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Speaker 1: Alrighting.

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Speaker 2: Before we get started, I just want to reiterate my

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Speaker 2: sincere apology for the comment I made a couple of

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Speaker 2: fridays ago. You missed the mark, and we are committed

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Speaker 2: to being better for you and keeping the show the

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Speaker 2: light sports focused place it's meant to be. So let's

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Speaker 2: get back to doing what we are here to do,

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Speaker 2: speculating and handling the sports issues at hand. Al riting now,

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Speaker 2: am riting now, Good morning, and welcome to nine to Noon.

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Speaker 2: A cavalcade of guests will be joining us today to

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Speaker 2: discuss the big sports news that emerged a few days ago,

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Speaker 2: and it involves these guys.

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Speaker 3: You spent a lot of those nights obviously, you know

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Speaker 3: you're up in these decisions and they're uncertain, and you're

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Speaker 3: trying to make sure that you don't lock yourselves into

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Speaker 3: what you did and thinking that it's always right, And

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Speaker 3: so there's those nights and you wake up and start

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Speaker 3: at the ceiling and ask yourself.

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Speaker 4: Ultimately, we felt the change was necessary in football operations

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Speaker 4: and did not feel comfortable going forward into this offseason

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Speaker 4: with the current leadership.

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Speaker 3: I don't want to say overconfidence, but I do think

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Speaker 3: him being here was something that you know, we kind

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Speaker 3: of considered and thought would impact his decision. But ultimately

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Speaker 3: there are free agents and to your point of learning

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Speaker 3: lessons I think, and ultimately we could have executed better

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Speaker 3: around that.

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Speaker 4: It's not about any one decision or move. We looked

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Speaker 4: at the situation cumulatively. We just didn't feel confident going

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Speaker 4: through the entirety of the offseason, an additional draft and

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Speaker 4: free agency with this structure.

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Speaker 3: No, obviously, the season just ended, so we're focusing on

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Speaker 3: obviously the people that we have in the building first

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Speaker 3: and how you know, Jj, how he's matured and how

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Speaker 3: he's done gone on through the season. And you talk

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Speaker 3: about his first six games and how they went, but

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Speaker 3: the last four games, great increases and completion percentage, touched

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Speaker 3: on interception, four wins obviously, and different things like that.

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Speaker 4: We have an urgency to create a winning football team

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Speaker 4: and established sustainable success for our fans. At the same time,

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Speaker 4: we balance that urgency with all decisions thoroughly and methodically

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Speaker 4: winning football. That's what drives all our decision making and

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Speaker 4: is the core of all our efforts every single day.

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Speaker 3: I always go back to the process and what we

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Speaker 3: thought at the time. It's easier to kind of go

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Speaker 3: and be revisionists and results based, but going to really

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Speaker 3: think through what we had at the time. I still

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Speaker 3: understand why we did what we did.

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Speaker 4: Rob er Zinski, we'll lead our football operations in the

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Speaker 4: interim through the draft and will RAI heavily on Kevin,

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Speaker 4: the coaching staff, the talent valued as we have On

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Speaker 4: this personnel side, we have an excellent, strong organization. Rob

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Speaker 4: brings tremendous credibility and experience, understands our roster, and has

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Speaker 4: an innate ability to build consensus with coaches and personnel.

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Speaker 2: The voices of Minnesota Vikings president Mark Wilf and a

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Speaker 2: former general manager, Quasi Yadofo Mensa and welcome joining us

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Speaker 2: now is Pete Bursag, a longtime Minnesota Vikings linebacker, half

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Speaker 2: decade coach and heading into his twentieth season as in

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Speaker 2: booth analyst for the KFA in Minnesota Vikings Audio Network.

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Speaker 2: And Peter, very very good to know you're alive, and

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Speaker 2: I know you I know you feel the same about me,

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Speaker 2: and good morning.

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Speaker 5: Yes, it's good to be amongst the living.

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Speaker 6: Paul.

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Speaker 2: Let's get to the big sports news circulating these days.

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Speaker 2: Pete the Minnesota Vikings moved on from general manager Quasia

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Speaker 2: Dopho Mensa after four full seasons of service, and of

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Speaker 2: course wished him well. The acting general manager through the draft,

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Speaker 2: as we just heard, will be the amiable and experienced

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Speaker 2: Rob Razinski, who has served the Minnesota Vikings for twenty

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Speaker 2: seven years and mostly as the executive vice president of

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Speaker 2: football Operations. Pete, let's get to the what's next first,

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Speaker 2: Quacy second, Brazinski fantastic choice for the now, don't you think?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Rob, Here's the thing. Rob has been in draft rooms

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Speaker 5: and been part of this for for over twenty years.

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Speaker 5: When I was coaching back in back in the day

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Speaker 5: and having been through the drafts and a number of

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Speaker 5: drafts together, it was it was rober Zinsky, Scott Studwell,

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Speaker 5: and Mike Tice and that was the group that was

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Speaker 5: put together and that's how we did That's how we

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Speaker 5: did draft meetings. And so my point being that Rob

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Speaker 5: has been in that room for a long long time.

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Speaker 5: He's seen a lot of these drafts, he's heard, he's

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Speaker 5: listened to scouting reports now for twenty some years about

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Speaker 5: these players, and so it's not going to be anything

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Speaker 5: new for him. I know, he's gonna you know, he

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Speaker 5: has his own style and he's going to put his

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Speaker 5: own mark on on how things are going, how things presented,

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Speaker 5: all the all the million and one little details as

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Speaker 5: to how this whole ship is going to operate. But

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Speaker 5: they you know, when when when I heard it was

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Speaker 5: going to be Rob that's going to be running the draft,

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Speaker 5: It's like, Okay, let's just he's done this before. It's

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Speaker 5: not got only. It's not going to be anything neworks

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Speaker 5: or novel to the whole thing. So yeah, the Vikings

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Speaker 5: are in very good hands, very capable hands. And Rob,

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Speaker 5: you know, Rob is is going to find a way

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Speaker 5: to get all these guys together and on the same page.

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Speaker 5: And and that's I think the most important thing over

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Speaker 5: the next few months is a lot of critical decisions

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Speaker 5: will be made for the organization. Uh and you know,

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Speaker 5: I know Rob will have everybody together and on the

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Speaker 5: same page no matter what those decisions are.

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Speaker 2: The analyst, well, then you have Ryan Grigson, who will

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Speaker 2: be fifty four years of age in less than a month.

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Speaker 2: He's the assistant general manager. And you know, well Ryan

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Speaker 2: has some really good opinions and experience of wins and

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Speaker 2: losses he's he's been around the block, an he pete.

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Speaker 5: Yes, yes he has. And you know it's when you

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Speaker 5: look at GM's across the league and he has that

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Speaker 5: that personnel background, he's been you know, been a GM before.

