32BeatWriters - Vikings Training Camp Preview: Murray, Mason, Jones, Jefferson and Everything You Need to Know
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Jul 21, 2026
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Tue, July 21, 2026
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Episode Transcript
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0:53Today we are talking Vikings with Matthew Collar, Purple Insider, one of our absolute favorite Viking sources and hosts.
0:59Matthew, how are we doing today? I'm doing great.
1:01Let's see. We are about 10 days away from the Vikings starting their quarterback competition.
1:06Yeah. So, I don't know. I'm getting mentally prepared for what that's going to be.
1:11Because for a lot of years that I've covered the team, it was Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback.
1:17And I wasn't watching that closely what Kirk Cousins was doing because there was no quarterback competition.
1:22We knew who it was. So I'd be looking for, hey, what's that UDFA cornerback doing out there?
1:27Who's thinking first team reps on the D-line? But it's going to be laser focus on the quarterbacks.
1:33How long it has to be laser focus, I guess we'll see.
1:37Hey, man. I mean, that's a perfect bridge. And let's just dive right into it, right?
1:42The QB room. Probably the, as you said, kind of the key focus of this Vikings offseason.
1:47So they bring in Kyler Murray from Atlanta, obviously in up and down, or Atlanta, Arizona, up and down time there.
1:53You know, what do you feel Murray, you know, brings to this Vikings team that they might have previously lacked?
2:00And how do you see this offseason changing? Or how do you see this offense changing if he actually does become the starting QB?
2:07You know, I'm not going to make you name Kyle Murray or McCarthy, but I do want your kind of feedback on
2:14what you've initially seen and your thoughts on this QB room.
2:17I mean, I would be willing to say that it's very, very likely that Kyler Murray is the starting quarterback of this team.
2:24Because, I mean, when you think about a quarterback competition in training camp, what you normally think about is each guy starting at the same mark, right?
2:33And then whoever has the better camp is the one who's going to get the job.
2:38But it can't work that way when they've both played NFL games.
2:41A lot of NFL games in Kyler Murray's case.
2:44And with J.J. McCarthy last year, his numbers were some of the worst in the NFL.
2:49So you start with a resume where Murray has had seasons where he's played top 12 football in the league.
2:55I mean, even 2024, it's fast how we forget everything in the NFL.
2:59But two years ago, he was PFF's 12th best quarterback with the Arizona Cardinals.
3:04They went 8-9. It's the Arizona Cardinals. So no one pays that much attention to them.
3:09But he had a really good season that year.
3:12He threw for 3,800 yards. He ran for 500 more.
3:15And that was with a team that had some pretty questionable supporting cast pieces.
3:19Very questionable on the defensive side. So this is a guy who's had some really good seasons in his NFL career.
3:25By far not perfect, but at a baseline that if the Vikings had this quarterback play last year, they were a 12-win team probably.
3:33With the defense, the weapons they had. If they had Kyler Murray's 2024, then they are probably at least a 10-win team somewhere between 10 and 12.
3:41And they know that. And Kevin O'Connell has essentially said that by saying that when we get a certain baseline level of quarterback play, we win a lot.
3:50And he's not wrong because if you look at when he had either Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold, Kevin O'Connell is 31-11
3:57as a head coach when either one of those guys plays starting quarterback.
4:01And Kyler Murray is in the same bucket as those guys.
4:04Now, I think Darnold has elevated himself winning the Super Bowl back-to-back season.
4:08Sure. But I think neither one of those quarterbacks would get Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes type of reviews, right?
4:14They're both in that range of really, really talented and somewhat flawed quarterbacks.
4:18Well, I think Murray falls in the same bucket for a large portion of his career.
4:23So you have to have that in mind as you're evaluating this competition.
4:27And then J.J. McCarthy last year out of 45 qualifying quarterbacks was 42nd in quarterback rating and has the same quarterback rating
4:34through 10 games as Christian Ponder did. And this matters.
4:37That doesn't mean it's impossible for J.J. McCarthy to outplay Murray, to convince everyone he's the guy.
4:43And they would love that since they drafted him.
4:45But at the same time, it just seems unlikely that they would look at only some practice reps and then say, oh, okay, we're good now.
4:53And you're our quarterback. Putting that aside with Kyler Murray, assuming that he's going to be the quarterback going forward, I don't
5:00think that the Vikings offense needs to be that different.
