last year when they ignored the talent heavy positions like RB and DT, especially since those were also pretty big needs.

From a lot of the analysis I keep hearing, it seems like wide receiver is at the top of the list and then there’s a big drop. Seems to be a lot of fairly high ranking offensive tackles. I also see a lot of cornerbacks in the early big boards.

Defensive tackle is a little suspect. Even the top guys have just meh grades. There doesn’t seem to be a deep group of beasts there.

Running back has a few fellas that have second or third-round type potential.

We really won’t have a decent feel for it until after the Combine when Daniel Jeremiah tells us all who to like. (Meant as a compliment because I trust him).

Jason… Is this upcoming season make or break for the KOC era? It seems like not hiring a gm is pushing them that direction. If it is what do make or break need to look like?

As a generally rational human, I tend to think that making a coach’s job into the Succession style storyline that we were talking about of “make or break”

Lorne Swartz

You mentioned on one of your podcasts that Seattle had 12 starters who were drafted by the organization. I know a lot of that comes down to luck but that number is remarkable. We should have recognized how abysmal Minnesota’s drafting has been over the past decade. If Minnesota wants to take the next step, I’d be looking to poach the people from Seattle who were responsible for that drafting success.

I’m not sure I was the one who said that but Seattle is such a great example of how the draft is very streaky and how the amount of draft capital often dictates success just as much as the brilliance of the people calling the shots.

Here’s Seattle’s first and second round picks from 2016 to 2021.

German Ifedi, Jarran Reed, Malik McDowell, Ethan Pocic, Rashaad Penny, LJ Collier, Marquise Blair, DK Metcalf, Jordyn Brooks, Darrell Taylor, D’Wayne Eskridge.

I don’t think it’s that much of a coincidence that they improved when they had 13 top-100 picks since 2022 and had their No. 5 overall pick and No. 9 overall pick turn into stars. They also had a Spielman 2015-level draft in 2022 that was absolutely insane.

There is no doubt about how important drafting was to their success. Does that mean they have special drafting powers? I’m not so sure.

Overall, they had an amazing roster build. They made a ton of savvy moves from outside too. Sam Darnold was the perfect fit for Klint Kubiak. DeMarcus Lawrence, Ernest Jones, Cooper Kupp, Rashid Shaheed, Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu, Josh Jobe…

That seems like a lot of folks who weren’t drafted by Seattle, right?

Patrick G… given the results of the super bowl, and how much buy in it felt there was in the locker room last year with Sam, and how it seemed like all his old teammates were rooting for him this year, how does KOC not lose the locker room and still buy into him given the decision that he had to have an integral role in to let Sam walk? Given this situation, and how JJ performed last season, can he ever get the rest of this locker room to buy in to him and let them lead him? Feels like an impossible situation for him in MN.

One thing has been pretty clear about KOC during his time here is that he’s going to be able to keep the train on the tracks when it comes to the locker room but I do think there is validity to what you’re saying.

Think about how 2015 Seattle players talked about the team calling a pass play at the goal line rather than giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch. It was a catastrophic event that impacted the franchise for years to come until all of those players were gone. This might not be that different.

This locker room is led by a bunch of professionals who are going to do their jobs. I’m sure it will linger in their minds though.

There is only one way to make it go away: Winning.

Kip Nazda…If you could change 1 or 2 things that the Vikings did different from over the last 2-3 years, what would it be ? Besides better drafting, what else.

I assume you also mean beside letting the Super Bowl-winning quarterback walk?

It would probably be throwing total caution to the wind in free agency. Overall a lot of their all-in type moves still worked to some extent last year. If they had good QB play we wouldn’t have cared how much they paid for Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen. Those two were contributing QB pressures at 3x the rate of their predecessors and if your QB is cheap it doesn’t matter if you overpaid a bit for it.

But there were some moves that clearly were sub-optimal plays from the start. If you think about Javonte Williams having a very good year for Dallas at $3 million or Kevin Zeitler on a one-year, $9 million contract with the Titans or Poona Ford crushing it with the Rams for $10 million per year or Sheldon Rankins dominating for one-year, $7 million… there were a lot of Eric Wilson or Isaiah Rodgers-type contracts that were out there to be done that could have allowed them to get some more depth rather than pouring it all into a few very expensive guys.

The draft approach not even resembling anything that analytics would advise outside of taking Jordan Addison in 2023 is probably a specific criticism.

Brent K… I felt so optimistic about the Vikings in 2024 and even 2025, but watching the Vikings drop back into the QB wasteland while Sam wins a Super Bowl has me depressed. We had a SB capable QB and let him go for nothing!