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Speaker 6: So uh.

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Speaker 5: You know, that's the funny thing about with with gms

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Speaker 5: is once once they get fired, you know, how often

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Speaker 5: do they get rehired? You know what I mean? And

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Speaker 5: you that's how you learn. You learn from doing the job.

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Speaker 5: You learn from being out there making the tough decisions.

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Speaker 6: You know that is a GM.

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Speaker 5: GM is so much different than a head coach in

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Speaker 5: that regard because the GM position is not the same

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Speaker 5: across the league. A head coach in the NFL, it's

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Speaker 5: pretty much a head coach in the NFL. It's not

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Speaker 5: going to change a whole lot. Uh, if you're if

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Speaker 5: you're in Detroit, if you're in Chicago, if you're in

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Speaker 5: Tampa Bay. But when you're a GM, the ownership really

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Speaker 5: dictates and changes. Uh, you know what your role is

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Speaker 5: in how much you do. Be a GM in Dallas

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Speaker 5: is a little different than being GM in Minnesota. Uh. So,

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Speaker 5: having that having a guy with that kind of experience

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Speaker 5: and background, especially you know, his side of the his

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Speaker 5: his special He was an old lineman, right, he was

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Speaker 5: an offensive lineman, so he knows that position very well.

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Speaker 5: But he's he is the He is the classic scout,

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Speaker 5: meaning this Paul. You give him any any town, any

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Speaker 5: you can, any any small town Appalachian state. You ask

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Speaker 5: him where the best restaurants are, He'll know where they are.

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Speaker 5: That's that's a true scout. True scout's know where all

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Speaker 5: the good food is all across this country.

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Speaker 2: He burstch in Booth, analysts for the Minnesota Vikings audio

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Speaker 2: network with Brazinski, I just I wonder if he gets

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Speaker 2: the draft and and like, if he's one and done

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Speaker 2: with drafting, Uh, do we get to tie like the

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Speaker 2: picks to his name? Look at it this way, so

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Speaker 2: say down the road, somebody's like back in twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 2: things change quickly. Rob Brazinski was the GM late January.

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Speaker 2: Through the draft, they went eight for eight on their picks.

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Speaker 2: The eighteenth overall became a Hall of Fame defensive tackle,

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Speaker 2: and the rest fortified the team for years and led

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Speaker 2: by Kevin O'Connell and his staffs coaching, won three consecutive

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Speaker 2: Super Bowls. I wonder if Brazinski and his name get

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Speaker 2: tied to the draft.

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Speaker 5: Well, I mean you should tie it to Kevin Williams.

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Speaker 5: Of Kevin Williams makes it into the Hall of Fame

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Speaker 5: if he was around with you know, with Kevin Williams

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Speaker 5: when when when he was drafted. Yeah, I mean you're

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Speaker 5: going to do that. And Paul, I think the main

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Speaker 5: point and we as fans and as outsiders are not

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Speaker 5: going to know this, but you have to have somebody

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Speaker 5: to make the call. I mean, collaboration is important. Collaboration

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Speaker 5: means that every voice is that's in there that that

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Speaker 5: should contribute does contribute.

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Speaker 1: But it is long.

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Speaker 5: Alongside of collaboration, you still have to have somebody who's

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Speaker 5: going to make a decision. Somebody has to be has

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Speaker 5: to hold that responsibility, somebody there. There has to be

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Speaker 5: one person with that and that's usually the general manager.

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Speaker 5: All that's going to work out, we won't We don't know,

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Speaker 5: and we'll never know. So I'm saying this, regardless of

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Speaker 5: how the draft goes in ten years and twenty years

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Speaker 5: from now, when you look back on it, we don't

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Speaker 5: know who's the ultimate person that was pulling for said

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Speaker 5: player and then who ultimately made that decision because I

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Speaker 5: don't think you know, those workings are not public and

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Speaker 5: they shouldn't be public. But yeah, he's overseeing it. So yeah,

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Speaker 5: it's his name and his stamp is going to be

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Speaker 5: on it regardless of how this next draft goes. You know,

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Speaker 5: that's that's just part of the that's just part of

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Speaker 5: the bit.

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Speaker 2: Well, when and we've known Rob for quite some time,

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Speaker 2: and we trust Rob, and we know where Rob's heart is,

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Speaker 2: and we know he's going to work really hard for

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Speaker 2: the betterment of the team. He was described this weekend

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Speaker 2: to me by somebody who absolutely would know as a connector,

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Speaker 2: as a connector, like he's not your grind film when

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Speaker 2: all the draft spot conversations, but he he just just

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Speaker 2: think about this, He's universally liked and respected by every

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Speaker 2: single person at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center. Man, that's

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Speaker 2: that's a tough nut to crack any place any time.

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Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, in an organization like that. And you know

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Speaker 5: that's the thing when when when you hear the word,

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Speaker 5: you know, conflict and you know, people not getting along

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Speaker 5: and all, and I I kind of I kind of

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Speaker 5: chuckle at that stuff because that's life. That's how it is.

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Speaker 5: People are going to have different opinions. And when you're

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Speaker 5: when you're when you're coaching in the NFL poll or

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Speaker 5: whatever you are in the NFL, you know, your job

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Speaker 5: depends upon everybody doing in their job. When you're a player,

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Speaker 5: it's a little bit different if you're out there making

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Speaker 5: plays happen. If you're an offensive lineman and you're and

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Speaker 5: you're playing very very well. But the but the team itself,

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Speaker 5: the offense itself, the group, the offensive line is a

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Speaker 5: group is not playing well. You as a player, No,

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Speaker 5: you are going to keep your job because you're the

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Speaker 5: best of the bunch and you've been taking care of business.

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Speaker 5: You're not getting your you know, offensively, you may not be,

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Speaker 5: you know, accomplishing all of your big goals. But when

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Speaker 5: you're coaching, you you're dependent upon everybody else in that room.

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Speaker 5: Meaning you might be a liebacker coach and the defense

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Speaker 5: is killing it, but uh, there's a section of the

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Speaker 5: offense isn't doing well and we're losing games because of

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Speaker 5: this this phase of the game or something else. You

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Speaker 5: don't just fire half to staff, I mean everybody gets fired, right,

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Speaker 5: So coaches depend on the entire group. It's not as

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Speaker 5: if it's just one guy here and one guy there.

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Speaker 5: It's different than a player and you know that, And

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Speaker 5: so guys have a tendency like they'll get out of

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Speaker 5: their lane, they'll comment on things that doesn't fall into

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Speaker 5: their umbrella because unfortunately, in the reality of it all

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Speaker 5: is that, yeah, you're affected by all of that. My

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Speaker 5: point in saying all of this, Paul, is at that level,

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Speaker 5: you have a lot of people with a lot of

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Speaker 5: big opinions, and they're all going to differ on everything,

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Speaker 5: on everybody everyone in the draft, all this team should

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Speaker 5: look who do you bring in in free agency? There

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Speaker 5: has to be some overarching body that can put everybody

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Speaker 5: in line and keep them marching in the same direction.