5:03I think we have a certain vision of Kyler Murray in our minds because the last time that he was on TV
5:10a lot and mattered with that team mattered was probably 2021.
5:14And that Cliff Kingsbury offense basically said to Kyler Murray, all right, if you could throw something real quick to DeAndre Hopkins, do it.
5:21Otherwise, scramble around like a crazy person and make an amazing play.
5:25And he did that a lot and was very good at it in 2021.
5:29But under Drew Petsing and Jonathan Gannon over his last 22 games, it's been much more of a traditional NFL offense where
5:36he was making his reads, doing things at the line of scrimmage, trying to go through progressions as much as he can.
5:43I think he's impatient with those sometimes. But staying in the pocket and delivering accurate passes, PFF just put out its annual big giant quarterback.
5:50And Murray had the most accurate rating for them.
5:53Like the accuracy percentage was the highest of anyone, which is influenced by average depth of target, as you know.
5:59But still, like he is a very accurate passer and played in rhythm a heck of a lot more and under center
6:06a lot more in 2024 than people think. That doesn't mean they won't change it at all.
6:12I just think that the idea that they need to completely overhaul everything, I think O'Connell's offense has shown to be more dynamic than people think.
6:20Because in 2023, Kirk Cousins had one of the lowest average depth of targets in the entire NFL.
6:25And then in 2024, Sam Darnold led the NFL in deep passing.
6:29So I think that this offense and the amount of weapons kind of allows you to choose your own adventure a lot of times.
6:36If Kyler Murray can really master the details and the ins and outs, which is the biggest question, really, like coming in
6:43from a different offense, then I think it's going to adapt quite well to how he plays within the pocket.
6:49And then O'Connell is going to want him to, when things break down, then that's when you do something special.
6:56But I can't see O'Connell saying, all right, scrap the entire thing that we were doing before.
7:01Now we're building a whole new offense for Kyler Murray.
7:04And that makes sense. I mean, I asked you, what, probably about a week or two ago on your mailbag, you know,
7:11are we going to see Kyler Murray run? And I think that's kind of what, and you alluded to this, like what everyone expects from Kyler Murray.
7:19We almost just see athleticism and kind of forget the rest of that.
7:23You know, you highlighting that accuracy scenario. I don't think anyone would have guessed that Kyler Murray had that kind of accuracy just from the eye test, right?
7:32So it is insanely interesting to see that if he can carry that over into this offense, it might be something special.
7:39Yeah. And when you look back at how Kyler Murray has interacted with his wide receiver ones, which Trey McBride is a wide receiver one.
7:46He was not a tight end. I mean, when you watch any of the games, like this guy is lining up at outside wide receiver.
7:54He's lining up in the slot. He's going out for real routes.
7:58And he is absolutely awesome at creating separation and finding gaps in zones and things like that.
8:03But if you look at how Trey McBride performed under Murray and how DeAndre Hopkins performed under Murray, you can get yourself
8:10into a space where you're saying Justin Jefferson's going for 1500 yards, right?
8:14Because he has pushed the ball to his number one wide receiver quite a bit.
8:19And that's good for the Vikings offense since the entire ship is built around one guy.
8:24And that's Justin Jefferson. And that's also why it's hard to believe in J.J.
8:28McCarthy, because every other quarterback that played with Justin Jefferson, when they targeted Jefferson, essentially turned into an MVP.
8:34Except for J.J. McCarthy, who struggled mightily to find Jefferson.
8:37And the reason is that so much has to be built around timing when you have that much attention.
8:43So Kirk Cousins was a great timing quarterback. And Sam Darnold is a great anticipation thrower.
8:48Whereas J.J. McCarthy kind of throws bullets. And I think it was hard for him with the timing.
8:53Plus, Jefferson is a very unique route runner. Like, he doesn't run routes like a Stefan Diggs or a smaller receiver.
9:00He's kind of a freight train. But he's so bendy that he can snap off these routes so quickly.
9:06At NFL speed, it's crazy to adapt to, I think, for someone who had never played before in McCarthy.
9:12But Murray's had all sorts of wide receivers before.
9:14And with that anticipation that he can throw with an accuracy, I think that's, I don't want to say quite match made in heaven.
9:22But it kind of feels like if you were to design a receiver for Kyler Murray, it would probably be someone like Justin Jefferson.
9:29And then the other weapons that they have, Jawan Jennings for underneath throws and yards after catch.