I also don’t like handing control of the team to KOC who got us into this mess in the first place. I want the Vikings to hire a strong GM who has control of the roster and the coaches. Someone who has a vision for building the team, a good scouting background and the ability to tell the coaches no sometimes (e.g. Hargrave, Allen, Kelly). Someone who can set up the team to lose meaningless games for the long term benefit (e.g. playing Dobbs for the 2023 season or not even bringing Kirk back when there were several juicy QB prospects in the next draft).

What are the chances the Wilfs hire a GM in this model, someone with complete control over roster and coaches? What would you look for in a GM if you owned the Vikings?

All very rational thoughts, Brent.

Someone brought up the idea of having a President of Football Operations who is at the top of the food chain and that person (say it’s Rob Brzezinski) reports directly to the Wilfs and is the guy that everyone reports to, including the next GM. I like that idea. It seems that someone has to be boots on the ground that is informing ownership of what’s going on inside the building on a daily basis and advising them on what to do with the HC and GM positions.

I don’t think that the Wilfs have to advocate tanking in order to eventually build a Super Bowl contender. Seattle only had one losing season from 2012 to 2025.

You do have to take your medicine sometimes like when they traded Russell Wilson but it’s not impossible with a methodical approach.

Roger N… Pie chart: where will the Vikings find an “explosive” back to pair with Mason? On the roster, draft, trade, free agency?

I’d go 0% on the roster because Ty Chandler is a free agent and Zavier Scott is an interesting scat back type but isn’t a 4.3 guy. It’s supposed to be a down draft for RBs but there might be someone there in the 3rd round, so I’d go with 50% and 40% in free agency and 10% in a trade. I’m not sure if anyone is trading good RBs these days but maybe there’s a fairly young backup somewhere that they might spot like they did with Jordan Mason.

In free agency, Breece Hall is the big ticket but I think Travis Etienne might be the best fit.

Bradley P… While we can all agree that the Vikings made a mistake in letting Sam out the door but what’s your assessment of how the league felt about him? He was given a mid starter contract (less than Cousins coming off a surgery that could’ve ended his career) and only one reported team interested. I’m wondering if the league also wasn’t fully sold on him.

The league thought his 2024 was pumped up by KOC and Justin Jefferson and that the last two games were proof of who he was. There’s a lot of teams getting let off the hook who should have been making offers as well (though Seattle was clearly the best franchise that needed a QB last offseason).

I also think that a lot of GMs preferred to draft a QB and work with the rookie contract than invest in a guy that they didn’t think could win them a Super Bowl. And in most cases, they were right. Is Sam winning the SB with the Raiders? The Giants? The Titans? Goodness gracious no.

GM…. What is the situation with Jalen Redmond? If I understand it right, we have exclusive rights to him for next year and could sign him to an inexpensive one-year deal with no competition. However, that all changes after next season and if he has another good year, he will become an unrestricted free agent. If my facts are right, do you see us signing him to a multi-year extension this offseason? I haven’t heard much mentioned about him but see him as a potential fixture for us on the IDL if we keep him around long enough.

Yep they could sign him to the ERFA tender and keep him for one year but it makes complete sense to me to sign him to something like a 3-year, $36 million deal and see if you can get out ahead of how good the guy really is. They did that with Josh Metellus’s first extension. They signed him before his first season as a starter and then he ended up playing 1,000+ plays.

I don’t think there’s anything fake about Redmond’s production. He’s smart, powerful, quick and instinctual. What a find.

Robert S… We have seen how some people refuse to let go of initial impressions of Sam Darnold despite his great success the last two seasons. Kyler Murray’s leadership qualities have been criticized since early in his career (i.e. Patrick Peterson). Has he been improving in those areas (body language, cheering up teammates when things aren’t going well, etc.) but can’t shake his reputation?

Yeah, I see the similarity. It’s clear that there’s a personality issue with Murray but nobody has ever really said exactly what the problem is. When I was watching back some of their 2024 season, I couldn’t really pin anything down that was definitive with body language.

Thing is, the Vikings do not need a leader, they need a thrower. They have leaders. Justin Jefferson, Brian O’Neill, Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel. Just come in, make plays, throw the ball to No. 18 and get back to the playoffs.

He was the 7th highest graded QB by PFF in 2021 and 12th in 2024. If he’s somewhere in there, this team wins 11 or 12 next year.

Joel… Does Brosmer have a future here?

I think so.

