0:00Minnesota could not reek of more
0:02desperation right now. I could also see
0:05Kirk Cousins elevating this offense to
0:07like a top 10 offense because he's got
0:09Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison.
0:12>> Look at the release.
0:13>> There's your separation.
0:14>> Wait, route.
0:14>> Stutter and go. Gets by clean.
0:16>> is unbelievable.
0:17>> May be the greatest catch I've ever
0:19seen.
0:22>> Kirk Cousins going back to Minnesota. I
0:24will focus on the wide receivers, J
0:26Jetta's, Justin Jefferson, um you know,
0:29Addison, Jordan Addison.
0:30I I don't know. Does Kirk Cousins come
0:32back? It's By the way,
0:34so the question is does Kirk Cousins
0:35come back and save the production for
0:37those wide receivers? Does he save the
0:39offense in general?
0:41But let me just say
0:44Minnesota could not reek of more
0:47desperation right now.
0:49You're talking to me about an aging
0:52quarterback that again y'all let go
0:55and is coming off of what is clearly the
0:59worst performance of the season for Kirk
1:03Cousins and they're still hot. [snorts]
1:06I mean, Minnesota was hot going after
1:11Kirk Cousins despite the fact that he is
1:13in his upper 30s, despite the fact that
1:16he is over the last three weeks
1:19devolving as a player. It is very
1:22interesting to me and quite sad that
1:25Minnesota was chasing after Kirk Cousins
1:28that badly. Uh so yeah, I don't know. So
1:31I go back to the original question of do
1:34you think Kirk Cousins
1:36brings Minnesota's offense back to a
1:39level of just like let's just say league
1:41average production?
1:43>> Hell yeah, I do. I really do. Um I agree
1:47with with everything you just said there
1:49uh about the desperation of it all,
1:52especially in context of this is a
1:54player that they were totally willing to
1:56say see you later to
1:59like what, three years ago, four years
2:00at this point? That's not that long.
2:01They were goodbye Kirk Cousins.
2:03Apparently their relationship got a
2:04little frosty at the end there too
2:06between Kirk Cousins and KOC. By the
2:08way, that might be a little bit of a KOC
2:10problem considering everybody else likes
2:11Kirk Cousins and people are starting to
2:13not like Kevin O'Connell there. Uh so
2:15there there's that. But yeah, I mean
2:17they the timeline of events here for
2:19Minnesota is humiliating to think about.
2:23Let's let's go let's go back to it. They
2:24have a pretty good stretch run with Kirk
2:26Cousins who then what tears his Achilles
2:28and then they were like see you later
2:30Kirk. We're we're good on that.
2:32Uh and then they they sign Sam Darnold,
2:35they draft J.J. McCarthy. They have a
2:36great season with Sam Darnold. They said
2:38all right, cool, we're done with you Sam
2:39Darnold. See you later. He goes and wins
2:40the Super Bowl with the Seattle
2:41Seahawks. They then start J.J. McCarthy,
2:44the dude they took in the top 10 and
2:47they hate that which that experience
2:49doesn't go well. Um you know
2:50organizations fail young quarterbacks or
2:53organizations fail young quarterbacks
2:54before
2:55young quarterbacks fail [laughter]
2:56organizations. Well I guess you failed
2:57J.J. McCarthy uh because you didn't
2:59develop him a lick. Uh then they decide
3:01like all right, we're done with
3:02McCarthy. They could actually have
3:04signed Kirk Cousins this off season.
3:07That he was available for somebody to
3:09sign and instead they're like we don't
3:11want that. We're going to get Kyler
3:12Murray even though he fits our system
3:13exactly 0%.
3:15And then Kyler Murray predictably is
3:18bad. You still trade J.J. McCarthy away
3:21for a fifth round pick. You give him up
3:22and he's been whatever. He's been fine
3:24with the New York Giants, he's been
3:25fine. But you say goodbye to him. You
3:27start Carson Wentz
3:29and Carson Wentz
3:31was I mean it was easily one of the
3:33worst performances of the entire season.
3:36The only two games from an EPA per drop
3:37back standpoint this year that were
3:39worse than Carson Wentz was Michael
3:41Penix and Baker Mayfield in the rain
3:43monsoon game against each other several
3:46weeks ago.
3:48I actually I actually looked this up.