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Speaker 5: Rober Zinski has that, he's been around, he has the

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Speaker 5: gravitas to do that, and he has a technique and

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Speaker 5: the ability to do that. So I'm kind of excited

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Speaker 5: to see what he's going you know, what he's going

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Speaker 5: to do and how he's going to how he's going

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Speaker 5: to arrange all of this and with the scouts and

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Speaker 5: how with their input's going to be, how much the

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Speaker 5: coaches input's going to matter, how much this guy's and

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Speaker 5: put you know, he's got to organize and put that

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Speaker 5: team together. So you come out of this thing on

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Speaker 5: the same page, and everybody's kind of going in the

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Speaker 5: same direction. And that's the big thing. Is you mentioned

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Speaker 5: the word respect, because you don't have to like every

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Speaker 5: decision that's made, right, if you're a cog in the wheel,

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Speaker 5: if you're if you're a position coach, you don't have

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Speaker 5: to like all of the decisions that the team makes,

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Speaker 5: but you have to respect them. And if you respect them,

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Speaker 5: then you can find a way to move on and

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Speaker 5: move forward. And that's the big thing is Rob has

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Speaker 5: the respect I think of everybody in that room.

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Speaker 2: Hey, we're going to bring Nacio in here in a

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Speaker 2: few minutes and mix it up with US three, so

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Speaker 2: we'll call you right back.

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Speaker 5: Okay, Yeah, US Bank sideline update.

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Speaker 1: Yep, here it comes sponsored by US Bank.

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Speaker 6: All right. That's uh. That's uh.

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Speaker 2: That's about Pete Persich in both analysts for the Vast

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Speaker 2: and never Expanding KFA n Minnesota, Vikings Audio Network, Nordo

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Speaker 2: what up love you? Oh uh now? Courtesy of timber

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Speaker 2: Tech timber tech dot com. What's on Deck nine to

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Speaker 2: noon today includes Nacho liber Around the Corner, followed by

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Speaker 2: Kyle Rudolph, followed by Wes Wallas on the Coorching Wild,

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Speaker 2: followed by Norda, followed by Adam Kaplan Big Time NFL

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Speaker 2: News Breaker, followed by Norda, followed by Parker Fox in Studio, followed.

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Speaker 1: By Nordo, followed by Nordo.

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Speaker 2: And we welcome you to f M one hundred point

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Speaker 2: three KFAM.

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Speaker 1: I'm Paul Allen. There comes Norda. He's got some good news.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, the fan wants to give you a shot to

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Speaker 7: win some bonus box with the National Cash Contest. Just

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Speaker 7: win some money with the keyword bank. Enter that keyword

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Speaker 7: in kfan dot com now.

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Speaker 2: And joining us now, Ben Lieber, Pete Bursitch returns, and

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Speaker 2: good to have these brothers in broadcasting with us at

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Speaker 2: nine to twenty. Good morning the It's Claire now. Pete

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Speaker 2: and I chatted about Rob Razinski for about ten minutes.

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Speaker 2: We're going to do the same thing here because I

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Speaker 2: know you know him well and I know you're respect

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Speaker 2: him a lot.

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Speaker 1: Uh that.

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Speaker 2: Regarding quasi adopho mensa, the timing of this, for sure

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Speaker 2: is peculiar. I never knew of Kevin and Quasy not

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Speaker 2: respecting each other. But then again, I can't say everyone

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Speaker 2: looking for it, like you know what I mean right.

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Speaker 1: Right that that's first of all.

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Speaker 8: I just want to say, it's great to see you, uh,

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Speaker 8: love you, Love you to death, and it's going to

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Speaker 8: be back in here with you.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, fair unfair.

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Speaker 8: I I want to sort of sympathize and have some

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Speaker 8: compassion for quas in a situation, but keeping it everything professional.

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Speaker 8: This this is the nature of our business, and this

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Speaker 8: is I'm sure that he understands that some of these

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Speaker 8: things are going to come to light when he was

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Speaker 8: let go.

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Speaker 1: I'm hearing more and more about.

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Speaker 8: The the disagreements between QUAC and a lot of people

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Speaker 8: within the organization, just about how he conducted his operations

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Speaker 8: of scouting and decision making and time put into the

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Speaker 8: facility and all this other stuff. And yeah, it just

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Speaker 8: as Mark Wilf was saying, it wasn't about one thing

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Speaker 8: in particular. It was about the totality of everything, the

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Speaker 8: holistic view of how the health of the.

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Speaker 1: Organization and where they're going. And it does make a

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Speaker 1: lot of sense.

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Speaker 8: Now, I don't know, I've heard the same things about

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Speaker 8: what you're talking about you're referencing with Koc.

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Speaker 1: I don't know all that stuff.

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Speaker 8: All I know is I think that between the paternity leave,

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Speaker 8: the sort of what became sort of a daily routine

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Speaker 8: for him work wise, his philosophies on scouting people, the

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Speaker 8: maybe not doing the best job of having sort of

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Speaker 8: an open door policy, and building the culture from within

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Speaker 8: in his own eyes. I think that all of that's

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Speaker 8: in play, and it wasn't up to the standard.

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Speaker 2: Uh pete then than Ben, I mean it, it's none

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Speaker 2: of us are. I think we all realize it's not fair,

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Speaker 2: you know, when somebody is hired or somebody loses a job,

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Speaker 2: to like, let's start with Lewis Sine and let's go

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Speaker 2: through the final person who the last person who was

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Speaker 2: drafted with the QUAC leading this regime, and then like

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Speaker 2: every single free agent and then be like.

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Speaker 1: Good, bad, bad, How bad? How good?

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Speaker 2: It's a totality thing that really the timing is so

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Speaker 2: peculiar that clearly it supersedes what picks were in free

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Speaker 2: agents and things like that.

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Speaker 1: So I think you guys would agree with that.

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Speaker 2: I thought I thought Javon Hargrave would be better, and

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Speaker 2: I and and as last season went with a key position,

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Speaker 2: I thought he would be better.

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Speaker 1: I just kind of wonder what happened there. What do

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Speaker 1: you think, Pete, Yeah, I would agree with you.

