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Speaker 1: He's been guestling Star Tribune Star Tribune dot com. Uh

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Speaker 1: and that Friendly Faces joined Nine to Noon covers the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota vikings for the Star Tribune and Star Tribune dot Com.

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Speaker 1: Don't don't forget about the access vikings, the podcast, and

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Speaker 1: don't forget about the off season news letter, which could

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Speaker 1: be a two, three, four, maybe five times a week

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Speaker 1: thing from I'm just kidding these days. Yeah, now we did.

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Speaker 1: We just had an unfortunate event, well no excuse three two.

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Speaker 1: We just had a scenario come to fruition nine to Noon,

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Speaker 1: where this is a week where we generally do Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl stories and North Turner Mike Holmgren, they joined yesterday.

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Speaker 2: We have some others in the.

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Speaker 1: In the symbolic Hopper coming up this week. Gary Kubiak

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Speaker 1: joins every year. Couldn't find Gary.

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Speaker 2: Now you either. We've been trying to find Gary too.

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Speaker 2: We try to get Gary on our podcast. We had

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Speaker 2: Andrew you Noko on last week.

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Speaker 1: I saw that right with uh and and I want

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Speaker 1: to talk about that momentarily.

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Speaker 2: But Gary has the flu.

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Speaker 1: So his wife Ronda said fifty to fifty for tomorrow

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Speaker 1: if you guys want to have him back. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: I was really excited to talk about to talk about Clint,

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Speaker 1: And you know how the game works, it's the where

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Speaker 1: is Clint been? What is Clint doing now? And it

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Speaker 1: stops there. Then after the Super Bowl it's a different conversation.

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Speaker 1: I understand that because it's like a virtual cinch that

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Speaker 1: he's going to become the next coach of the Raiders. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 1: But what I didn't know and I should have known this,

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Speaker 1: Ben Belove itscribe is is when Clint left San Francisco

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Speaker 1: to become offensive coordinator for Seattle, his brother Clay took

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Speaker 1: over as offense Clay koubyac against Clint Kubiak at least

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Speaker 1: two times a year with the NFC West. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's that's a pretty cool story. And good morning, good morning.

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Speaker 2: There are a lot of Kobiaks to be here on

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Speaker 2: the NFL. He got Klein Kubiak, who's a scout with Dallas. Yes, yes,

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Speaker 2: I knew there was another one in the mix. And Uh,

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Speaker 2: obviously a family that's had quite a bit of success

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Speaker 2: in the NFL. It's been interesting to watch Clint's kind

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Speaker 2: of uh evolution probably over the last couple of years

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Speaker 2: in different jobs. And talked with Andrew Denoco about this

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Speaker 2: quite a bit last week too, in the sense that

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Speaker 2: you know, when he was here that last year with

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Speaker 2: Mike Zimmer, I mean it was it was a tricky

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Speaker 2: situation because they'd gone through He was the fourth one man,

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Speaker 2: fifth one in five years, I think sixth one. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: because you gov.

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Speaker 1: Ye was a tight ends coach right here as after

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Speaker 1: being former head coach of the Giant No, no way

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Speaker 1: was he Giants head coach after here. He was Giants

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Speaker 1: head coach after here, Andanski wanted to go with him,

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Speaker 1: and Zimmer blocked Stefanski and then hired d Filippo and

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Speaker 1: then hired d Filippo.

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Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? Strafski tried to go to go

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Speaker 2: the o C with the Giants and Zimmer blocked him

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Speaker 2: and then hired D Filippo to be the o C

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Speaker 2: over him. So then they fired d fail post Stefanski

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Speaker 2: stay patient got it, and then Stefanski was here for

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Speaker 2: a year and change and then he got the Browns job,

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Speaker 2: and then it was Gary because Stefanski brought all the

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Speaker 2: Kubiaks in Becau Stefanski and Clint Kubiak go way back

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Speaker 2: to the Leslie Fraser days. Man, we are going to

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Speaker 2: a rabbit hole here. Jeez. It's like that that uh

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Speaker 2: coaching treatment, always sunny and Philadelphia thing with all the

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Speaker 2: strings and connecting on the people and oh yeah the matrix.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah yeah. So at the end of all of this,

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Speaker 2: Gary did it for a year and then Clint was

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Speaker 2: the last coordinator Mike ZIMMERHD in twenty one, and it

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Speaker 2: was always this question of, you know, how much is

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Speaker 2: this his baby to map as he wants, how much

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Speaker 2: of it is what's come before, how much of it

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Speaker 2: is shall we say a certain mandate about the way

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Speaker 2: plays are called? Yeah, around here around that time. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: so you're talking twenty eight twenty well, this would have

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Speaker 2: been twenty one from kobiak I see, yeah, there was

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Speaker 2: a minute, well manute, it was not following at eighteen,