9:35And T.J. Hockinson, who has been down, and I know the fantasy world is always asking me about T.J.
9:40Hockinson. We'll get there. We'll get there. Right. I assume we'll get there.
9:44But, you know, he's been in his career a Pro Bowl caliber weapon.
9:48So I think when you look at the supporting cast, the coaching, everything that they can put in front of Kyler Murray,
9:55and then compare that to Arizona and go, when did he ever have anything like this?
10:00And the answer is never. Never. Yes, exactly. And like I said, we're going to talk Justin Jefferson.
10:06We're going to talk Jawan Jennings because I think that's a super interesting signing, you know, from a Vikings wide receiver room
10:13standpoint for wide receiver three, we'll call it. But let's dive into the backfield first, right?
10:18Jordan Mason is there still. Aaron Jones is there still.
10:21You know, I'm curious what your take on how this room kind of, not transforms per se, but who do you expect
10:28to be that lead guy and what are the roles of these guys?
10:32I feel like I've at least read, heard, seen some talk about Jordan Mason becoming the more prominent, you know, early down back, so on and so forth.
10:40I'm very curious your take on that. And then in that same breath, you know, the Vikings draft, Claiborne, you know, does
10:47he, does he have a role this season? What does he have to do to have a role this season?
10:53And then from a, let's just talk long-term, you know, success for this RB room.
10:58Are any of these guys, you know, probably outside of Jones given age, the answer forward.
11:03So it's funny because I was on someone else's podcast and they asked me about the backfield.
11:08And I said, I'd like to see Jordan Mason kind of be given the RB one type of handoffs because his efficiency has been really good.
11:16Yards after contact yards for carry, all that sort of stuff.
11:20Uh, he's been a beast throughout his career. And then I kind of went on to say, but you know, coaches are going to be coaches.
11:28Aaron Jones is the more trusted guy. And, you know, it might end up being one, a one B, you know, just
11:34because he's better in pass protection and receiving. And then there was kind of a little write-up by the person who did
11:41the podcast and sort of gave their opinion based on what I said.
11:45And then I saw myself being quoted, which wasn't what I said at all everywhere.
11:50And it was like, Oh, Matthew Collar's reporting that Jordan Mason is RB one.
11:54I was like, Oh, I did. Uh, I didn't know that.
11:58Gosh. And then, and then I heard it on all sorts of fantasy podcasts and I was like, they just saw the tweet.
12:05They didn't listen to what I actually said. So anyway, uh, that kind of tells the story of how I feel about the backfield.
12:12In my opinion, I would like to see Jordan Mason get leaned upon very heavily.
12:17I think he can be a 1100 yard rusher, but that's an opinion of mine, not a report of mine, because I
12:24know how much they love Aaron Jones. Uh, I know how tough Aaron Jones is and all the things that he's been
12:31playing through over the last probably year and a half with the Vikings.
12:35And when he was healthy in early 2024, he was averaging five yards to carry.
12:39So I think he's still got a lot of juice there.
12:43I think they will use him on third downs.
12:45I think they'll use him, uh, uh, as more of a one B to Jordan Mason, because that's what they were really
12:52doing last year when both guys were healthy and they brought Aaron Jones back for a reason.
12:58So I wouldn't be shocked if they, when they're both healthy, if they have kind of a 50, 50 ish type of
13:04split, if they feel like Aaron Jones still has some juice and they love the other things that he can do.
13:11Um, but Mason in terms of his actual efficiency, running the football and his age, he's in his prime right now would
13:18be the guy that I would lean on. And I do know this, that the Vikings have put a lot of effort
13:24into trying to improve this run game. They know that if you throw 600 passes with Kyler Murray, you will not win.
13:31Uh, you're just, it's not going to happen. And Arizona leaned on him so heavily.
13:36One of the stats that I saw or that I did on, you know, pro football reference, like everybody else was, uh,
13:43that I think since 2023, he had like the ninth most passes per game.
13:47That's just not where you want to be with someone like Kyler Murray, right?
13:51Like saying, Oh, why don't you go save us?
13:54You want him in favorable down and distances. And when he was in third and short, he's spectacular.
14:00When he's in third and long, he's terrible. Like that's just, that's it's, he's a flawed quarterback.
14:05Right? So I think that they've put a ton of effort into this.
14:09They hired Frank Smith away from Miami, who was their offensive coordinator under Mike McDaniel.