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Speaker 5: I mean, I thought Javon Hargrave in the first four

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Speaker 5: it was about the first four games that he put

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Speaker 5: in with with the forty nine ers a year ago,

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Speaker 5: he bought, you know, watching him on film, he did

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Speaker 5: some he did some amazing things. You know, you watched

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Speaker 5: Javon Hargrave this year. Different scheme, completely different scheme. Ben

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Speaker 5: would know a lot about this too, but still kept

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Speaker 5: that real long, wide open stance, didn't you know, he

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Speaker 5: didn't change. I don't know if he was just resistant

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Speaker 5: to changing his fundamentals or whatever it was, But no,

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Speaker 5: he did. He did not make the impact that I

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Speaker 5: had expected, going back and watching a lot of the

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Speaker 5: film from from last year. As it's what you know,

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Speaker 5: you do when the offseason starts, Jonathan Allen played and

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Speaker 5: did a lot of things. He by the end of

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Speaker 5: the season he was playing very very well. So, yeah,

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Speaker 5: the Javon Hargrave thing is is a bit of a

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Speaker 5: mystery to me. And you know, but in totality, you

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Speaker 5: look at the free agents that had been brought in

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Speaker 5: over the last couple of seasons, and I think they've

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Speaker 5: all played pretty darn well. I mean again, go back

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Speaker 5: and remember two seasons ago, this defense faced more passing

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Speaker 5: attempts than any other defense in the league. So you

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Speaker 5: wanted to get that interior pass rush going because you

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Speaker 5: didn't want to have the blitz all the time. So

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Speaker 5: you go out, you bring in Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave,

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Speaker 5: and then you face in twenty twenty five more rushing

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Speaker 5: attempts than any other team in the league. So we

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Speaker 5: go from the most passing attempts to seeing the most

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Speaker 5: rushing attempts, a complete you know, a complete one eighty.

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Speaker 5: And I guess that's kind of the lesson to be learned,

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Speaker 5: so to speak, is is you just don't know. You

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Speaker 5: can't assume that last year is going to be this year,

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Speaker 5: and you know, so don't knee jerk and get a

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Speaker 5: bunch of run stuffers up front and then lose all

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Speaker 5: your you know, lose some of your pass rushing. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: all of all that, of all the group and all

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Speaker 5: the people that we brought in, you know, lord knows,

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Speaker 5: two years ago you know, when you brought in Jonathan

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Speaker 5: Gernard and Van Ginkel and cash Man. I mean that

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Speaker 5: was a that was a great haul defensively free agent.

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Speaker 6: Wise, Yeah, I think.

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Speaker 5: You know, again, Jonathan Allen played very very well, I

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Speaker 5: think Javon. So that's again that's what coaches and gms

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Speaker 5: in front offs people need to know. You know, what's

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Speaker 5: going on, what happened, uh, and and what do we

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Speaker 5: think Jayvon is gonna be able to improve going in

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Speaker 5: the next year?

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Speaker 2: And and you know, I think it's important for people

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Speaker 2: to know that you have a general manager and and

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Speaker 2: it's that name is going to be tied with draft

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Speaker 2: and or free agency related wins and losses. Even though most,

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Speaker 2: if not all, head coaches have big says and things.

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Speaker 2: You have assistant general managers, you have scouts, you have coordinators.

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Speaker 2: So it's a hodgepodge of decision making when it goes

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Speaker 2: into you know, think draft picks that don't work and

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Speaker 2: or free free agents that do work, like for instance,

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Speaker 2: the most recent regime nailed Isaiah Rodgers, Eric Wilson, Jordan Mason,

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Speaker 2: will Fries, and Fabian Moreau. And when you're the GM,

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Speaker 2: as I mentioned, your name is the first associated even

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Speaker 2: with the likes of Lewis Cen, Brian Assem wah Grenard

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Speaker 2: and Ben Ginkel and Jordan Mason. Many other opinions and

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Speaker 2: factors lead to the final answer for sure, but the

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Speaker 2: GM's name always is the first one mentioned, right.

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Speaker 8: Well, it has to be because that's just the way

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Speaker 8: organizational and corporate structures are. Is every decision made by

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Speaker 8: the CEO of any company, No, not necessarily, but are

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Speaker 8: does the buck have to stop someplace? And do people

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Speaker 8: take responsibility for certain things that happen? One hundred percent?

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Speaker 8: And I think part of that is just the culture

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Speaker 8: of what you build, which again is I think going

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Speaker 8: back to the totality thing like it was, it was

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Speaker 8: a wrong cultural fit that that Quasy was trying to implement.

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Speaker 8: And then you throw in the fact that, in all fairness,

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Speaker 8: like you're saying, some of the free agents were absolute

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Speaker 8: home runs. But he was asked to come in and

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Speaker 8: rebuild this roster and get us in a position where

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Speaker 8: we could spend more money versus having to be penny pinchers,

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Speaker 8: and here we are now. I don't think we have

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Speaker 8: to make a lot of tough choices this offseason with

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Speaker 8: their salary cap, but we don't have a lot of

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Speaker 8: play in room. So even when we make some of

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Speaker 8: the necessary cuts contract wise, and I think are kind

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Speaker 8: of the obvious cuts, we still not left with a

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Speaker 8: lot of money. Even though those salary CAP's going to

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Speaker 8: go up twenty five plus million dollars this year, that's

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Speaker 8: going to be across the board for everybody, So percentage wise,

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Speaker 8: we still don't are not going to have a lot

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Speaker 8: of spending money.

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Speaker 1: He's not.

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Speaker 8: He didn't help out in that regard because his draft

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Speaker 8: picks were such bus and the way that you build

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Speaker 8: these teams in a championship teams is you build through

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Speaker 8: the draft, and you should have some money in the

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Speaker 8: off season to get a few pieces here and there.

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Speaker 8: That doesn't mean that you rebuild the whole roster through

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Speaker 8: free agency and contracts that then suck up all your

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Speaker 8: available money and then they now you don't have quality depth.

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Speaker 8: So yes, give him some credit for free agent picks,

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Speaker 8: but mostly the GM's there for draft picks in which

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Speaker 8: he failed and Pete.

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Speaker 2: There absolutely is room for Quaisia doofo Mens in the NFL.

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Speaker 2: There was before this, during this, and after this. It

434
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:44,760
Speaker 2: just may not be as a general manager.

435
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 5: Right, yeah, absolutely, And I think I think one of

436
00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 5: the areas that teams will will want to talk more

437
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,120
Speaker 5: about him is just how they went about finding these

438
00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 5: undrafted rookie free agents, guys like Jalen Redman and Levi Drake, Rodriguez,

439
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:03,679
Speaker 5: Ivan Pace.

440
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,640
Speaker 6: I mean you you you've.

441
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,720
Speaker 5: Gotten This team I think has gotten more out of

442
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,439
Speaker 5: undrafted guys or as much as anybody in the.

443
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:14,399
Speaker 6: League in that regard.