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Speaker 2: and that's why we ended up with a firing and see.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, it's been interesting to watch Clint evolve

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Speaker 2: over these last few years New Orleans and time in

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Speaker 2: San Francisco and doing a heck of a job with

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Speaker 2: Seattle and you know, looks like he's going to be

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Speaker 2: a head coach here in the next few weeks. So

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Speaker 2: a lot of that, a lot of familiar faces on

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Speaker 2: that staff. Andrew Joko, Leslie Fraser on that staff as well,

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Speaker 2: so a lot of Vikings connections beyond Sam Darnold, which

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Speaker 2: is probably the a topic. Andrew Jinoko was the quarterbacks

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Speaker 2: coach here. He had a few different jobs. He was

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Speaker 2: O line because he came in with norf he was

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Speaker 2: O line, and then I think was wide receivers. I

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Speaker 2: want to say he was justin Jefferson's first position coach.

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Speaker 1: So O line with Jeff Davidson, I would guess, and

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Speaker 1: then wide receivers George Stewart would have been George Stewart.

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Speaker 2: Well, he he would he He would have been after

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Speaker 2: Stu to take the wide receiver job, so that would

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Speaker 2: have been twenty and then I think he was Cousin's

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Speaker 2: last QB coach in the Zimmer era. And then when

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Speaker 2: that staff got blown out and he went to Chicago.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, he went to Chicago and then things blew

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Speaker 1: up there and then I think he might have been

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Speaker 1: out of the game for a year.

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Speaker 2: I think he ended up in New Orleans with Clint. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: He's gone with Clint a number of places. So then

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Speaker 2: the question for him will be is he an OC

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Speaker 2: candidate in Seattle. Does he go with Clint to the Raiders.

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Speaker 2: I mean it's going to be those as quarterbacks coach.

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Speaker 2: It's very possible. I mean if if he, uh, well,

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Speaker 2: we would probably have to be the OC job. I

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Speaker 2: would think, tell you out of the QB coach check you. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: they're both those guys are are doing quite well and

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Speaker 2: have a chance to and Clint Andrews said that the

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Speaker 2: chance to kind of be in the confetti with Clint.

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Speaker 2: He said, we just kind of exchanged a look and

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Speaker 2: we didn't need to say anything because we knew how

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Speaker 2: many years we've been working at this together. And wow,

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Speaker 2: he said, it was just kind of a we looked

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Speaker 2: at each other and we knew didn't need to say anything,

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Speaker 2: and and they got to celebrate and may get to

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Speaker 2: do it again on Sunday night. We'll see.

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Speaker 1: That is fantastic now. And and I'm speaking for you here,

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Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong. We're both you, you know,

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Speaker 1: covering the team, me, you know, being the announcer.

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Speaker 2: And so on.

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Speaker 1: We both are. And we're fond of Clint Kubiak. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: nice man.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know you didn't get to know him super well

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Speaker 2: because it was a COVID year, So it was all

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Speaker 2: like okay, calls but yeah, but it's very soft spoken.

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Speaker 2: It's very to the vest with I mean, you know,

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Speaker 2: understating a lot.

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Speaker 1: He's his last guy in the world. You're gonna tap

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Speaker 1: on for steam, right, this is my opinion. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: three two. But it's so I don't when I say this,

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Speaker 1: I don't mean like I never thought he was qualified

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Speaker 1: to become a head coach and he and that he

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Speaker 1: wasn't good at what he does. He's better now than

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Speaker 1: he was then, you know, because he has more experience.

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Speaker 1: But like when he would do the pressers or you know,

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Speaker 1: chat with him or whatever, it's it's like it never

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Speaker 1: really bowled me over that.

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Speaker 2: Wow this you know.

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Speaker 1: Like wastfanc Yeah, there were so many people who were like,

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Speaker 1: one day, he's a cinch head coach stuff like that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I just that you never heard that or saw

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Speaker 2: that with Clinton. Area is Yeah, that ability to command

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Speaker 2: a room that you know people, and it's sort of

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Speaker 2: a nobody has like a metric for this. I mean

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Speaker 2: it's kind of I know it when I see it,

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Speaker 2: thing of just somebody that has a presence in front

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Speaker 2: of a room. I think, Yeah, that was not something

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Speaker 2: I would have thought in twenty one, and admittedly limited

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Speaker 2: snippets because you didn't get the same ability to watch

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Speaker 2: things up close during those COVID years, just because the

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Speaker 2: restrictions that were in place, we didn't we weren't in

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Speaker 2: the building quite as much and didn't get to see

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Speaker 2: people up close, so you just don't have the same perspective.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I didn't get that sense in twenty one

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Speaker 2: that he was like the guy that you put in

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Speaker 2: front of a room and could command things. But you know,

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Speaker 2: that's five years ago at this point, and I'm sure

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Speaker 2: during that time, and there was just so much going

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Speaker 2: on at that time when you had the head coach

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Speaker 2: and the quarterback that weren't exactly fond of one another,

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Speaker 2: and the head coach which was not fun of the

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Speaker 2: rookie quarterback that was taken in the third round, was

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Speaker 2: not fun of the general manager for making the pick.

