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Really excited to add those guys. You know, they bring a lot of talent to our rooms, versatility, a lot of production, and again we always talk about fit in our culture and what we're trying to build, and those guys all do.
Welcome into the third and final NFL Draft edition of the Minnesota Vikings Podcast. I'm Tatum Everett. We got Pete Bursage in studio this time around.
Thanks you for nice to be nice to be here.
And then Jay is here. Hello. Jay.
We've been camping out watching the whole day unfold, little wheeling and dealing from the GM himself, moving some trades up and down, and so you know, we started this draft out five picks and with six guys.
That's a pretty tape a way of going.
You we needed bodies, and yeah, it's we're used to that. I'm getting used to picking at the end of rounds, right, Yeah, you know what I mean. Clothing, But yeah, you gain, you gain a couple and you trade them back. So but that at the end of the day, you know, you hope to get you know, one or two starters out of this group maybe, So there's that potential and it's just going to be interesting now to see how everybody fits well.
There's an even selection across the board which I find pretty interesting. Starting out the day obviously with the wide receiver Jordan Madison, then you go corner with Makai Blackman, and then today on the third and final day, it was a fourth rounder safety Jay Ward out of LSU, and then they drafted his teammate Chequelon Roy in the fifth round, another fifth round selection with quarterback Chaaron Hall, and at the end of the day with the running back Dwayne McBride out of U A B in the
seventh round. Was there a favorite of yours out of today's picks at all?
I haven't. I haven't had a chance to see Hall or McBride on film on film yet, but getting a chance to sit down and watch what Jay Ward can do. He's kind of a he's kind of an old school defensive back. I think if he if the draft, if it would have been fifteen years ago, ten years ago, I think he would have gone a lot higher. He plays very very well in the paint. He hits people, he hustles, he's a leader, you know, I just you understand, he's just not he doesn't move and bend and all
those things well enough. I think to play in the slot for sure, because he did play corner, he did play nickel, and he did play safety at LSU. As a position player, He's most likely going to fit in at safety at some point. Or he could beef him up and even have him be a you know, be a small linebacker. I mean, he's that he's that good with with taking on blocks, getting around blocks, hitting people, reading the run, those kinds of things. Very exciting.
But he he should be.
He's gonna. I expect him to be an absolute special teams demon.
So yeah, I mean, you got to have those guys. Yeah, for sure, you gotta have those guys.
Oh way, yeah, man, that was the thing. He just did the film room. I did all the film room stuff, and you have all the plays together and it's just hit after hit after hit after hits. So it's it's fun to watch. It's fun to watch Ward play.
Daniels is smiling from the third floor.
Yeah, that's the thing, Like, you know, Pete was saying, like, looking at the film with that guy, I mean, he doesn't have a problem sticking his nose in there. He likes to hit people, and so it will be nice to have somebody like that, especially if you're talking you know, like even on the evaluations, they're saying special teams.
For that guy.
That's the kind of person you want, is somebody willing to boogie down the field and just you know, throw.
It, throw their weight around, and I don't care about his forty time. He's gonna run as hard as he can all the time. And that's I guess that's the part of it that that gets lost sometimes is well, this guy's are fourth, you know, four to four, this guy's a four to five. It's like, well, the four to four guy runs at eighty percent, and so the four or five guys gonna outrun him on film all day long because he you know, he just said so the only that's the only question mark, and it's that's
how the draft is. Right. You have a guy like Ward who you love everything you see about him on film, right, and you just wished him to be a little bit more you know, nimble and quicker and those kinds of things. But he'll hit you, he'll run, he's smart, he gets on his teammates, he's intense, the whole thing. But you know, he unfortunately had to wait a while to get picked.
He did.
I mean, Brian Flores was definitely in the ear of Quacy and the front office staff trying to figure out what prospects would fit well with what he wants to do.
I think when you look at the two defensive backs, I mean the corner and they're calling Jay Ward a defensive back, one thing that sticks out to me is that they can play anywhere, and then he's probably going to move them around and figure out where he's going to best be able to plug them in, depending on their skill set, depending on what they already have on the roster.