444
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 5: So that's a I think that's an area over the

445
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,880
Speaker 5: last four years that has gone that has gone very

446
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 5: well for this team. But and and keep in mind

447
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 5: too that you you have, to Ben's point everything, you

448
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,679
Speaker 5: have a GM for a reason. If you turn if

449
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 5: you turn the keys over to a coach, a coach

450
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 5: is gonna win today. He's going to win now. He's

451
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 5: not going to have he's going to draft for this season,

452
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 5: he's not going to draft for two, three, four years

453
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 5: down the road. Because coaches know they have to win now.

454
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,160
Speaker 5: You can't win into Winning in two or three years

455
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,359
Speaker 5: is not going to help them because they're probably not

456
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 5: going to be around if they don't win now. And

457
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,000
Speaker 5: that's the role of a GM is to balance that

458
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,639
Speaker 5: win now mentality. With what's in the what's in the

459
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,639
Speaker 5: best long term interest of this team, and that's the

460
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 5: relationship and that's the that's the framework that all of

461
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 5: this operates on. And for Cosy, yeah, he I think

462
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 5: he there are certain things that he can point to

463
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 5: and say, this is what I was trying to do,

464
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,679
Speaker 5: this is how it went, this is the way I

465
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 5: look at things, because I don't think analytics and that

466
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:22,920
Speaker 5: aspect of that way of looking at the NFL is dead.

467
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 5: I think it's just going to have to evolve, especially

468
00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 5: in Minnesota.

469
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 8: And I would even add that that I could see

470
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,880
Speaker 8: a role for him too that's not in scouting. And

471
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 8: you know, if his background was analytics and Wall Street

472
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 8: and numbers and finance, then I don't know, maybe maybe

473
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,960
Speaker 8: you lean into that a little bit more and you

474
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 8: try to become the next Rob Brazinski. And I think

475
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 8: there's a lot of teams out there that would value

476
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,199
Speaker 8: highly somebody that understands the cap in the numbers and

477
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 8: how to make all the financial pieces fit into the

478
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:02,320
Speaker 8: overall team puzzle. If he wants to sort of take

479
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 8: some of his expertise in his background and what he's

480
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,199
Speaker 8: learned about NFL contracts through and all doing all the numbers,

481
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 8: Like I don't know, I could see a role too

482
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 8: where he makes a long term living with the team

483
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,320
Speaker 8: being their capologist, versus trying to seem like it seems

484
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 8: like he's trying to fit a square peg into a

485
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,640
Speaker 8: round hole. With marrying the analytics and then also having

486
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 8: to learn football. You know, it's it's and you understand

487
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 8: it's like it's not just like you watch film for

488
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 8: a couple of years and you're like, oh, I'm a

489
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 8: football expert like now, you just you have to be

490
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 8: in it for a long time just to feel it.

491
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 8: And sometimes it's not even just what you see on film.

492
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 8: It's just kind of like this overall, like you're picking

493
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,720
Speaker 8: up expertise through osmosis, through talking to people, being at practice,

494
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,879
Speaker 8: watching guys move around, and you're making mental notes about

495
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 8: how these guys play. That is not so much just

496
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 8: like meat and potatoes. Watch this guy in film and

497
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 8: make my evaluation.

498
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 2: And Ben's going to leave in a couple of minutes,

499
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 2: but before he says goodbye, likewise, for you, Pete, the

500
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 2: next general manager, whether it's Rob Razinski or whomever else,

501
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 2: the moving forward plan feel me out on this or

502
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,480
Speaker 2: hear me out on this. With the with the contract

503
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:19,600
Speaker 2: they gave Kevin after last year, he has to have

504
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,960
Speaker 2: a big say in all of this, and I'm talking

505
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,199
Speaker 2: about the moving forward plan. And that's cool if so,

506
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 2: because he cares, he's smart, and he's done terrific work

507
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:34,159
Speaker 2: winning games seasons, there were challenges, and he and his

508
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 2: family have embraced the state on all levels. And he

509
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 2: probably had the most to do with Brian Flores returning too.

510
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, if Ko has Ko power with us,

511
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 2: some are all decisions all good with me. I don't

512
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,119
Speaker 2: know that to be the case, but I wanted to state, mind,

513
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 2: what do you guys think, Yeah, Peet go.

514
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 5: Ahead, Yeah, no, his coach, his coaches go.

515
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 6: When you know it's in. And let me just say

516
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 6: this in general.

517
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,920
Speaker 5: The coaches as they are at a franchise, and the

518
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 5: longer they'rewith a franchise, the more power they usually get. Why,

519
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 5: because they've been successful. That's the only reason why you

520
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,640
Speaker 5: stick around. You don't see coach. You don't see coaches

521
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 5: get proverbially uh neutered per se and saying well, yeah,

522
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 5: you know, we used them for He was doing the

523
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 5: draft of personnel and everything. We're going to keep him

524
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:29,440
Speaker 5: as the head coach, but he's just not going to

525
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 5: be responsible for X, Y and Z and all these

526
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 5: other No, it doesn't go that way, right you You

527
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,479
Speaker 5: you as a head coach, win and you gain, you know,

528
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 5: incrementally more and more say in what goes on because

529
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,719
Speaker 5: you are winning, because you are doing the right things.

530
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 5: Uh so, Yeah, I see his role in the franchise

531
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 5: from when he was a first time you know, first

532
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 5: time head coach for you know, really first time play

533
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 5: caller and seeing the success that he's had over the

534
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 5: last four seas Evans as you've fallen short.

535
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 6: Yeah, we you know, we are we not where we.

536
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 5: Want to be, of course, but he's at year, you know,

537
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 5: year after year, at the year incrementally, I think, gaining

538
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 5: more say. And again, Paul, Ben, we will never know

539
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 5: exactly who's making what calls one and where and how

540
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 5: that's all laid out. We can only speculate, but I believe, Yah,

541
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 5: I expect Kevin to have a lot more say in

542
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 5: what's going on in that building going forward.

543
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: Ben, you get the last word.

544
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 6: Yeah.

545
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 8: This is what I'll say about about all of this

546
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 8: is that I think Rob is is actually more qualified

547
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 8: than people think. I think he'd be a fantastic leader

548
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 8: in the scouting department, you know, overseeing player development and

549
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 8: all that stuff, scouting and building this team. The thing

550
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 8: that I would caution I'm trying to I'm trying to

551
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 8: look at this through through cautious eize, is that if

552
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 8: you're in this supposed new power structure, if that remains

553
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 8: the same after the draft, where Rob Razinski is the GM,

554
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 8: you're you're alive a little heavier on your coordinators, which

555
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 8: is your head coach on one side and Brian Flores

556
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 8: on the other side. That's great because there's two football

557
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 8: guys that are making decisions and are like heavily handed

558
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:16,479
Speaker 8: in the scouting. But that also down the road leads

559
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 8: to an organizational divide, and that is something that you

560
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 8: do not want in a team environment. You don't want

561
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 8: offense versus defense. You don't want that feel. You don't

562
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 8: want to have this push pull where one is one

563
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 8: is like angling towards you know, I really need this

564
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 8: guy at pick eighteen or whatever it is. What pick

565
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 8: do we have eighteen eighteen? I want this guy on

566
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 8: defensive side. I want this guy on the offensive side,

567
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 8: and if you're if you're empowering these two guys to

568
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 8: carry that much weight. I'm not saying it happens this year,

569
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 8: but I feel like it has the recipe for overtime

570
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 8: dividing and creating a power struggle and a power vacuum.