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Speaker 2: So kind of a tough world to work in if

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Speaker 2: you're a first time coordinator for ten Kubiak. So perhaps

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Speaker 2: also environments that he's been in since then have perhaps

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Speaker 2: been a little better to work in. Down memory lane,

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Speaker 2: we go.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and when you started on the beat covering the

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Speaker 1: Vikings twenty twelve.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so Leslie Fraser was the head coach.

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Speaker 1: You'd have him for two years, one playoff year, thirteen,

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Speaker 1: twenty eleven or twenty thirteen. In the years I've called

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Speaker 1: Vikings football, I mean those were by far. To twenty

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Speaker 1: ten was terrible for different reasons. Yeah, but I mean

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Speaker 1: they were just bad years and their team was all

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Speaker 1: the blown leads. But Leslie Fraser, I don't exactly know

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Speaker 1: what his title is, like assistant to the head coach

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Speaker 1: or associate head coach or whatever. But Leslie, from what

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Speaker 1: I understand, I mean, yes, he has a say in

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Speaker 1: schematically to a certain extent, the way things go. And

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Speaker 1: then you have like like what Jasper Brinkley does for

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Speaker 1: the Vikings. Now let's Pico the player development leader like that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well he has some of that to him too. I

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Speaker 1: mean he could be the team chaplain too.

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Speaker 2: Maybe he is.

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Speaker 1: But from what I understand, Leslie in his two years

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Speaker 1: twoish years, there has been such a calming influence for

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Speaker 1: these players.

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Speaker 2: Doesn't surprise me.

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Speaker 1: And and I don't you know, this is going to

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Speaker 1: be something that I think is either unreported or underreported

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Speaker 1: this week because there are just so many other things

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Speaker 1: that are transpiring that will send people to where they

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Speaker 1: need to go for functioning clickability, and we all know

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Speaker 1: how that works. But Leslie's impact with the Seattle Seahawks

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Speaker 1: as a conduit between coaches and players and then players

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Speaker 1: when they catch when or a player opens up that

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Speaker 1: things ain't great right now, And privately, I want to

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Speaker 1: tell you why. You know Leslie as well as anybody. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's nobody better you possibly could open up to. No,

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Speaker 1: and that's I mean that all of the things that

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Speaker 1: you said, there are things that people talked about with

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Speaker 1: him in Minnesota. And I only covered him as a

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Speaker 1: head coach. Obviously you were around him as a defensive

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Speaker 1: coordinator and a dB coach I think when he first

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Speaker 1: came in, but that was the overwhelming theme from players.

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Speaker 1: I think when he got fired. I remember Jared Allen

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Speaker 1: talking about this quite a bit, saying he was the

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Speaker 1: guy that kind of helped me get my life.

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Speaker 2: Turned around in a lot of ways. Because you know,

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Speaker 2: when Jared Allen came in here, and he's been pretty

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Speaker 2: honest about this in terms of you know, battling alcohol

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Speaker 2: and you know how much he was drinking and needing

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Speaker 2: to clean his life up in case, Yes, he came

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Speaker 2: in with that. That's obviously part of the reason he was

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Speaker 2: available because that made him a long term risk for

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Speaker 2: the Chiefs. But Leslie Fraser was one of the people

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Speaker 2: that kind of helped him get his life back in order.

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Speaker 2: And I remember when Leslie got fired, Jared talking about

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Speaker 2: that in the locker room. I think the day that

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Speaker 2: he got fired, that was the thing he talked about

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Speaker 2: more than anything else, and kind of all thought at

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Speaker 2: the time, when he's done coaching that type of a role,

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Speaker 2: that player development role of just being you know, kind

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Speaker 2: of the team dad for lack of a better term,

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Speaker 2: that's something he's kind of naturally gifted at. I mean

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Speaker 2: he has, I mean that sort of the thing that

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Speaker 2: everybody used to get mad at him about as he

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Speaker 2: never get mad, He never yelled at the ref In

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Speaker 2: certain settings he may want a little more of that,

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Speaker 2: but in others, like what he's being asked to do now,

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Speaker 2: I think it's probably an advantage that he is wired

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Speaker 2: the way he is to the current with Ben Geslin

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Speaker 2: covers the vikings for the Star Tribune Star Tribune dot

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Speaker 2: Com with.

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Speaker 1: The dismissal of Quasia Dopho Mensa. How into the depths

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Speaker 1: of the why are you quite a bit?