I do think that and the selection of Jaquelin Roy really I think tips a cap to what we're going to do defensively. Okay, I really do, because he's not when you watch him on film. Where he does where he excels and when he plays well is when he's a zero right over the center. He does that technique and plays that position very very well. Big guy, strong. You know, he has to work on the footwork, and
pad level and all those kinds of things. But he hustles, you know, for a big guy, he really runs the football. But if we if you take a look at what Miami did, because you know, because you look at if you look at Flores, he was never a defensive coordinator, right, He was a signal caller with the Patriots, and then goes the head coach brings in another guy from the
Patriots to be his defensive coordinator. I forget his name off the top of my head, so you assume that's his defense and but you don't know because he's he's never really he's never been the guy. But with you know Jacquelin Roy in what he does, well, you know, if they put if they bring him in and let him play like the bear front. When I say bear, I don't mean three four like we were playing. It's a five man front. But you have both guards in the center covered and you just let Roy sit over
that center and beat that guy up. You know, he plays counters real well. You know when he gets in that square stance and he's kind of reading and then playing the run, he does he does a really really nice job. So if that's the position that they need to fill or they need somebody four that zero knows this kid's this kid's gonna contribute and be a good player if you want him to be, you know, a wide nose tackle playing in a four to three, then
I you know, I think he'll be okay. But I really do think he's got a chance if we play a lot of zero nos.
Well, he was the player. That's the fight.
He's treated up to get the only one they traded up to get everyone else they were trading back and trying to make value out of those picks.
Yeah, that was after they had made that move to move to the back end of the forth and then all of a sudden they slid back up. I think it was another what fifteen slots they want to pick one forty one in order to get him. That just kind of shows you, you know, one of the things that have been talked about pre draft was the need to try to get, you know, bolster that defensive line at some point, and even just looking at some of the highlights of that guy, you know, there's one thing
that's very evident. He's very strong up top and likes to shed blocks and just feels like there were certain things that he was doing kind of throwing his weight around again as well. Again you're seeing only just the big highlights. There's a deeper film dive that you know, guys like Pete were doing.
Had a really good game against Tennessee. Yeah, I know that. And again it's like it's almost situational with him and how you know, how you see him play and when he's in a B gap and then they run a zone outside and you know then he might get the muddle at the guard cross his face, but he'll work to you know, get back and in the NFL, good luck with that. But I'm telling you, when you have him in the interior and you're and you're trying to run a cutback type zone and those kinds of things,
he's phenomenal. And that's really good. He has a really strong, real strong arm, you know, strong hands can control people and push and when he's fresh and he's moving his feet and that's I think the big thing. He's shown
a great swim move. Even the pressures he's gotten on the quarterback have been you know, have been just a swim move off you know, off the h snap you know, kind of like a like a Kenny Clark not quite as not quite as mobile as Kenny Clark, but just a nice move and and so the kid has some tools just a matter of he's a scheme fit guy, which is what you would you would see in the fifth round. That's why I'm assuming or fourth round. I
can't remember what I fifth round. That's why I'm assuming that we're gonna be seeing some zero no's this year.
And that for me was one of the things going into this draft I was concerned about with losing Tomlinson. I've been talking about for the last how many weeks, just saying you need to try to address it that way. And I think it's kind of a nice nice to see the skill set that they brought in with this guy.
And it's too bad we lost Tomlinson because he was with the Giants. He was a That's what he did a lot of He was best at when they would reduce things down and he would play as a zero right over the center. That's where he had most of his productivity. I think he adjusted to the three to four pretty well. But now you know, now he's gone, but he was a he was a very valuable value. I think he was a very valuable piece to that defensive line. He was a big loss.
Yeah, that's going to be an interesting position battle to watch while we start hitting OTA's and mini camp and trading camp to watch that unfold for sure. Uh, that's the defensive side of things that obviously we said earlier in the podcast that we ended things with a couple of offensive picks. I know there was a lot of murmurs from all around, a lot of rumors, what are we going to do with the quarterback position? When are we going to pick one? Are we going to pick one?
It happened in the fifth round BYU quarterback Jaren Hall. This is someone who they met with at the combine and it was his first interview of the combine was with the Vikings, and if you listen to his press conference, he had nothing but fantastic things to say about the organization.
They stayed in touch.
They were impressed with his maturity and obviously he knows that he's kind of a bit of a work in progress because he only really had those two seasons where he was a starter. And he's has a baseball background as well, So he's a young guy who, you know, I'm not sure if he has enough bad.
Habits that they need to fix, but they definitely need to like mold him into what they want.
And who better to do it than Kevin O'Connell, all right, exactly.
And that's we've said it before, I believe, and we talked about do you bring him in here as a head coach to get that position right? And last year when when O'Connell first showed up, he said, the most important attribute for a quarterback for him is accuracy. So this kid completed I think over sixty five percent of his passes in college. I mean it was last year he was the number was was up there. It was good,
So that would check that box. I'm looking forward to watching him on film and seeing, you know, what he did and and and what his strengths and stuff are because it's but it's a lot of learning. It's a step lee. I don't care if he started, you know, four years at a at a SEC school. There's still a ton ton to learn at this next level. And he doesn't have to worry about getting on the field next year, you know, minus injury or whatever. But he's got some time to learn.