571
00:30:58,240 --> 00:30:59,240
Speaker 1: Within an organization.

572
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,760
Speaker 8: So I think that they need really really hard to

573
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 8: find roles, and not that they shouldn't have some input

574
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 8: because we all know that they have input now, but

575
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 8: just making sure that you cap that power and just

576
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 8: say like, no, guys, it's me at the top that's

577
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 8: making this decision. It's not in us versus them. We're

578
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 8: not going to get into practice and it's going to

579
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 8: be offense versus defense. We're going to win and lose

580
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 8: games as a team. We're not going to have this

581
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 8: divided locker room. So that is the one thing that

582
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 8: I would say, like, man, I love, I love where

583
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 8: we're going to go in with this with Rob.

584
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 2: This is the one thing that would caution us on Ben.

585
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming by, Pete. Thanks thanks a lot

586
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 2: for calling in love you guys, love you, thank you, Pete,

587
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 2: love yep. I appreciate you. Pete versage Ben Leber. The

588
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 2: analysts for the KFA in Minnesota Vikings Audio Network. Kyle Rudolph,

589
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 2: one of the great tight ends in the history of

590
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 2: Minnesota Vikings football, joins us around the Corner KFA in

591
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,400
Speaker 2: Sports Talk Time is nine thirty seven.

592
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 1: Kyle Rudolph, good boy.

593
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 2: One of the greatest tight ends in the history of

594
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:06,959
Speaker 2: Minnesota Vikings football, nice enough to join us. Kyle, Love you, buddy,

595
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 2: and thanks for helping the show. And you live in

596
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 2: or buy Tampa Bay. I believe were you were you

597
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 2: surprised in any way Baker publicly got after Stefanski the

598
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 2: way he did.

599
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 9: You know how we are as as athletes, you know,

600
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 9: when we're always looking for kind of like that chip

601
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 9: on our shoulder or we're always looking because like, ultimately,

602
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 9: like we're all professionals in this industry. And you know,

603
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,960
Speaker 9: did I love going against Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers

604
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,600
Speaker 9: for eight years in a row in the NFC North. No,

605
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 9: But like they're good guys and you have respect for

606
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 9: him and ultimately, like when you step inside the lines,

607
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 9: like you have to like kind of create that edge

608
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 9: if you would, so, like did things end well for

609
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 9: Baker in Cleveland?

610
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 4: No?

611
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 9: Absolutely not, But like how much of that was Kevin's decision,

612
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 9: how much of that was the GM's decision. Uh So,

613
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 9: then ultimately, like now here they are in the NFC South,

614
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,719
Speaker 9: And like I know Baker very very well. Obviously, I

615
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 9: know Kevin extremely well, having played on his team and

616
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 9: you know, in the same room as him for number

617
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 9: of years. And it's kind of one of those things,

618
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 9: like you know, Baker loves to have that fiery chip

619
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 9: on his shoulder mentality, and you know, if it truly

620
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 9: did go down that way where Kevin didn't reach out

621
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 9: to him at all after you know, he was traded

622
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,560
Speaker 9: and shipped off, as he said, you know, it's a

623
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 9: great way to kind of stir up a good old

624
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 9: NFC South rivalry with the Bucks and the Falcons.

625
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 2: Kyle Rudolph old school, best school football music to the

626
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 2: metaphorical ears.

627
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: Big boys back. Who speaking of.

628
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 2: Somebody you know very well, that would be Viking's executive

629
00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 2: vice president of football Operations, Rob Razenski. And I know

630
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 2: you know about Quacy, and I know you know about

631
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 2: the moving forward plan. As of now in that Brizz

632
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:15,760
Speaker 2: as we call him in the business, we'll be running

633
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,319
Speaker 2: the team at least through the draft. What if you

634
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 2: know what, because you know better than anybody man that

635
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 2: you got a GM and if the picks are good

636
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 2: and the picks are bad, it's all going to come

637
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 2: back to that name, even though there are multiple people

638
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,360
Speaker 2: who have say in what happens with drafts and or

639
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 2: free agency. But just for the case of twenty twenty six, Kyle,

640
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,160
Speaker 2: I mean, what if the Vikings go like eight for

641
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,319
Speaker 2: eight in the draft? What if eighteen is just a

642
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 2: stone cold home run and everybody can see it in

643
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 2: year number one? I know you've got a lot of

644
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:50,240
Speaker 2: respect for Rob Razenski.

645
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:50,799
Speaker 6: What do you think?

646
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:57,200
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, certainly it was very well documented in

647
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 9: my comments when I saw the news. Rob was kind

648
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 9: of the person put in charge throughout the course of

649
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:09,399
Speaker 9: this offseason, through free agency and the draft, and you know,

650
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 9: I couldn't be more excited for him. I think he

651
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 9: deserves this opportunity. He's ready for this opportunity. For all

652
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 9: of us that have been in the building over the

653
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 9: course of the last twenty plus years, we all know

654
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 9: that Rob's the architects behind the curtain, like he's the

655
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 9: guy making all these deals happen. He's the one manipulating

656
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 9: the cap better than anyone in the NFL. But I

657
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 9: think one of the things people don't realize about Rob

658
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 9: is he does understand football. Like, yeah, he's always been

659
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 9: the numbers guy. Who's the one you know, I think

660
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 9: about like our run from seventeen eighteen, nineteen twenty, we're

661
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 9: number one in the NFL and cash in a couple

662
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,160
Speaker 9: of years, And you can't do that if you don't

663
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:55,839
Speaker 9: have a true wizard working the salary cap like Rob did.

664
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,360
Speaker 9: But again, I go back to one thing that people

665
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:03,319
Speaker 9: don't really understand is, you know, Rob, he understands ball

666
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 9: and if he doesn't understand it, he's going to ask.

667
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 9: And I think if you have someone that's leading your

668
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 9: team throughout the course of the offseason, there's really no

669
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 9: better person to pair with a young, offensive minded head

670
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:23,719
Speaker 9: coach and Kevin who is going to work hand in hand.