14:14And they also changed offensive line coaches. So I think that the system is going to be a little more perfected with
14:21Jordan Mason this year and that they should lean on the run a lot more.
14:25Uh, when it comes to demand Claiborne, um, I've seen him in mini camp and he's fast attack.
14:31I mean, he has a bendiness and a quickness where you're like, Oh, okay.
14:35And, uh, everyone has taken notice of that. Aaron Jones brought it up so forth.
14:40I think there's potential there, but we have to keep in mind that he's a sixth round draft pick.
14:46And one of the reasons that I've said that I could see it being closer to a 50, 50 split is trust.
14:52Um, are you going to trust the sixth round draft pick to go out there and take a high number of carries
14:59or to pass protect or to play on third downs?
15:02I have trouble believing that they will. Uh, we've kind of been down the road before with Kenny Wong woo, who was
15:09a kick returner for them and ran a four, two at six foot one and 210 pounds or something crazy.
15:15And he never played and, uh, Ty Chandler, who was the fantasy darling of two years ago, every single, you know, preseason
15:22podcast is, isn't Ty Chandler going to take the big step.
15:26And honestly, I thought that he was. And, uh, so I guess, uh, won't get fooled again with this, but I think
15:32Claiborne, I do think that Claiborne has a lot of potential.
15:36So I don't want to say that he doesn't.
15:39It's just that there should be a healthy amount of skepticism before people run in fantasy draft demand.
15:44Um, I think there's a path there though, with the injury history of Aaron Jones, it's just, they have another running back
15:51in the room, Xavier Scott, who played last year for them that they might trust more.
15:56He's been around longer. And that's really why he was on the team is because he was really good at mastering the
16:03playbook, pass protection, catching the ball, things like that.
16:06So we might not see Claiborne a lot in year one.
16:09And that makes sense. I feel like, you know, every year, one of the things that we, at least at 32 hone
16:16in on is the pass protection for the running backs.
16:19You know, we, we all at this point realize that's how you get on the field in certain situations and how you, you know, impress your coaches.
16:27So something to keep an eye on for sure.
16:30As we go into camp and, uh, let's, let's dive into the guy that, you know, you feel has that biggest role here with Justin Jefferson.
16:38You know, obviously we, we know what Jefferson is, you know, it's, you got to start at the top of this room.
16:45He's coming off his 6,000 yard season. Um, but how do you know, lower touchdown number last year rather than dive into the, you know, Justin Jefferson breakdown.
16:54I just want to know if there's anything more that you expect from Jefferson, given the potential upgrading QB play this year.
17:00Like, does this guy have anywhere to grow or are we locked into Justin Jefferson that we should expect?
17:06No, I mean, Justin Jefferson has a case for either number one, two or three best wide receiver in the NFL.
17:13Maybe if you, if you said he was fourth, I'd probably be like, I can't get there.
17:18I can't get there with you on fourth. Um, Jamar chase, you might be able to make a case for maybe coming
17:25off last season, Jackson Smith, the jigba and Puka Nakua.
17:28But there's only a few guys who are breathing his air, but you need to remember, uh, that he has more yards
17:35than anyone else by his age in NFL history.
17:38So this is a guy who has proven to be the number one spot in the NFL, or at least a deserving of that conversation.
17:45And I don't think anything about Justin Jefferson was different last year.
17:49I don't think he ran his routes different. I don't think he caught the ball different.
17:54Uh, he had a few drops that you remember because of how hard it was to throw the ball, but then you
18:01look at the drop data and it's no different than in years past.
18:05It's really about opportunities. And I saw, uh, that, uh, gosh, now I can't remember the exact stat, but the, the amount
18:12of on target passes that went to Justin Jefferson was just abysmal last year.
18:16I mean, JJ McCarthy had the second lowest completion percentage over expected last year in the entire NFL, which tells you just
18:23how much was left on the team. And it became almost like a catcher who can't throw the ball back to the pitcher.
18:30Like there was almost a yips to it when it came to JJ McCarthy, getting him the football.
18:36Uh, I remember a play against Dallas, which was McCarthy's best game.
18:39He was really good in that game, but Jefferson had a wide open crossing route.
18:44And I mean, they forgot about him because they're Dallas's defense and it just goes five yards over his head.
18:50And it's like, yeah, those are the ones that are as routine as routine gets that cannot be missed.