And during yeah, during his media availability too, he kind of addressed that a little bit too, saying that, you know, they said you're more of a running guy at times, and he's he said, yeah, you know, that's just something that he's comfortable with. At the same point, he knows in the NFL he's going to have to kind of address that as much as he can to be a real pocket passer.
With the NFL. When it comes to the NFL, it's why do you run? That's I think the key thing. And with the best quarterbacks in the league, they scramble to throw the ball. They scrambled, extend the play, throw the ball deep, throw it to the tight end underneath. You know, that's what they do. It's not it's not just like just pull the thing down like Jalen Hurts.
Jalen Hurts did a really nice job as the season went on to go from a you know, they were running straight up type options and things where he was a primary run player and he started getting hit. You you know, you end up you're gonna get hurt. Yes, the quarterbacks just can't take all those hits. So if you're going to be mobile, you've got to be able to burn a team deep. You got to beat him deep.
You got to hurt him if you let them. And then what happens is the D line starts to You don't rush Aaron Rodgers, at least back in the day. But you don't rush Aaron Rodgers the same way you do Kirk Cousins. When you rush Aaron Rodgers, guys are more balanced, they're even. It makes your offensive line better, right, And we're saying, oh, you know, the Packers' offensive line is so great. It's like, yeah, well, when you go into that game, the D linemen aren't just drawing stunts
up all day long like what our guys see. Because they know Kirk will be in the pocket. They don't have to worry about containing I don't have to worry about him drifting out as much. And so that athleticism can be a boon if you use it the right way.
And that's what ESPN, you know, the pre draft breakdown says about him. It just says he flashes good anticipation and ability to deliver the ball before the receiver breaks. Also extends plays, making off platform throws, and is a threat to scramble for first downs, but nothing else is available downfield. So that's exactly kind of the kind of stuff you're looking for.
That's exactly right.
That's what he was really excited to be able to work with Kirk and even mentioned Nick Mullins by name as two guys that he just wants to learn from and get in there and get better.
And just the sheer attitude and the way that he spoke. It's funny.
You know, I feel like quarterbacks have a certain swagger about them, and he definitely you know, if I heard him speak, I probably be like, Yeah, that dude's definitely a quarterback.
That swagger that you refer to is what gets contagious in the huddle and when when games get tight and things, you know, big big spots and games, that's when that has to kind of take over and call everybody down around. And you heard the the Joe Montana bit where he's in the super Bowl, when he mentioned about John Candy being in the in the stands stuff like that, I mean, where does that come from? Yeah, it's just one of those things that you have or you don't. It's just
the least amount of panic. I mean, you want a guy who's calm and collected and they're you know, throwing that ball when it comes down to it the most, and I think it was helpful last year when you had those have to have it moments. You know, you saw him being able to step up last year and then really execute.
So for me, it's it's nice to have those kind of guys. Yes, you want some swagger, you want the guys to believe, but it's one of those things like you just start throwing touchdowns, hitting first downs and getting them, getting them the ball and getting them stats. They're gonna love them all day long, doesn't matter how he gets it there.
So I feel more comfortable with the backup that O'Connell picks and chooses. Then, you know, the more comfortable with this kid than I have with anybody we brought in for or drafted for quite some time.
Sure you have to, I mean you have to think that way because of just exactly who Kevin O'Connell is and the ability to watch him take someone from the very beginning the draft, when he first gets his hands in and see how he can develop. See the button in the oven, right Like, it's nice to have that cooking there for a while.
And see what can come of it.
It kind of reminds me not of the packers, but they've been doing that for so long, right, like they've mean granted it really worked out for long.
States, but they got it write twice in a row. Yeah, I mean, think about that. They've had the best, arguably the best quarterback in the league since what ninety.
Three, thirty years, yes, thirty years.
So that's we'll see how Jordan Now, if Jordan Love comes out and just lights it up and.
Then you're like, okay, they're on, well yeah, then.
You're going, okay, Well, that's that's what took. That was a forty year lesson. Yeah, exactly.
And that was the thing, you know, that's the thing prior prior to fire of getting traded from Atlanta, you know, they were struggling with Makowski and some of these other guys. But at the same point, they got it right twice in a row. And going into the season, that'll be the big giant question mark is can they you know, hit the.
Three p And you know, nothing against Kellen Mond, but it clearly wasn't going to be a fit for what Kevin wanted to teach and develop, and that's why you know they went the other way. They found Nick Mullens, they brought him in and they are now getting to put their stamp on their own guy who they're taking in the draft the end of the day.