671
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,399
Speaker 9: You know those look at the the GM head coach

672
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 9: combos that have been successful over the last decade plus

673
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 9: are the ones where the head coach the GM are

674
00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,840
Speaker 9: in sync. Yeah, and you know, you don't think Rob's

675
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,840
Speaker 9: going to lean on Kevin in terms of personnel on

676
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,240
Speaker 9: the offensive side of the ball and lean on Brian

677
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 9: Floores for personnel on the defensive side of the ball.

678
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,320
Speaker 9: It's really kind of this perfect three headed monster between

679
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,720
Speaker 9: Rob Brazinski, Kevin O'Connell, and Brian Floores for them to say, hey, look,

680
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,520
Speaker 9: we know going into this offseason, nobody's going to be

681
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,120
Speaker 9: able to create more CAP space. Obviously we're way underwater

682
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,040
Speaker 9: in the cap as it's stands right now. But Rob's

683
00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,319
Speaker 9: the best at it, so he'll figure it out. And

684
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,879
Speaker 9: then you attack it between those three people going out

685
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 9: and saying, oh, these are the guys that we have

686
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:12,759
Speaker 9: to get in free agency, these are the draft picks,

687
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 9: These are the type of people that we want to

688
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:18,399
Speaker 9: bring into this organization. And you know, to me, I

689
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 9: hope that after that whole process. You know, obviously the

690
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,279
Speaker 9: Wolves will do their due diligence and they'll go out

691
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,920
Speaker 9: and look at other candidates. But I hope it's Rob's

692
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 9: job to keep Andy and he gets the opportunity moving forward.

693
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 2: Uh, Kyle, probably a dumb question here, but I just

694
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 2: want to hear you answer it. You keep saying we

695
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,440
Speaker 2: are this with the Cap, we are this with Rob,

696
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,200
Speaker 2: we are this with Kevin. Now you you finished your

697
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 2: career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers also played with the.

698
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:48,960
Speaker 1: New York Giants.

699
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,959
Speaker 2: What why is it important for you for Vikings references

700
00:37:54,320 --> 00:38:00,240
Speaker 2: to forever, I guess, or certainly for now be we.

701
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 6: Well, it will always be we.

702
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:07,560
Speaker 9: You know, ultimately I wasn't like Harrison and played my

703
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 9: entire career there. You know, if he ultimately decides to

704
00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:14,920
Speaker 9: move on and be done, you know, he'd be a

705
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 9: guy fourteen years in one place. It's incredible. I would

706
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 9: have loved to have had that opportunity. I didn't so

707
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:24,839
Speaker 9: a brief stop in New York, and then I came

708
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 9: down here and sold out after thirty one years in

709
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 9: the Midwest and got some Florida sunshine. But let's be honest,

710
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 9: I didn't do a whole lot in either one of

711
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 9: those places. You know, certainly those organizations were great to me,

712
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,239
Speaker 9: but it will always be we. In reference to the

713
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:46,360
Speaker 9: Minnesota Vikings, you know, it's a place that I've always

714
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 9: said as the best fan base in the world. I

715
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:54,840
Speaker 9: loved seeing going back to my buddy Harrison, his comments

716
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 9: that he made after the Christmas game, the white out

717
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:02,360
Speaker 9: against Detroit. It just it is a true testament to

718
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 9: Minnesota Vikings fans. So you know, for me, it will

719
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 9: always be we, and the Wilfs know this. Rob knows this,

720
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,399
Speaker 9: Kevin knows this. If there's anything that I could ever

721
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,800
Speaker 9: do to help them, I'm always there and I'm always

722
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,439
Speaker 9: willing to help because there's no place that I want

723
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 9: to see succeed more than that place. Ultimately, I had

724
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,279
Speaker 9: ten years to try to bring the first championship to

725
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 9: the state of Minnesota and I couldn't get it done.

726
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,200
Speaker 9: That doesn't mean that if there's not ever a you know,

727
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 9: an opportunity to do anything to help that place out,

728
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 9: I wouldn't do it.

729
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 6: So that's why it will always be we.

730
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:43,960
Speaker 9: When I reference the Minnesota Vikings.

731
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 2: Who who is the best overall tight end in the

732
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:49,360
Speaker 2: NFL right now?

733
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 9: And why I still think. You know, Trey McBride had

734
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:02,680
Speaker 9: statistically one of the greatest seasons ever by a tight

735
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 9: end over you know, a record number of catches over

736
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 9: a thousand yards, double digit touchdowns, and you know, he's

737
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:14,239
Speaker 9: certainly making a case at the top of tight ends

738
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 9: in the NFL.

739
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 6: But in my.

740
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 9: Opinion, you know, George Kittle has to still be dethroned

741
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 9: as the most complete tight end in my opinion. You know,

742
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:30,359
Speaker 9: he's playing in an offense under Kyle Shanahan. That is

743
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,440
Speaker 9: the Kubiak Shanahan offense that we were familiar with at

744
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 9: the end of my career in Minnesota, and so I

745
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 9: kind of understand what's asked of him and in the

746
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 9: run game and in past protection. And when I watch

747
00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:49,200
Speaker 9: him play, nobody does what he does in the run

748
00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:52,480
Speaker 9: game in pass pro and then goes out and puts

749
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,439
Speaker 9: up Pro Bowl level numbers when healthy in the past game.

750
00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 9: So for me, it's it's still George Kittle at the

751
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:00,160
Speaker 9: top of all tight.

752
00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 2: Kyle Rudolph, big boys back few to close here, all right, Well,

753
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,279
Speaker 2: with the Super Bowl, then who's the best overall tight

754
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,439
Speaker 2: end in the Super Bowl? I would think it would

755
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:14,320
Speaker 2: either be aj Barner or Hunter Henry. Maybe you have another.

756
00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:16,680
Speaker 2: But between those two, what do you like about him?

757
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:19,000
Speaker 6: And why? Well?

758
00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:22,399
Speaker 9: I think Hunter Henry is a guy who you look

759
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 9: at the course of his career. You know, it kind

760
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 9: of flies under the radar in Los Angeles being on

761
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,880
Speaker 9: the Chargers as they had just moved from San Diego

762
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:35,920
Speaker 9: up to LA. You know, he played in an offense

763
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:40,520
Speaker 9: where he's got Philip Rivers back there slinging the ball around,

764
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 9: They're throwing it all over the place. He's putting up

765
00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 9: big numbers, but they never really had the team's success

766
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 9: to really amplify it and shine a light on his

767
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 9: individual success. Then he goes to New England and signs

768
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,839
Speaker 9: the big free agent deal in New England right as

769
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 9: they were going through their full re build, host Tom

770
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 9: Brady into this, you know, transition of Cam Newton mac Jones.

771
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:10,920
Speaker 9: Then all of a sudden, Drake May comes onto the

772
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 9: scene and now you have, you know, an MVP candidate,

773
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 9: one of the best young quarterbacks. And you know, I

774
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 9: think you're really seeing just the steadiness of Hunter Henry.