Andrew K… Though we all feel better finding someone to burn at the stake, how about this theory: The only difference between the 2024 & 2025 regular season records is injuries. If JJ had practiced and played consistently behind an O line with only a “typical” or better than average injury rate, I’m thinking that - although we probably wouldn’t have went deep in the playoffs - we would have won 11-12 games and although JJ wouldn’t have looked like the next Mahomes or Burrows, he would have looked like a fairly promising rookie over this season.

So - since you need more than one pie chart question: Where would you allocate blame/cause for the difference between 14 and 9 wins: A. Injuries that are part of the game and random. B. Injuries that the leaders could have reasonably foreseen (injury history, age, etc.). C. Other factors.

Nobody is burning JJ McCarthy at the stake. It’s actually really weird to me that people act like the criticism of his performance has been some sort of wild overreaction or unnecessary outrage. You have eyeballs, right?

When McCarthy had a clean pocket, he graded 35th out of 45 QBs by PFF and was 44th out of 45. The Vikings would not have won 12 games if he had a better O-line.

Again, you saw the season, right? I’m sure the O-line impacted him sometimes but their two best OL performances of the year were Baltimore and Chicago.

We can pretty clearly see the difference between 9 and 14 wins when we use Expected Points Added.

2024 Passing EPA: +136.9

2025 Passing EPA: -40.3

2024 Rushing EPA: -25.9

2025 Rushing EPA: +19.9

2024 Defense EPA: +38.7

2025 Defense EPA: +39.5

I don’t think there is any mystery about what happened.

Injuries definitely played a role in 2025’s shortcomings. At the same time, in 2024 they also were without their left tackle and were starting Blake Brandel for the entire year.

JeffInSeattle… I keep hearing about the seahawks have 12 starters who were drafted by the club. Is that really so many? The Vikings have 9 and are criticized mercilessly for bad drafting. Including the kicker, that makes 10. Seems like how many draft choices on your top 22 might be a bit overrated?

It’s not overrated that Seattle built a monster team with a major part of it coming through the draft.

I’m also not sure that Harrison Smith being picked in 2013 is a relevant drafted player to the conversation about roster construction.

The problem with saying “SEE SEATTLE DRAFT GOOD!!!!!” is that they outdrafted everyone since 2022 and it was hardly the only way that they built the team.

Everyone knows that if you’re going to build a really good team over a long period of time that you have to hit on draft picks. They have done that with a handful of players but not enough for sustained success.

That’s partly why they took the approach of going to JJ McCarthy — because they felt that the roster didn’t quite have enough juice to be a Super Bowl contender and they would have to give it the best boost with free agents and create a small window to win.

It takes patience and a commitment to stacking capital, which usually includes at least one setback season and likely letting free agents go in order to stockpile comp picks in order to win at the draft. Oh, and a lot of luck.

Andrew B…A lot of talk about Kwesi recently but what about Grigson? I seem to remember his time in Indy did not go well and having someone like Kwesi, who did not have the football background, bring him in as a assistant to fill that gap didn’t seem like a great move. Any insight to what the team is thinking about Grigson or into his role under Kwesi when looking at poor draft classes? Great work Matthew, love everything you do.

I don’t really have an answer for you on Grigson on any of those things. I know the whole Indy story but he was also a guy who grinded his way up from being a personnel guy in the arena league to an NFL GM. He actually spent some time in Seattle too.

In terms of how his role worked exactly under Kwesi and who made what decisions etc., I’d be totally guessing on that.

Brad… Hey Matt, hope you’re enjoying a little downtime before free agency and the draft.. A few days ago you mentioned Sam’s character. Everyone loves him, he never places blame, etc…. Does Jj McCarthy have those traits also? and would those traits even help him now. I’m having trouble remembering a time he ever placed blame for all of his mis-cues on anyone else, and all of the team seems to love him as a person.

As an extra, I think it’d be great if on your next mock draft episode you could play around with the “stick to the model, be a GM” website!

Why would I need down time from football?

Darnold and McCarthy are in such different places in their careers that it’s tough to compare their personalities. Darnold was a grown man when he arrived here, whereas McCarthy is still a kid. I have not found McCarthy to be the type that blames teammates publicly and I haven’t gotten the sense that the locker room disliked him. They understood that he was not going to act like an old pro when he’s still learning the ropes.

I do have plans for a pod episode with the “stick to the model” website.

Stanley H… Hi Matt, thank you for taking questions. I see other offenses pull guards or tackles for passes in the flat and outside running plays. It appears the Viking offense doesn’t do that. So please opine as to the offensive strategy or the ability of the linemen as to why we don’t see it with the “Minnesota moving company”.