18:56And I don't think that Kyler Murray misses those throws.
18:59That doesn't mean he's perfect. And I'm not saying that he's Steve young or Joe Montana or something when it comes to
19:06his accuracy, but, uh, he was over the last three years in the top 10 in terms of on target percentage, which
19:13is a pro football reference that if you can do that at all with Justin Jefferson, you don't even have to be perfectly on target.
19:21You're just, just generally on target, uh, then Justin Jefferson is going to get it.
19:25And Kevin O'Connell deserves credit for this too, because he has been absolutely brilliant at drawing up route combinations that you get Justin Jefferson open.
19:33And that is very hard to do with so much attention.
19:36And when you watch the film, like you don't see receivers being guarded like this in the NFL, it's almost, it's not
19:43quite when Julio Jones had two guys line up over him or Megatron had that, but it's almost like that.
19:49I mean, there are some times where there are three guys like circling him, uh, to try to stop him, which is helped Jordan Addison in the past.
19:58But, uh, I think he's the same. Justin Jefferson is always, he's absolutely in his prime.
20:03It's just that the quarterback has to execute. And last year in the second half of the season, they just stopped throwing.
20:10I mean, uh, you know, JJ McCarthy was only throwing about 23 passes per game down the stretch last year.
20:16I think you're going to have more than that when it comes to Kyler Murray.
20:21So I think the potential is very high for Justin Jefferson.
20:24It's great to hear. I mean, we got, like I was saying, we got to start at the top, you know, and
20:31if, if Jefferson can be that guy that he's always been, this offense is going to be exciting.
20:36And to your point, it does open the doors, right?
20:40For Addison, for now Jennings, you know, pretty good.
20:42Arguably maybe the best wide receiver, two wide receiver, three combo in the league.
20:47You know, can you just give us your expectations for Addison and Jennings this year?
20:51You know, how do they fit into the scheme?
20:54Does anything change? Just what are you feeling? Yeah.
20:57I think that if you project the maximum for every player, then Kyler Murray just wins the MVP.
21:02So someone has to get left out of the party, right?
21:06Like I, I don't, I don't think it's cool.
21:09I think that Kyler Murray could be one of the best versions of himself we've ever seen in this offense, but I
21:16think it would be pretty silly to start saying he's going to throw for 4,700 yards, which is what you need to get all these guys.
21:24They're absolute maximum. So the question is who is going to not reach their expectation because Jefferson's getting so many of the
21:30targets or because Hawkinson does improve or Addison or Jennings.
21:33The most obvious guy I think would be Jawan Jennings because over the last two years with San Francisco, he's had to
21:40be bumped up from wide receiver three to really two and one sometimes because they have so many injuries because of a power station or something.
21:48Uh, or I don't know, just because they have a lot of really hard playing guys who I think, I think that's what it is.
21:56It's like they scout and they draft and they acquire really hard, harder working players who hurt themselves by playing hard, which
22:03has been the case a little bit for Jawan Jennings in the past.
22:07But, uh, you know, someone like Jennings, I think brings a lot from a football and X's and O's perspective.
22:13He is a tremendous run blocker. He's a physical player.
22:16He can get yards after catch. He is big.
22:19He is tough to tackle. If you have a cornerback one-on-one with Jawan Jennings, it is not easy for them to bring him down.
22:26And Murray does like to get rid of the ball quickly.
22:30And he does like to throw underneath. And that seems like a match made in heaven.
22:35Um, where Addison fits in, I think is a little bit harder to figure out because he has been such a great
22:42deep wide receiver, which talk about match made in heaven for Sam Darnold.
22:46Loved pushing the ball down the field to Jordan Addison.
22:49Um, but he's a intermediate route runner as well.
22:52And he can get open. It's just, I don't know if he'll get back to pushing for a thousand yards.
22:58If you have Jennings there and you have Hawkinson there, and there's still this, you got to get the ball to Justin
23:05Jefferson as much as you possibly can. So I'm not sure which one is going to see that, uh, maybe come short of expectations.
23:12It's probably going to be someone. Well, I think that's, it's still great for the Minnesota Vikings offense.
23:18Uh, I don't know if I would make a fantasy bet on either one of these guys, because I do think Kyler
23:24has this history of, all right, I got my best wide receiver and he is getting the football.
23:30I mean, that is some great insight. You know, I think we always see these guys to your point and in max views, right?