775
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 9: He's a team captain, he's a leader in that locker room.

776
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 9: So you know, I would definitely have to go with

777
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:29,640
Speaker 9: Hunter Henry in the game in terms of my number

778
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 9: one tight end in the game.

779
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:35,400
Speaker 2: Think about this regarding tight ends. If okay, of course

780
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,440
Speaker 2: you want big time edge guys. I mean, shoot, they

781
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,960
Speaker 2: have Grenard and Van Ginkel here, and when they're both healthy,

782
00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:44,520
Speaker 2: you hide the women and children. I mean, they're they're fantastic,

783
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 2: so good guys off the edge shut down corners. Dynamite

784
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 2: three technique defensive tackles, left tackles there. There are a

785
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:56,279
Speaker 2: lot of things that go in and quarterback too, go

786
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:58,719
Speaker 2: into winning at a high level. I understand that, but

787
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 2: think about this, like the LA Rams, the Seattle Seahawks,

788
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,760
Speaker 2: and now the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles,

789
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,800
Speaker 2: the champions from last year. If you have good tight

790
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,760
Speaker 2: ends and can run, you're gonna be tough to stop.

791
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,439
Speaker 2: And both these teams personify that, right.

792
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think that style of football just makes it

793
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:29,400
Speaker 9: so hard on a defensive play caller. It makes it

794
00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 9: really hard to figure out the personnel you're going to

795
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 9: put on the field, how you're going to match up.

796
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 9: If you have tight ends who can go out in

797
00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 9: the past game and take advantage of coverage against linebackers

798
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:48,839
Speaker 9: or coverage against smaller dbs, but can also hold up.

799
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:51,800
Speaker 6: In the run game and block those edge.

800
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:54,839
Speaker 9: Guys that you were talking about, that really, you know,

801
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,720
Speaker 9: wreak havoc throughout the course of the game. It makes

802
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,920
Speaker 9: it very hard for defensive coach to be able to

803
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:05,000
Speaker 9: trot out big personnel to stop the run because then

804
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,560
Speaker 9: you could throw the ball all over him or you know,

805
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 9: putting a extra dB on the field to match up

806
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 9: with a pass catching tight end. Now we can run

807
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:18,719
Speaker 9: the ball at will against that light front. So I

808
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 9: think you've seen it over you know, the course of

809
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:24,799
Speaker 9: how many years you know you have if you have

810
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 9: a couple tight ends and go on the field. To me,

811
00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:30,200
Speaker 9: it shocked me watching the Rams this year. Obviously, I

812
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:31,839
Speaker 9: know they're not playing in the game. They came up

813
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,719
Speaker 9: short loss of Seattle. But you know, Sean McVay was

814
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:38,319
Speaker 9: a guy that was eleven personnel, three wide receivers, one

815
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:42,880
Speaker 9: tight end, you know, his whole career as a play caller.

816
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:45,440
Speaker 9: And watching them run three tight ends out on the

817
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 9: field and being able to do all the same concepts

818
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 9: that he traditionally does with receivers in the past game

819
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:53,760
Speaker 9: then line up with big people and run the football,

820
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:58,880
Speaker 9: it makes it really really hard. Kevin, speaking of Kevin Stefanski,

821
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 9: he used to say all the time, like the call

822
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:06,120
Speaker 9: sheet that the defensive coach has, or the section of

823
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:08,959
Speaker 9: the call sheet that the defensive coach has for three

824
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 9: tight end personnel is usually like the smallest.

825
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 6: Section on his call sheet.

826
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 9: So if we can have a lot of stuff out

827
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:18,520
Speaker 9: of that personnel, they're going to be very basic and

828
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:19,920
Speaker 9: it's going to be to our advantage.

829
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: It's age old.

830
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 2: I mean, if you can make three tight ends and

831
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 2: a running game work, you're going to be difficult to stop.

832
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:28,680
Speaker 2: I mean, look at the team that just won the

833
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,560
Speaker 2: NFC North, I mean the Bears. They're running it with

834
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 2: Manungai and DeAndre Swift, but they're also making it work

835
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 2: with Loveland Comet and then your guy who used to

836
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:47,319
Speaker 2: be with the Dolphins, Durham smythe I mean a couple right.

837
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:49,799
Speaker 2: He caught the first touchdown of his career this year,

838
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:53,200
Speaker 2: you know, but durham smythe most people are like, never

839
00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:54,560
Speaker 2: heard of him, couldn't care less.

840
00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:57,080
Speaker 1: He was very important to what they did.

841
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,800
Speaker 6: Yeah, it just makes you really.

842
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:08,120
Speaker 9: As an offense, like people think, oh, well, a dynamic

843
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 9: offense is an offense that has three four receivers, we

844
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,239
Speaker 9: throw the ball all over the field. But you know, really,

845
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,480
Speaker 9: when you think about it, like I think we would

846
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 9: all call that offense dynamic because now you have so

847
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:24,640
Speaker 9: many different playmakers in terms of tight ends catching the football,

848
00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:27,440
Speaker 9: running backs catching the football, and yeah, of course you're

849
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,280
Speaker 9: always going to have your your your number one receiver

850
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:35,000
Speaker 9: out there on the field with explosive playability. But it's

851
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:36,920
Speaker 9: a ton of fun. I think I think I need

852
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:38,879
Speaker 9: to get back in shape and you know, that way

853
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:40,440
Speaker 9: we can go out there with three and four tight

854
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 9: ends next year in Purple.

855
00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 1: What do you think one hundred percent?

856
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:46,040
Speaker 2: I mean it's there were there were a few games

857
00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:50,040
Speaker 2: this year where Kevin had four tight ends active and

858
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:53,440
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, are the big foot siding the

859
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:54,719
Speaker 2: forty one personnel?

860
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:56,480
Speaker 1: Holy cow, is that coming?

861
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 2: I mean, take just take it, take it a step

862
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:03,279
Speaker 2: farther than those three titans. Hey, you're fantastic, ma'am. Thank

863
00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,040
Speaker 2: you very much for coming through for nine to noon today.

864
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:07,479
Speaker 2: Let's stay in touch all right.

865
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 6: Always, PA love being on with you guys. Tell everybody

866
00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:12,280
Speaker 6: we said high in the studio.

867
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 1: You just did.

868
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:16,640
Speaker 2: Brother, Thank you, Kyle Rudolph, love you, ma'am. That was fantastic.

869
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:19,560
Speaker 2: All right to the to the world of hockey around

870
00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:20,439
Speaker 2: the corner.

871
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:22,239
Speaker 1: Let's play Hockey

872
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:29,640
Speaker 2: KFA and Sports Talk Time nine