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Speaker 2: And that's that becomes the obvious question. Given the timing

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Speaker 2: of it, and given the fact they'd won i think

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Speaker 2: forty three games in four years with him as the GM,

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Speaker 2: I think a lot of it was. I mean, there

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Speaker 2: was always probably a little bit of an odd fit

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Speaker 2: in terms of of this guy being new, being from

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Speaker 2: a background that most people don't ascend to that job in.

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Speaker 2: I mean that creates some challenges right away when it's

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Speaker 2: a scouting department that stayed and a scouting department that

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Speaker 2: has been pretty traditional, and you're trying to work with

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Speaker 2: that group and lead that group in a lot of ways.

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Speaker 2: I think some of those questions were things they never

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Speaker 2: really got solved. I mean, there was never the point

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Speaker 2: where it seemed like everybody was, you know, kind of

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Speaker 2: moving the same direction on all of these things, and

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Speaker 2: the decisions you'd make and the ways you'd arrive at decisions,

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Speaker 2: you know, and that goes across the board. That's scouts,

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Speaker 2: that's probably coaches, that's I think just the front office

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Speaker 2: as a whole, because a lot of the decisions they've

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Speaker 2: had to make in the last few years. I mean,

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Speaker 2: when he comes in, it's you have a roster that

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Speaker 2: is aging, a roster that needs cap management. I mean

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Speaker 2: it was kind of the end of the Mike Zammer

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Speaker 2: Rix Biel and let's keep the bank together and try

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Speaker 2: to win with it. And they had to come through

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Speaker 2: all of that and deal with all the cap ramifications.

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Speaker 2: You have a quarterback decision to make. When do you

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Speaker 2: make the decision do you keep Kirk Cousins around on

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Speaker 2: a year by year basis. I mean all of those

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Speaker 2: questions were in front of that group when they came in,

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Speaker 2: so and it was not something where it was all right,

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Speaker 2: we're going to tear it down and we're going to

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Speaker 2: get rid of everybody and you know, start over like

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Speaker 2: you saw the Bears do. That was not going to

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Speaker 2: be the process. So when you do it the way

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Speaker 2: they did it, it it is a more difficult maneuver,

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Speaker 2: I think in a lot of ways, and it requires

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Speaker 2: a lot of people to be on the same page

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Speaker 2: on a lot of decisions that are not number one picks.

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Speaker 2: So they're not that a number one pick is a

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Speaker 2: slam dunk, but you're trying to hit on players where

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Speaker 2: there's probably a little more margin for error because it's

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Speaker 2: a mid tier free agent that you need to play

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Speaker 2: a bigger role than maybe he hasn't done so, and

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Speaker 2: they've hit on a lot of those players. But there

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Speaker 2: are guys this year where they'd make those moves and

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Speaker 2: say we're going to build this team around JJ McCarthy

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Speaker 2: and it didn't work. So I think there was a

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Speaker 2: lot of just times where differences of opinion and differences

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Speaker 2: in belief of the best way to do things made

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Speaker 2: it hard for this group to kind of handle this

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Speaker 2: maneuver they were trying to pull off. When it's this

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Speaker 2: you know, as he phrased it, competitive rebuild, that was

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Speaker 2: going to be hard to do, especially if they weren't

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Speaker 2: drafting better. So I think a lot of those things

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Speaker 2: it was just it wasn't working with all of them together,

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Speaker 2: and you say, okay, what needs to change with that?

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Speaker 2: And I think through their discussions and their deliberations, it

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Speaker 2: became a parent that it needed to be quasy. What

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Speaker 2: is your read on the peculiar nature of the timing? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I mean I think that is something that the Wilf's

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Speaker 2: as they go through it. I mean, you're having conversations

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Speaker 2: with all the people in Minnesota, and you know they're

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Speaker 2: they're at games, but they're not here every day. So

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Speaker 2: some of it is trying to get the reads of

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Speaker 2: your decision makers. I mean, they'll do these meetings at

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Speaker 2: the end of every season, will they'll either come to

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Speaker 2: Minnesota or people go out to New Jersey. And I

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Speaker 2: think a lot of the conversations they had with with coaches,

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Speaker 2: with front office people, with the people they trust in

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Speaker 2: Minnesota led them to say, hey, there's enough here that

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Speaker 2: we need to stop and discuss if we want to

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Speaker 2: move forward like this. So I think that process season

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Speaker 2: end of January fourth, so I mean, you got three

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Speaker 2: weeks in there. I think the process of getting through

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Speaker 2: all of those things, and then they had their deliberations

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Speaker 2: last week. I know, you know some of the people

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Speaker 2: that they talked to. I mean, you know, coaches were

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Speaker 2: out of the building last week, you know, getting a

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Speaker 2: little bit of time. So I think the deliberations the

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Speaker 2: Wilfs had came after all of these meetings and all

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Speaker 2: of these discussions and they said, hey, we've got to