23:37But then when you do the math out it, it gets, I don't want to say ugly, but it gets, uh, what's the word I'm looking for?
23:46It gets false very quickly. Right. Um, unrealistic would be the way to be realistic for every single guy to hit their.
23:53Yes, exactly. And you know, there's people behind Addison and Jennings that, you know, we're going to talk about here who are
23:59going to at least take something as well. Um, so, you know, going further down this depth chart, you know, you have
24:06Felton, you have bell who I've heard some really good camp reports on curious to see your take on them.
24:12Um, can you just touch base on kind of how you see each of these guys coming into this year?
24:19And then if there's anyone else in this wide receiver room that you feel like you, you know, want to talk about or mention, please feel free.
24:27Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think in an ideal world where everyone's healthy for 17 games, we're not seeing anybody else except for those three.
24:35It's possible with Ty Felton though, because he is blazing fast and they lost the guy who was blazing fast in Jalen Naylor.
24:42And he was their clear out wide receiver. I don't think that you want Jawan Jennings running a track meet out there
24:49where he, this was sometimes it was the Jalen Naylor track where he was just go route, go route, go route, go route.
24:56Because they were, you know, using him to clear out safety.
24:59Jefferson could get open underneath. That's Jawan Jennings five years ago, ran a four, seven or something like that's not the guy
25:06that you want to be doing that. So I think Felton does potentially have a role there.
25:11And I also think that in college, he was great yards after catch.
25:15Like he has an explosiveness to him that we saw as a punt gunner last year, which I know doesn't mean a
25:22lot to people, but if you could be on the field and fight through the contact that goes along with that, like you can, you can play football.
25:31And so I think they like Ty Felton as a guy.
25:34I know that Keenan McCardell, their wide receiver coach has been outstanding when it came to developing these later round pick wide receivers.
25:41And he was the last pick of the third round.
25:44So I think there's a chance there. And I also think that the way Jawan Jennings plays, he gets banged up and
25:51Jordan Addison has been banged up at times throughout his career with some ankle injuries, things like that.
25:57There's also been a suspension tossed in there. So if you're Felton, Hey man, don't take the summer off, like be ready.
26:04But I don't see in an ideal world that he's a huge part of the offense.
26:09If we were saying everyone's completely healthy, then maybe he gets a handful of catches and is out there for a handful of plays.
26:16But he is a hundred percent. The next man up at going into camp.
26:20Now someone else could take that away from him, but going into camp, he is the next man up.
26:26If someone gets banged up, Dylan Bell is an interesting one.
26:30Miles price has been their kick and punt returner.
26:33He's got some juice to him with the ball in his hand.
26:36So I don't know if they're going to try to mix that in.
26:40They haven't done it yet, but they might. When it comes to Dylan Bell though, he's an undrafted free agent out of Georgia.
26:47So all the NFL scouts got to look at him.
26:50Uh, this isn't somebody that you got from nowhere state.
26:54I mean, this is somebody who was in the national stage.
26:57So there's reason for fair skepticism when it comes to an undrafted free agent.
27:01But when you see someone pop in mini camp, as we all did with Dylan Bell kind of made a bunch of plays out there.
27:09You go, all right, well, you have my attention.
27:12Like this is the, uh, it's setting the stage, you know, it's like the real races and training camp, but it's sort of like the preliminaries.
27:20And in the preliminaries, he did great. And now he's got to put some pads on and beats of people, but he's
27:27got some twitch to him and some explosiveness to him.
27:30And that Georgia offense, when I'm, when they signed him and I went back and watched a couple, uh, you know, highlight reels of him or whatever.
27:38It was like, did they never want to throw the ball anywhere except for a screen?
27:43Like, and I think that was kind of the case with the Georgia's offense last year.
27:48They did not really want to push the ball down the field with their quarterback.
27:53So it's possible that he was underutilized and then he, you know, gets overlooked because of that.
27:58But I also think when we're talking about UDFAs, we should be looking at really practice squad there unless someone does something really special.
28:05No, great insight on that. Absolutely. And, you know, let's take it to, you know, the position we've been kind of mixing
28:12in everywhere and Hawkinson in the tight end here.
28:15You know, CJ Hawkinson seems to be an enigma to me.
28:19You know, you, he, he was obviously with the lions for a while there, put up some solid numbers.