3:50There have been 1,293
3:53games from 2024 to our current moment in
3:552026 where a quarterback has taken 20
3:57plus drop backs. The Wentz game is the
3:59sixth worst EPA per drop back in that
4:03stretch, fifth worst by adjusted yards
4:05per attempt, and fourth worst by success
4:07rate in that stretch. If you look at EPA
4:10per drawback, there are three Vikings
4:12games in the bottom ten. Three. The
4:15other two games sandwiching Carson Wentz
4:17are Max Brosemer games.
4:20By the way, Max Brosemer gets in the
4:21game on Monday night and Troy Aikman has
4:24to like fan himself because his face
4:27passed by Brosemer against prevent
4:29defense, whatever, is so is so good.
4:32That's So with all that said, that's how
4:34desperate that the Minnesota Vikings
4:37were that they go back to Kirk Cousins.
4:40And with all that said, James, I was
4:42actually kind of relieved to see that
4:43they only gave up a third round pick.
4:48I thought I thought the Raiders were
4:50going to
4:51bend them over the barrel because man,
4:53they had all
4:55they had all the leverage in that
4:56situation. This This is a 30 year old 38
5:00year old quarterback who is notoriously
5:03streaky.
5:05>> Yeah.
5:06>> I Notori- I mean,
5:07would it would it be would it be a
5:08surprise to anybody if Kirk Cousins like
5:11starting really hot then just falls off
5:13the cliff?
5:14>> That's what that's what's happening.
5:17Bro, that's what's happening.
5:18>> Yeah, I mean, it is it's kind it's kind
5:20of happening. It's it's kind of
5:22happening. I I think obviously
5:23>> so bad last week, dude.
5:26>> Yep, the three picks were bad. It was
5:28definitely his worst game of the season,
5:29passer rating, EPA per drawback easily
5:31Yeah, it's easily his worst game of the
5:32season. Uh tough game obviously when
5:34you're constantly behind against the
5:36Niners, but um yeah, no, I mean, we
5:38could be in that moment where Kirk is on
5:40I think actually if you look
5:41historically, Kirk is always awesome in
5:43October and then starts to fall off as
5:45the season goes along. That's totally
5:47possible. And yet, Minnesota had to do
5:49this. They had they had to do it. They
5:51had to do it. They could not play in
5:52their current stuff the rest of the way.
5:54And I still think that the player if
5:56he's the player that he was to start
5:57this year, I still stand by what I said
5:59earlier that hell yeah, he gets them
6:00back to an average offense. And really
6:02all I care about is just get that pill
6:05to Justin Jefferson, man.
6:07Just get that ball to
6:08Jefferson James. I I don't think I've
6:10ever seen this before.
6:12I don't think I don't think I've ever
6:13seen this before, but on Monday night,
6:14Carson Wentz, when he throws the ball
6:16right to Tyron Johnson on one of his
6:18picks,
6:19>> Yeah.
6:19>> Jefferson's coming out of the in cut
6:22and like throws his hands up cuz
6:24>> I've never seen that.
6:25>> never I've never seen all my charting
6:272020 2014 to current, I've never seen
6:29somebody throw the WTF hands up coming
6:31out of the dig route on the on the route
6:33break there. First time I've seen that.
6:36>> I mean, Justin Jefferson has been such a
6:38good soldier, honestly. He's had a great
6:40attitude.
6:42He's had such a great attitude and it
6:43just
6:44it's piled up now, you know? Like the
6:47stat I saw was that ever since that
6:49Minnesota let go of Kirk Cousins a few
6:51years ago, they have changed
6:53quarterbacks about every
6:56three and a half games,
6:58which is bonkers.
7:00>> Yeah.
7:00>> That's insane. And keep in mind, they
7:03had Darnold in there for an entire
7:04season. Like that was a thing, you know?
7:08So yeah, I don't I don't know. I don't
7:10know what is going on. It's it's a
7:11little crazy, but
7:13look, I agree with the overall
7:17premise that Kirk Cousins is a good fit.
7:20Obviously, with the scheme, he can drop
7:22in just drop right in and immediately
7:25start producing.
7:26But I am also open to the fact I'm just
7:28trying to be more open-minded about
7:30things, man, you know?
7:31Like talk about range of
7:33outcomes. Like I'm more I am also open
7:35to the fact that Kirk Cousins could get
7:37hurt immediately.
7:39>> Sure.
7:40>> And he could also just completely
7:42implode immediately as well. Because
7:45again, the football that we we have
7:47he started hot, he's been hot, he's been
7:50dragging along a wide receiver room that
7:53again is not good.