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Speaker 2: sit and think about this. And you know, they they

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Speaker 2: tend to be pretty deliberate about some things, and you know,

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Speaker 2: does that put them in a bad spot in terms

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Speaker 2: of when they need to get this filled. I think

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Speaker 2: it would have been hard to identify the perfect candidate

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Speaker 2: right away anyway. But a lot of it was them saying,

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Speaker 2: we need to stop and have a pretty thorough discussion

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Speaker 2: about do we want to make this change. So a

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Speaker 2: lot of that I think was the reason for it

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Speaker 2: taking as long as it did, more so than I

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Speaker 2: don't think it was Oh, Sam Darnold's going to the

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Speaker 2: super Bowl, we got to fire the GM. You of

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Speaker 2: course you or you know, hey, the margin rules led

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Speaker 2: to the Lewis scene trade and they got James. No,

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Speaker 2: it's more, Yeah, you said something that's very interesting to me,

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Speaker 2: and it caused my ears to perk, and it would

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Speaker 2: be for most eyebrows raising. For me, it's eyebrow raising.

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Speaker 1: You said the season closing confab, the season closing, the

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Speaker 1: assessment analysis with the owners and others. So I would

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Speaker 1: imagine like, definitely, definitely a head coach, yep, you know,

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Speaker 1: probably probably the capologist, yep, you know, general manager, like

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Speaker 1: those three right there.

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Speaker 2: They definitely would make sense for sure.

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Speaker 1: Part of it, Yes, I've never heard of one, unless

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Speaker 1: it's the pandemic being virtual. Yeah, they're always in New Jersey. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So like I just would wonder, like if it was virtual,

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Speaker 1: like what would lead to that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know much. Yeah, I don't I don't

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Speaker 2: know that for sure either.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know what you're saying that they either

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Speaker 1: this was or they have been virtual in the past. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think they've typically been It's either been in New

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Speaker 1: Jersey or they come to Minnesota. I say, it's kind

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Speaker 1: of how these have worked in person as I understand it.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's typically Kevin O'Connell, it's rober Zinski,

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Speaker 1: it's Quacy. I would imagine Andrew Miller is in quite

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Speaker 1: a bit of contact with the Wilfs in general. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I know he is in general the role in those

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Speaker 1: meetings that's not quite as football adjacent a job that

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Speaker 1: Andrew Miller has, but I'm sure there's discussions.

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Speaker 2: With him chief operating office, right. And then you know,

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Speaker 2: Brian Flores is probably not part of those meetings, but

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Speaker 2: Brian Flores also needed a contract during all of this,

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Speaker 2: so there's a lot of discussions between Brian Flores and

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Speaker 2: ownership and executives negotiating that deal as well. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's a lot to sift through there as they're going.

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Speaker 2: And they're not the types that if one person says, hey,

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Speaker 2: I think it needs to be this, that they're just

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Speaker 2: gonna go okay done. I don't think that's how they're

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Speaker 2: going to go about it. It's going to be let's

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Speaker 2: check this against all of these different opinions, and let's

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Speaker 2: weigh at all and come to a collective decision. After that,

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Speaker 2: my man's on top of it.

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Speaker 1: Ben Gesling described covering the Vikings for the Star Tribute

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Speaker 1: Start Tribune dot com. There's an access of Vikings podcast

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Speaker 1: you can find through Ben's social media feeds. I would

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Speaker 1: imagine likewise for YouTube that includes a former Vikings coach

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Speaker 1: and a current quarterbacks coach for Sam Darnold and Seattle,

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Speaker 1: Andrew Jinoco. We strongly encourage you to watch that. Andrew

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Speaker 1: is of the affable variety, very good at what he does. Likewise,

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Speaker 1: for Ben, we have much more from a football standpoint

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Speaker 1: for Ben when we returned.

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Speaker 3: But first, the fan wants to give you a shot

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Speaker 3: at some bonus bucks with the National Cash Contest. Go

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Speaker 1: Been guestling Star Tribune, Star Tribune dot Com KFA n

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Speaker 1: guestling time is ten thirty two.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, continuing the quacy conversation here, I've seen a lot

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Speaker 3: of I mean, there's been so much reporting since Friday. Ben,

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Speaker 3: what is your view in terms of any possible tensions

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Speaker 3: that existed between the coach and GM. I've seen that

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Speaker 3: leaned on a lot. Yeah, And you know, this is

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Speaker 3: kind of it feels like, you know, it's almost in

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Speaker 3: memoriam or you're poking at the dead in some respects

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Speaker 3: with some of the stuff that's come out since he

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Speaker 3: was let go, I never really saw that, Like from

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Speaker 3: my view, and albeit I'm an outsider, I didn't really

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Speaker 3: feel that vibe in terms of underlying tensions as part

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Speaker 3: of this.