28:24I think got, we all got super excited to see him come to Minnesota, be that next kind of tier in that offense.
28:32You know, what, what do you feel Hawkinson has to do to get back into form?
28:36Obviously outside of stay healthy, you know, and more importantly, what does he need to be for this Vikings team to get back to even that like 505.
28:45Kind of guy. Like, I know we've been talking a little bit of stats and wrinkling them in, but if 505 was
28:52a player, you know, what do we need to do to get there?
28:56And then anyone behind Hawkinson Hawkinson that you feel we need to know about.
29:00So I think with Hawkinson, when you talk about, you know, the numbers last year, he had by far the lowest average depth of target he's ever had.
29:09The fewest number of contested catch opportunities he's ever had.
29:12This is what happens when you throw like 400 passes in a season is that nobody gets their numbers.
29:18But when you look at how he played, when Carson Wentz was the quarterback for five weeks, he was on pace for
29:25almost 80 catches when Carson Wentz was in there.
29:28And I expect Kyler Murray to play much more like an experienced quarterback and distribute the football around.
29:33The number of other weapons takes away, like we've been talking about from the potential volume.
29:38But I also think that the tight end position, you can kind of break tight ends in the NFL into two categories.
29:45There are tight ends, wink, wink, wide receivers, right?
29:48Like Brock Bowers is a big old wide receiver and the same with Trey McBride.
29:52And they should be called like giganto slots or something as opposed to tight ends.
29:57But then there's other tight ends who play kind of the entire position.
30:01I think that's been Hawkinson. And those guys are often asked to be, or, well, I guess they're often a product of the environment, right?
30:09Like if you are in a high volume passing offense, they're going to live underneath.
30:13And this was 2023 with the Vikings and Kirk Cousins and Hawkinson just so much on the same page and just living
30:20on underneath throws, sending Jefferson and Addison downfield. The whole defense shifts backward and there's TJ Hawkinson for 12 yards or something.
30:27Kirk was great at finding him. And I think Murray has been good at doing that with Trey McBride.
30:33But when we look at last year and the year before, Darnold was pushing the ball downfield.
30:38Hawkinson was coming off the ACL injury and it went okay.
30:42And then last year they just couldn't find him.
30:44And you could see the frustration with Kevin O'Connell.
30:47He said publicly a few times, like, can we just get completions here?
30:51Could we just, and he had praised Carson Wentz.
30:54There was a, I think there was a check down against the Browns that he brought up like four or five different
31:01times of like, you know, you could just sort of check it down to TJ Hawkinson and get the first down.
31:07And it was like, you could see him getting so frustrated with JJ McCarthy, just not identifying that he had that guy right there underneath.
31:15And I think Murray will do a much better job of that.
31:19Will he get 95 catches? I would be pretty darn surprised by that because of the number of weapons.
31:25And I think they want to be a lower volume pass offense than they've been under Kirk and Sam Darnold.
31:31But I still think that TJ Hawkinson can play.
31:34I think there were some plays last year where we saw it from him.
31:38High difficulty catches down the field catches. It was just JJ McCarthy was looking over him.
31:43And I think part of that was McCarthy was trying so hard to execute the best version of the play that he didn't identify quick enough.
31:51Sometimes like, okay, that's not going to work. Or I missed that read.
31:55Let me just get a completion and move on.
31:58It was no, I'm going to hang on this read, hang on this read, force it, and then get picked off or whatever.
32:05It was just a product of inexperience, I think.
32:08Well, that'll be good. I mean, I think one of the biggest things that we always talk about with, you know, the
32:15Arizona offense and kind of Kyle Murray and that, you know, he did use the tight end a lot.
32:21But it was weird. I feel like, and I have to go back and look at the numbers, but I feel like
32:27in the red zone, you know, Hawkinson is a better option than a lot of those guys for the reasons you said, right?
32:34He's a traditional tight end. You don't know what he's going to do on a given play.
32:40So curious how that versatility kind of plays in and we're going to see it, right?
32:45So let's go to the, probably my favorite question that we get to do is just that Matthew giving you a sandbox
32:52telling us something that we need to know about this offense that, you know, is, you know, maybe not overly obvious or something that you are passionate about.
33:00You can take it any direction you want, but something we need to know about this Vikings offense.
33:06Well, since I already touched on this scheme change, which I think is going to be pretty significant.
33:11How about we talk about the, the big guys up front last year.