7:57It's it's not good. Like Trey Tucker's
7:59your number one right now. Like
8:01listen, you you could like Trey Tucker.
8:03He's not a number one, you know? He
8:05should be be three in a in a real deal
8:08So no, Kirk Cousins has done a really
8:09really good job getting these guys the
8:12football.
8:13But over the last I want to say three
8:15weeks, we have certainly seen a lot of
8:18the luster come off of Kirk Cousins. So
8:22I don't know, man. Like I'm also very
8:24aware of the fact that Kirk Cousins is a
8:26streaky player and I could absolutely
8:28see him falling off the map in November,
8:31December as well. And then and then
8:33where they at, you know?
8:35>> I mean, look, all of that is very fair
8:37and totally possible. You know, you're
8:38right. We want to be open to more
8:40things, range of outcomes wise. Here
8:42here's the thing that I would say when
8:45what I want to be
8:46I want to be more open-minded to things
8:48too in a lot of ways and I want to be
8:50less reductive about analysis, you know,
8:53because sometimes it is very simple, but
8:55I think in this situation we have this
8:56has been a constant theme for us on this
8:58show that it's not just the quarterback
9:01in Minnesota. There are other issues
9:03that this team needs to figure out and
9:05they can't just drop Kirk Cousins in
9:07here and say like fixed.
9:09There are other things scheme wise that
9:10need to happen here. And by the way, you
9:11know who else said that?
9:13Is Justin Jefferson after the game on
9:15Monday. This is like the the the the
9:17harshest thing he's said to anybody in
9:19the media
9:20is he's he basically said they have that
9:23that they have to find ways to quote
9:24simplify the offense and make it quote
9:27easier for everybody. We have the
9:29talent, we have the guys in the room and
9:31on the offensive side of the ball to
9:32make plays and make something happen.
9:34And I looked this up. Like Justin
9:36Jefferson this year
9:37efficiency wise, then this is why this
9:39this is why this matters so much to me
9:41because I think Justin Jefferson is one
9:42of the best wide receivers of all time.
9:43Like he's [clears throat] no worse than
9:45fifth in terms of the best players of
9:47the reception perception era. You know,
9:49obviously it's it's he hasn't
9:52he's not an older player. We'll see how
9:53it tracks as he ages or whatever, but
9:55just peak wise he's up he's up there
9:58with everybody. You know, Antonio Brown
10:00like all these guys
10:01>> Adams on them too too.
10:02>> Adams. Adams is like what is a little
10:04trickier because obviously he had a
10:06tough start to his career, but like I I
10:08Justin Jefferson wire to wire has been
10:09an elite player in reception perception.
10:12You know, one of the best players, like
10:13I said, at the receiver position. And,
10:15you know, the fact that there's like
10:16kind of a narrative about like, oh,
10:17maybe he's fallen No, he has fallen off
10:19exactly 0%.
10:21Um even like efficiency stats-wise, he
10:23has he averages 2.07 yards per route run
10:26this year. He gets a first down on 10.5%
10:28of his routes. Those are really good
10:29numbers. The problem is
10:31the offense stinks and they don't
10:33possess the ball long enough cuz they go
10:35three and out all the time. They're one
10:36of the the the the lowest plays per
10:38game. That Even that alone, like having
10:39somebody who could just keep possess the
10:42freaking football. The time of
10:43possession stuff on Monday night was
10:44disgusting. And so again, one of the
10:46things I think is under under discussed
10:48this year, Jefferson has been in the
10:50slot on 11% of his snaps.
10:53>> Hm.
10:53>> That is a career low. And I thought,
10:55okay, um you know, it's it's a career
10:58low by a lot. It's gone down each of the
11:00last four seasons. In 2023 it was 24%,
11:03then it was 20%, then it was 18%, and
11:05now this year 11%. I'm like, okay, is
11:07that more heavy personnel stuff that the
11:10the Vikings are using? No. When there
11:12are three wide three or more wide
11:14receivers on the field, Justin
11:17Jefferson's slot rate is still the
11:19lowest of his career. It's 15.4%,
11:23which again is down from 23% last year
11:26and 27 the year before. It was 30% in
11:292023.