Picking up a running back.
It's Dwayne McBride out of UAB who, accordingly in zerline, was a projected fourth round pick, so.
He dropped a little bit down.
But it was going to be like, it's a pretty it was a pretty talented running back group for the most part in this draft.
This guy led the FBS in yards per carry.
And then I had a friend of mine send me this stat from PFF that he led the FBS with twenty three rushes of twenty plus yards or more.
In twenty twenty two. So he sounds quite an explosive guy.
Yeah, and I think big question for him is how well does he run routes and how does he you know, how well does he catch? I think this is an offense where our running backs need to have that type of that type versatility. You know, Dalvin Cook is obviously the eighty percent guy. Seventy percent guy Madison is back, so you have you know, you have, Yeah, you need to fill it to make this team. As a running back, you have to fill in a niche, right, you have to fill in a specific uh style, and I think
we just don't. That's the only thing that we're really missing. I think of the past running back. Yeah, just just the almost slash wide receiver guy that can that can run like Antler. Yeah.
Ah, it's funny you say that though, because on his draft profile it does mention he barely made any pass catching place in his three seasons. They were it just wasn't there in his game, and so it was probably more of the scheme more than his abilities. And even Quacey brought it up with me in mar one on one just a minute ago that he said, you know, I think that he's a better pass catching back than people are giving him credit for because it wasn't in what he was doing.
They probably are going to test it.
Yeah. And by the way, we need a punt returner.
Yeah, but doesn't know who was it?
Jalen Rager?
No, there was a draft pick, wasn't It was it crud Who wasn't There was a someone in the draft that we drafted had punt returns.
It wasn't McKay Blackman.
Have no idea.
I can't remember.
I'm just saying we need that's a spot where if you can come out of Okay, well I'm saying, if you can come out of training camp and bet the punt returner, you made this team. I don't you know, I don't care if you're Dwayne McBride or whoever. Right, yeah, you're you're on this team. And then kickoff return. Yeah, we got that pretty much figured out. Another running back by the way, So punt returner is another is an easy way on this team.
Well, the one thing one of the things that was listed here for McBride as far as an attribute that he's known for, is yards after the contact. And you know you're always looking for that with a running back who's dragging another two three four yards every single carry, you know that's exactly what you're looking for. So I'm all in space.
Yeah, right, hard to tackle.
There you go, there you go. Yeah, you know it's funny you mentioned the pund drinks.
I'm pretty sure the free agent Brandon Powell is going to be putting up a fight for that as well. The pickup who came from the Rams, someone that Kevin O'Connell is got his eyes on, who's already seen him before.
Yeah, and with the youth movement that we've had because we've had kick return, punt return style duties and even just special teams. I mean, we are very very young in a lot of these these areas when there are some different people that have had that experience. I think, as Pete said, the quickest way to make a roster is to solidify a position like that, and so I think there's going to be a healthy competition to see what's gonna you know, who's going to pan out and
who's going to grab onto that. I think it's going to be kind of fun to watch that in camp coming up.
Well, as we're recording this, the seventh round of the NFL Draft is slowly coming to a close. The Vikings have already called it a day today. They're not making any more picks or making any other moves besides contacting unrestricted or undrafted free agents so that they canna add some guys for the camp roster.
Excited to see what that's gonna look like.
And don't yeah, and you know, and don't I guess, don't overlook that, you know, you, oh for sure, Robert Griffith, John Randall. I mean, this this place has seen quite a few of them. Adam feeling so those priority free agents. Yeah, those are the guys you got to get on the horn with them, and then it becomes a bidding war, and if you're highly sought after, you can end up making more than a late round pick. Yeah.
So, plus they're always kind of trying to judge to like, you know, what are you hearing, who you're hearing from, et cetera, et cetera.
You know, especially at.
The end of the round coming up here, and that's where certain guys will get drafted and other guys get left because they didn't feel like there was a huge you know market initially for them. But you know, with the draft still going on here in the seventh round, it will be interesting to see who they ensign.
Here, believe it or not. Those are the guys that need agents as much as you know they need agents because the agents need to know which you know, Like it's like saying, if you were a free agent running back, this is not a place you want to go.
To, sure, just because of the competition the running rooms are.
Yeah, it's already pretty crowded right if you're you know, if you're a nose tackle or a dB. You know, places where are a linebacker, places where this team needs bodies, and yeah, that'd be a good spot. But so it's not. It's they they're starting their career as free agents. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And part of that too is you know they're also negotiating besides that, they're they're kind of looking at them and saying, do you want the dollars or do you want the opportunity? At times, you know, he's the opportunity cost. They're trying to figure out, you might get less money here, but you're going to have a better opportunity to earn a roster spot.