33:15So I saw this stat and I'm sorry, I forget who put it out there.
33:20There's so many charts on social media. Then I look at every six of them and I forget who it was, but
33:27the Vikings starting offensive line last year played together 24% of snaps.
33:31I mean, that is devastating, right? If you have that many injuries, it's very hard to have a good offensive line.
33:37And Christian Derrissaw has had a full off season to heal.
33:40Donovan Jackson comes back for a year or two.
33:43They have at least the center who has a very good health record in Blake Brandel and is playing center full time
33:50this year where he had been a guard and a swing tackle before, but he's dedicated to that position.
33:56And then Will Fries last year, right guard was coming off of this horrible injury that he had for the Colts before he signed with the Vikings.
34:04He missed his whole off season and then faded at the end of the year.
34:09And Brian O'Neill is just awesome at right tackle.
34:12So I think that the potential, not to mention, they also added two swing tackles in Ryan Vandermark and Caleb Tiernan, who they drafted in the third round.
34:20Vandermark played for the bills. So they have added a lot to their depth on the offensive line.
34:26And I think there's a much better outlook for the offensive line and also made a change at offensive line coach.
34:33Now, these are all things that do not get Adam Schefter tweets, right?
34:37Like they're not exciting. They're not going to move the fantasy needle, but they matter a lot when it comes to the potential of an offense.
34:45So if this stays together as a unit, I think it has a very high ceiling.
34:50I don't think it can be one offensive line in the NFL because those guys have their flaws or inexperience, wherever it might be.
34:57But can it be the eighth best offensive line in the NFL?
35:01I think it probably can if they are healthy or if they're able to patch over holes.
35:06Because one of the main issues last year was when Ryan Kelly got hurt at center, they were throwing in a guy who'd never played center before.
35:14It was like, oh, that's not good. That's a huge drop off, right?
35:18And when Christian Derisaw got hurt, they were tossing in Justin School, who is a really break glass in case of emergency swing tackle.
35:26Not one that you want playing against Miles Garrett when they played in Cleveland.
35:30So they were and they even got to the point where undrafted free agent linemen were playing like Joe Huber.
35:36So if it's not, you know, final destination on the offensive line this year, then it should be, I think, a very big improvement.
35:44And that's where the game's won, right? We always say that the game is won in the trenches.
35:49And I do think the offensive line gets overlooked a lot in how it impacts all these skill positions.
35:55And so we definitely appreciate you touching base on that.
35:58Matthew, let's wrap this up with just you telling people about where they can find you, what you're working on, what you're excited about.
36:06Matthew's info is at the bottom of every single overlay here.
36:09I hope by this time in the podcast you followed him already.
36:13But please, he is amazing with Vikings coverage. Absolutely great newsletter as well.
36:17Matthew, tell everyone about all that. Well, I really appreciate that.
36:20And I thank you for having me on Purple Insider on YouTube or wherever you get your audio podcast is a place to start.
36:28And as you mentioned, purpleinsider.football is the newsletter. And I think you know what I'm going to be covering over the summer.
36:35But I will reveal on this podcast that I have created my own little app to be able to put in completions,
36:41incompletions, positive, negative throws for each quarterback for the quarterback competition that I can publish a report on where every throw went
36:48in training camp during seven on seven and 11 on 11 today.
36:52So that's what I've been working on to be able to get that into every podcast of the chart of like, this is what happened today.
37:00So we can have some sort of data on the quarterback competition.
37:04Well, I mean, that sounds awesome. I wish everyone did that.
37:07But we'll definitely be following along, seeing how that goes and plays out because this is probably the hottest QB competition in the league.
37:15So it's going to be awesome to watch it play out.
37:18It sounds like it might be Kyla Murray's job to lose, but we'll see what happens in the end of July going into August.
37:25I mean, my friend, Josh Weinfuss, who covers the Arizona Cardinals has Gardner Minshew versus Jacoby Brissett.
37:31So don't count that out. You said the hottest.
37:34Temperature-wise, probably the hottest. You know, we will have eyes on that one, too.
37:38But, you know, I'll give the Vikings credit where it's due.
37:41We talked about it before the podcast started. It's an interesting, fun team, and this offseason is going to be no different.
37:48So we appreciate you coming on and just signing off here.
37:51I'm Matt Olson. That's Matthew Collar. Be sure to give him a follow, and we will talk to you all soon.