11:31Like they have they have got to do more
11:32to put him in easy positions to like get
11:35catches. Like it just it's it's crazy
11:37that they've gotten worse about this
11:39under Kevin O'Connell. This was like the
11:41point of hiring O'Connell. He was going
11:43to move like Justin Jefferson around. He
11:45was going to get him more of these
11:46favorable looks and and and now they've
11:48like gotten away from that to roll Kater
11:50for Jordan Addison and all these other
11:52dudes. Like, no, you've got This is the
11:54This is the thing. Kirk Cousins, come in
11:55here and just put it in pen. 30% of the
11:58targets to Justin Jefferson. Kevin
11:59O'Connell move this guy around more. And
12:01I totally think that in that situation
12:03that at least Jefferson can get back to
12:05being like a great producer at the wide
12:07receiver position. We'll see about the
12:09rest of it.
12:10>> And listen, I'll tell you what, if
12:11Justin Jefferson does get back to that
12:13point, Matt, he will lift the offense.
12:15He is an offense lifter.
12:17So to to your point. Um so even worst
12:20case scenario, barring an injury
12:23to Kirk Cousins, which
12:25I don't know, 38 year old quarterback
12:26man who stands in the pocket and takes
12:28hits.
12:29Smaller dude. I'm just saying,
12:31man. Anyways,
12:33yes, for sure if you get Justin
12:34Jefferson the rock, he's lifting the
12:37offense, period. Point blank, period.
12:39And I do agree with that. And so maybe
12:41they can get to
12:42league average. If not, and again, by
12:44the way, this has got to be one of the
12:46situations in in the NFL where
12:49the range of outcomes is completely
12:51wild. Like it's Dude, I could also see
12:54Kirk Cousins being like, all right,
12:55dude, I'm back in Minnesota. I love
12:57Minnesota. The fans are going to go
12:59crazy for him. I could see him elevating
13:01this offense to like a top 10 offense
13:03because he's got Justin Jefferson,
13:05Jordan Addison. They don't have a run
13:07game, but who knows? Like, you know,
13:09maybe they get crazy here. Maybe they
13:10get hot going against [snorts] some of
13:12these bad defenses, bad secondary. He's
13:14going to see Detroit. He's going to see
13:15Chicago. Chicago's secondary stinks.
13:17Detroit's defense stinks. Green Bay's
13:19defense is very up and down. Like I
13:21don't know. Like he could absolutely go
13:24crazy. So it's like funny the the the
13:26range of outcomes is like
13:28it is really really good and it's also
13:31really really bad, you know? So I don't
13:33know. It's it's a very interesting setup
13:34in Minnesota.
13:35>> I mean, from week 15 to week 17 they get
13:38the Lions, the Commanders, and the Jets.
13:41>> Oh man.
13:42>> That's a great one. And the bar for this
13:44offense is so low. They are in my
13:47offensive efficiency metrics, they are
13:4829th in the NFL. The 29th offense in the
13:52NFL. The Raiders are the 11th best
13:54offense in the NFL.
13:55>> Wow.
13:57Wow.
13:58Well, Fernando, good luck.
14:01Let's go.
14:02>> Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm intrigued to see
14:03Fernando Mendoza for sure. I do wish his
14:06first two starts weren't coming against
14:07the Seahawks and the the Denver Broncos.
14:10That's
14:10>> what I'm saying.
14:12That's what I'm saying.
14:13>> just just get that ball to Brock Bowers.
14:15He's one of the best chain movers in the
14:17entire NFL. So let's that ball to Brock
14:19Bowers and see what happens.
14:20>> Okay.
14:21Um, anyways, by the way,
14:23before we leave, the the the the the
14:25press conference where Clint Kubiak
14:26looks like he's about to murder somebody
14:28is just he looks like he's about to
14:30absolutely sock Spytek in the face.
14:32>> Yeah.
14:33>> Which [laughter] is just
14:34amazing.
14:34>> I don't think this was I mean it's
14:37it's great business by the way for the
14:39Raiders.
14:39>> Oh yeah. Awesome.
14:42>> even if I really thought they were going
14:43to you know they were going to
14:45just obliterate Minnesota from a trade
14:47compensation perspective.
14:49Still getting a third round pick for a
14:5138-year-old quarterback who was going to
14:53maybe start three more games for you
14:55because they have a bye in week 13 which
14:57at that point that's when you get
14:59Mendoza in there.
15:00It's great business for them. But yeah,
15:02if I'm Clint Kubiak, I'm thinking damn
15:04it, we're still in the playoff mix and I
15:05love working with Kirk Cousins because
15:07he brings my very well designed offense
15:09to life.
15:10I could get I would get why he's pissed.