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Speaker 2: Where your head add on that, well, I mean they

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Speaker 2: certainly had disagreements. I think that is you know, everything

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Speaker 2: I've heard and you know, talk to people about and

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Speaker 2: report it out would say that. I mean that happens

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Speaker 2: in every NFL building. I don't think this was anything

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Speaker 2: that it got personal or it got spiteful that way,

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Speaker 2: you know, because we've seen that in the past. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this was not Mike Zamer rix Bield, I'm not talking

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Speaker 2: to you for months because he took Kellen Mond in

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Speaker 2: the third round kind of thing. I mean, it was

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Speaker 2: not that they They certainly had their disagreements on some

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Speaker 2: big things, and you know, over the course of time

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Speaker 2: that a lot of these decisions, you're making high stakes

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Speaker 2: choices on things like quarterbacks, and I they were I

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Speaker 2: think on the same page drafting JJ McCarthy. Kevin O'Connell

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Speaker 2: was driving a lot of that process, and Kevin O'Connell

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Speaker 2: I think was very excited about JJ McCarthy. I don't

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Speaker 2: think this is a reaction to that decision necessarily, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: they certainly did not see eye to eye on everything

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Speaker 2: in terms of the choices they were making and how

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Speaker 2: they arrived at certain conclusions. And you know, I think

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Speaker 2: a lot of the tension was that, and I've used

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Speaker 2: that word. I mean, I think the disagreements on a

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Speaker 2: professional level probably got tense, but I don't think it

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Speaker 2: was anything that drifted in a personal at least as

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Speaker 2: I've been able to tell from the people I've talked to.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so so part of that The reason I went

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Speaker 3: down that road is it does feel to me the

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Speaker 3: way that it's been presented in some ways is if

433
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:35,240
Speaker 3: you know Quacy being let go, that well, okay, any

434
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,880
Speaker 3: any potential dysfunction or any any bad choices or any

435
00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 3: negativity within within the covenant in terms of a team

436
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 3: that is on the outside looking into the playoffs, well

437
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:46,919
Speaker 3: that's all good now because we took care of it.

438
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,080
Speaker 3: We solved everything with with letting quaycy go. You know,

439
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,640
Speaker 3: I just think about that in the context of Rob

440
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 3: Brazinski's opportunity, where you know, for this collaboration that we've

441
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,040
Speaker 3: heard so much about everybody, but he's still there. So

442
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,040
Speaker 3: I'm just kind of interested in seeing what the challenges

443
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,879
Speaker 3: are that really still persist. Almost feels like in some

444
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 3: ways that this is kind of, I hate to say,

445
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,600
Speaker 3: like a warning, but in some ways I think that

446
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,919
Speaker 3: everyone that still remains has to be doing some serious

447
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,440
Speaker 3: evaluations on how to improve and get better.

448
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. I mean Mark Wilf said it last

449
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 2: week that everybody's accountable, everybody bears some responsibility for things

450
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 2: not working, because this was a roster that had more

451
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,560
Speaker 2: cash spent on it than any team in the NFL.

452
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,080
Speaker 2: So when that is set up to deliver at least

453
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,480
Speaker 2: a playoff appearance, I think the hope would have been

454
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,320
Speaker 2: a playoff win, maybe a couple of playoff wins. When

455
00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,399
Speaker 2: that doesn't happen, people have to answer questions with that,

456
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,359
Speaker 2: and that's going to continue. I think that has continued

457
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 2: with Kevin O'Connell, that will continue with the scouts, that

458
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 2: will continue with Rob Erzisky. I mean, all of the

459
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,680
Speaker 2: people involved in leading this thing are going to have

460
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 2: questions to answer, and if that happens repeatedly, then people

461
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,200
Speaker 2: lose their jobs. That's how this goes. Everybody that signs

462
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 2: up for this nose that. But yeah, I think the

463
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 2: the collaboration part of this, and that word has been used,

464
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 2: you know, almost to a fault at this point, almost excess. Yeah,

465
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 2: it's been used more than once the last four years. Yes,

466
00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 2: I think part of that get you know, some of

467
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 2: the reason Robertzinski is in this job, in you know,

468
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,479
Speaker 2: running the point on these things is because of the

469
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 2: relationships he has in that building. And that's this is

470
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:31,399
Speaker 2: a guy and I'm writing about this a couple of

471
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,480
Speaker 2: days from now that two ownership groups, six head coaches,

472
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,440
Speaker 2: three general managers or different front office structures I believe,

473
00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:46,159
Speaker 2: and three different stadiums. So he's been through just about

474
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 2: everything that you could go through him and sread McCollums

475
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:51,760
Speaker 2: to the Wilfs. It's the stadium changes. I mean this

476
00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 2: last quarter century ish do I have twenty seven years

477
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,400
Speaker 2: I believe that he's been in Minnesota. There have been