The Vikings definitely used outside run plays where the linemen are getting on the move. In terms of passes, I don’t think they are a huge fan of the tunnel screen type play and their screen game has been pretty sparce outside of the early part of 2024.

I think if Darrisaw and Jackson are both healthy then that’s something you’ll see more than in 2025.

Florian K…Sorry I never get a chance to see or hear a podcast. Diet Pepper fan here. Now then, concerning draft strategy, Speilman loved acquiring 6th and 7th rounders. KAM wasn’t shy about that either but seemed more focused on UDFAs. Both were trying to get as many swings as possible, but in those later rounds. A few weeks ago you wrote something about how surprisingly few picks the Vikings have had in the top one hundred and how the success rate drops significantly after. Do you think Brez, KOC and B-Flo are going to do anything different? I assume they have the metrics for that as well as you.

I really have no idea how they’re going to approach the draft. I would be surprised if Brzezinski went them go buck wild and trade away all the picks for one top player but I don’t see any point to stockpiling picks for the future by trading down when you need guys to help the squad right now and there’s pressure on everyone for 2026.

That’s why I’ve said before that committing to a coach whose shortcomings are known is better than just putting everyone under the gun all the time. You want more long-term thinking by the folks calling the shots.

Eldon…With the reports that came out after Kwesi was fired that the Vikings coaching staff had basically been making the draft picks since the 2022 draft is there some concern that the drafting problems might continue?

Coaches are always involved in the drafting, no matter who it is. I’m not sure that anyone directly reported that the coaches were doing the drafting but we could pretty clearly see a “right now” approach with getting somebody like Donovan Jackson rather than making a trade down with Atlanta.

The “drafting problem” was mostly that they didn’t have any picks so if they get picks then there’s a good chance that they do better.

I wrote an entire massive piece on the drafting issue that you can read.

Walt K…Hey, Matt. Thanks for all your hard work on all things Vikings. It’s much appreciated. Two questions. I kind of like what Atlanta did in building their hierarchy, with Matt Ryan as President of Football Ops, Stefanski as coach, and then bringing in a GM who appears as someone who’ll work alongside the coach while Ryan heads up everything. Would that structure be something that the Wilfs would consider? They could give Brez the President title and then hire a GM who’d work alongside KOC. #2, you’ve mentioned how JJ’s data/metrics for the year were bad, to say the least, but how did they look over his last 4 games? I know it’s a small sample size, but were they improved enough to have hope going forward? Thanks!

Thanks Walt.

I do not think the last four games is a sample size that I would use to grab onto when three of the DCs got fired and one team sat their starters. He played very well against Dallas, no doubt.

As far as the hierarchy, I really like your idea. It makes the most sense to me to have somebody who is the clear No. 1 and there’s no fighting about who has what power or decision making. Everything falls on that person. Not that they would be making all the calls alone but they have final say. I prefer that to “culture of collaboration” which seemed to be more squabbling.

Speedi… Do sportswriters just project their feelings when they write about what’s going inside the Vikings organization. Like the Vikings soured on Darnold because of the last 2 games. Really? We all soured a bit but if getting beat up by a d-line signals someone was no good then Drake Maye should be on the trading block today. Also, I saw where KOC and KAM were infighting. Then I read from someone I think knows that KOC and KAM consider themselves friends. I know you don’t engage in this but seems like a lot of bloggers and writers just make it up as they go, projecting what they feel or suspect happened.

Really depends on who you’re talking about. There are so many people talking about the team at once that it comes down to the individual.

Some folks are more traditional beat reporters who report and contextualize the news. Some are hybrids like myself where I’m going to every press conference and locker room but try to put my own analysis spin on things and form opinions while doing it in an objective, black-and-white, information-driven type of way.

Some are fans who do a good job but are clouded in their analysis, sometimes in a rosy way, sometimes in being far too emotional. Some are more focused on entertaining topics and being fun/interesting than getting to the bottom of the truth.

Some are loudmouth crap-starters who don’t know a football from an Easter egg and are just hoping for any little shred of attention they can can muster, regardless of whether the takes make sense.

Real NFL reporters are not “projecting what they think happened.” If you’re reading Kevin Seifert, Alec Lewis, Dane Mizutani, the Star Tribune, Associated Press or myself, then it’s the most factual version you’re going to find from the folks that follow around this club every single day from start to finish.

I know those folks and the quality of work they do. I can’t speak on anyone else.

Some of us didn’t sour on Darnold based on two games, by the way.

This was me from Jan. 31, 2025:

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