They're just given what's on that.
Roster and and so there's that balancing act for some of those games.
Yeah. The you know, the part I wish I knew is that they they know who you are, and they watch you in the preseason anyway. Sure, so if they really like you, they're going to grab you. Well.
And then think about the rule change that happened with the preseason this year too, just being able to hold on to that entire roster with one mass call, like that's going to be different when it goes down the line too, where if you were one of the initial guys that got cut, but you have a chance to make a roster elsewhere, Like that's kind of going out the window unless there's something else that changes during that time.
If they can hold onto the entire roster, then it's going to even more important for you to try to earn a roster spot and earn that that preseason playing practice squad.
Yeah big, Now it's getting it's getting thick, right, Yeah, the guys are on the practice squad.
Now it's gonna be close to a dozen, right, Yeah. I think it's used to be six, right.
Yeah, and back in the day, yeah six. Anyway, make the.
Roster anything, it's a good opportunity.
I think it's a good thing, for sure. Practice squad is a good.
Thing for sure.
Well, it's a good thing that we are going to wrap this thing up because I'm a little tired of you guys. This has been a long weekend, but an exciting one. I think it's awesome to see well Vikings absolutely done.
I got nothing to do until then, you know.
Yeah, we've got working Man camp coming up, We have ot as coming up, and then we'll take a nice little break and then you know, it'll all start up with with mini camp.
But you could record those interviews.
Now right, Look, oh it was great.
I love it. It's just like you know, everybody think about it.
Maybe, well, I mean, Pete, why don't you I'll just go on a month long vacation.
You can do it.
I'm trying with that.
It's I mean that it's easy. It's just like, you know, I don't know whatever. Sorry, I didn't mean. I didn't mean it in any way.
I'm just saying, well, hopefully they'll be able to you'll get to know them a little bit better. We'll have some series where you get to know them a little bit better. You kind of get to know them as people. I think that's one of the cool things about the what what this job entails now more than anything, Like sure, those questions are very relevant and we do ask those, but watching them solve puzzles or answer weird questions or do weird those.
Are really fun.
And I'm excited to see these guys because I feel like a lot of what Kevin and Quasi have proven, or the guys that they're bringing in our guys of character. They seem just like all around Nights people that they are happy to be here, and that's what.
We want to see. We want them to be happy to be here, and we're happy to have them here.
It's always the thing of just trying to find out we'll make some tick and getting to know who they are.
I can't wait till I can't wait till like November October rolls around and seeing Jaquoele and Roy walk around. He's a Louisiana native, played at LSU Good. Yeah, I saw a game. I can't remember who they were playing, but it was somewhere in the middle of America. Wasn't cold, but he had one of those handwarmer things on his behind him. Yeah, and I'm like, son, if you're warning one of those, now, wait until you have to walk to your car when it's twenty below zero, You're gonna really love it.
Not that I've played sports in the cold, but from experience of trying to transition to this father, it is not easy.
No, the worst is not easy. You've had you know. The worst of it is late in the season when you have a night game and then the bus pulls in at one or two in the morning.
Oh yeah, you have to walk to your car.
I he'll be out with the first bus. We're on like the fifth.
But it doesn't. I'm just saying that I don't care. It doesn't matter what bush you're on and how far away your car is. That's a long walk. Just you just get off the bus and waiting for them to get your lose man, it's oh my god. Yeah, no, you're right about that. Even worse, the only thing that makes it words while is winning. You're absolutely right. You do that and lose, it's.
Like it's torture.
I'm just saying, I can't wait to see Dick.
He's gonna be chilling, gonna be real chilling.
Yeah, he's going to be looking like Santa Claus Stocking.
We'll make sure we get him some extra clothes. Get him.
I'm sure his friends will hook him up with some advice on how to hand.
Try to find quadruplex jackets and stuff.
Christian Darisaw, does it have you seen how nice his puffer coats look.
He's a first round draft pick. He's just you know, you can order off the cat.
They are like Gucci north Face like style coats. They're they're pretty snazzy. Well, on that note, thanks for listening to the Minnesotavikings podcast. This week we will have another episode. Coming at you next week, probably more draft related, but we'll know more about the undrocted free agents and dive on in with that. Thank you, Pete for being our special guest this weekend. We really appreciate it. Jay, nice
to have you here. Eric's joining us here. He had some other duties he had to handle with the press conferences before joining us, but we appreciate you guys listening, and we will
Talk to you next time.