478
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,080
Speaker 2: massive changes in the organization in that stretch of time,

479
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 2: and he's been one of the constants through that. He

480
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 2: is I think he and Steve poppin the chief in

481
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,879
Speaker 2: his business administration officer I believe is the title at

482
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 2: this point. Both them came into nineteen ninety nine. They

483
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,600
Speaker 2: are the longest tenured members of the executive staff in

484
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 2: the building. I think in terms of people of any

485
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 2: department that have been in the building longer, like Tom

486
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 2: West might be the only one that beats Rob out

487
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,360
Speaker 2: by a year or two. But Rob has a lot

488
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,119
Speaker 2: of relationships and everybody kind of knows him as the

489
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,760
Speaker 2: cap guy. But the triangle of authority, he was one

490
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,960
Speaker 2: of the legs of that triangle, and back even before that,

491
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 2: in the Red Macombs era, he had a bigger role

492
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 2: in the front office too. So he's a guy with

493
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:41,680
Speaker 2: a lot of relationships in the building, a lot of

494
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,159
Speaker 2: relationships around the league. And I think, as much as anything,

495
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 2: the reason he's in that job is he can kind

496
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 2: of be that point guard between coaches, scouts, the cap

497
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,639
Speaker 2: side of things. All of that has to work together,

498
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 2: like we're saying, because they have so many big decisions

499
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,679
Speaker 2: to make. Yeah, And I think that level of respect

500
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 2: he man's from all of these departments is a lot

501
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 2: of why he's in this job.

502
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: Will will you know A? Will you know in shareable fashion? B?

503
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 1: Or will we know who is making the free agency moves?

504
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: I mean we're a month from it, yeah, And who's

505
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:20,120
Speaker 1: making the picks?

506
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,680
Speaker 2: The draft picks? Ye? Like, will will you think that'll

507
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,720
Speaker 2: come out? Yeah? I mean I think that's going to

508
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,639
Speaker 2: be a discussion. Well, we'll see if those share I mean,

509
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 2: that's certainly going to be a question because you have

510
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 2: to know who is making the final call in the

511
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 2: draft room and saying, Okay, what card are we turning in?

512
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that my sense would be that

513
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,639
Speaker 2: that's Rob Brazinski. But I think the coaching staff is

514
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 2: going to have a big role in all of these decisions.

515
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 2: I think obviously the scouts are going to be pretty

516
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 2: involved in these things. Somebody has to say, Okay, this

517
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 2: is what we're doing. And the tricky part of this

518
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,160
Speaker 2: too is if it is Rob Brazinski making the pick,

519
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,399
Speaker 2: which I have every reason to think it is, and

520
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,640
Speaker 2: he's not the GM, then you have somebody coming in saying, Okay,

521
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 2: we just drafted a class, and we just did a

522
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 2: free agency run that I wasn't here for and I

523
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 2: wasn't responsible for in terms of making the picks. But

524
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 2: I'm going to be held accountable for what the results

525
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 2: are from this. So that's the other part that makes

526
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 2: this tricky.

527
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 1: But I think we'll think about this too, is Okay,

528
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 1: don't I don't know what that extension you know what

529
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 1: kuoisia doofho MENSA got from a compensation standpoint, or really

530
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,840
Speaker 1: how long it was right, but there is year or

531
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 1: years zah that.

532
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 2: Needs to be paid off. Yep. Okay.

533
00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,600
Speaker 1: General managers make a pretty penny so to speak, yep. So,

534
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,040
Speaker 1: and the Wolfs are never going to be accused of

535
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 1: being cheap. No, I mean, on any level with business, football,

536
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: team coaches, players, whole thing, and.

537
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 2: We're not cheap with Kevin o'connelly, were not cheap with

538
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 2: Brian Flores, all right, So.

539
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: With this dismissal and moving forward, that's the GM, and

540
00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 1: all of these people are staying in place. Would you

541
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: be surprised if they didn't hire a general manager from

542
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: outside in essence to make it work from inside? And

543
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 1: people who own teams and businesses have a right to

544
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: say this, And again, the Wilfs are antithetical to the

545
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:20,360
Speaker 1: word cheap. They're just you know, they just will spend

546
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: when they believe it's going to help them win. So

547
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be cheap, they would they would be financial,

548
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 1: fiscally smart or financially smart potentially by just being like,

549
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,520
Speaker 1: this is what we have, We're not spending anymore in

550
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 1: a general manager. Now you think there's a chance that happens.

551
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 2: Like they would say, we're gonna essentially have don't know

552
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 2: what the titles would be, Ye don't wanna.

553
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 1: Don't wanna hurt anybody's feelings or frustrate anybody by rattling

554
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: off names like what they could be or what they are.

555
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 2: Just like with what it is now moving forward? Well,

556
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,439
Speaker 2: I mean Mark Welf talked last week about wanting a

557
00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 2: traditional structure, which would mean GM with final say over roster.

558
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,639
Speaker 2: That does not necessarily obviously the GM has not hired

559
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 2: the head coach in that position. So is the head

560
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 2: coach reporting to the GM or reporting to ownership. I

561
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 2: think there's different ways to delineate that. I would imagine

562
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,800
Speaker 2: it's probably the latter that he's reporting to ownership. But

563
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 2: I think they want a general manager that has full

564
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,479
Speaker 2: say over the roster, which means somebody that has a

565
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 2: personnel background. I would think somebody more traditional. But could

566
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,439
Speaker 2: that be Rob Brazinski. I mean, I think that's certainly

567
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,159
Speaker 2: a possibility that they would go down that road and

568
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,879
Speaker 2: say this is the guy that's probably the way that

569
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 2: you would see the least amount of disruption, rather than

570
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 2: having a general manager from the outside that may want

571
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 2: to make changes of the scouting staff all those kinds

572
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 2: of things. Yeah, I mean, if they decided we want

573
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 2: to kind of keep things steady for now and not

574
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 2: make the higher in twenty twenty six, I suppose that's

575
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 2: possible if they said this isn't the right person for this,

576
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 2: because you have to have somebody that can come in

577
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 2: and work well with his coaching staff work well with

578
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 2: the front office in general. So if that person's not there,

579
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 2: I mean maybe, I mean they just look, I mean,

580
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 2: ropresents Ski enough to feel steady about him running the

581
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 2: show for a definite period of time. Okay, Well, head

582
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 2: coach gets a new deal into last year, an extended deal.

583
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 1: I've seen the flores numbers. You would know more than

584
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 1: me whether they're right. I couldn't care less if it's

585
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 1: six or six hundred grand. He's here, yep, but it's

586
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: a fat number ye. And then now you're paying off

587
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 1: year or years of a fat number.

588
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 2: Yes.

589
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,440
Speaker 1: So what I'm looking at it like is like if

590
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: if you know, if I'm in charge of that on

591
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,680
Speaker 1: the outside as the team owner, I'm wow. So okay, yeah,

592
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: you guys love this guy. Okay, oh cool? What another twelve?

593
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 2: Yeah? Correct? Another fourteen? Oh okay, Yeah, see what we're saying. Yeah,

594
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 2: there is that. I mean, it's still a business, and yeah,

595
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 2: that's true. Rob has said this to me in a

596
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 2: conversation I have with them for my story on the

597
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,480
Speaker 2: Wilf's twenty years of ownership last year. So it's not

598
00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,719
Speaker 2: a charity. It's still a business. So I mean they

599
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,880
Speaker 2: have budgets, they have bottom lines. It's they're not vending machines.

600
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 2: So yeah, I do think those things are factors. I

601
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 2: mean they just are mixers. Yeah. And the conversations, it's

602
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 2: it's just going to be part of it. I mean,

603
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 2: that team makes a lot of money and they've been

604
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 2: the Wilfs have been very willing to spend that money

605
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 2: on the football operation. But there's still a budget. So

606
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:30,239
Speaker 2: I don't think they're going to be cheap with it,

607
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 2: but they're going to be sensible, and those factors of

608
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 2: paying other people is going to be part of it.

609
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 2: You have a solid in your front right pocket? Uh?

610
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 2: A solid here? Sure? For another we could do that.

611
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 2: I didn't phrase that the right way. Ye, I was confused,

612
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 2: but yes, you can do that a solid. Do you

613
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 2: have a solid in your front? I was like, you

614
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 2: have a solid up your chattered sleeve. I think you do, okay,

615
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,440
Speaker 2: thank you, Ben Gastine starts Tribune start tribune dot com

616
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 2: sleeves more than where the pockets are, and still a

617
00:30:57,880 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 2: lot more to discuss.

618
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 1: We're going to get into a few more football related

619
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: things with the scribe when we contend all right. Lastly,

620
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: here with the two segment Conversation with the learned inscribe

621
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 1: with with whomever is the next quote general manager end quote,

622
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 1: the next leader of that personnel side of the equation.

623
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: What what do you think is important? Like, like, what

624
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 1: is important with that role? Because when I came back

625
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 1: on Monday and I was just like spitball and a

626
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: bunch of things, I'm like, yeah, I'd like that person

627
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: and Brazils and it just all kept leading me back

628
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: to Brazienski. I mean, he's the most universally liked person

629
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 1: in that building. Is I had somebody tell me, you know,

630
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: or I can't remember when, like, like, it's to have

631
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: everybody like you in an NFL building, in an NFL building,

632
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 1: I mean that's a trillion, that's a trillion to one,

633
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 1: and it's been like that for quite some time. So okay,

634
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 1: you know, so you're gonna get stars for being likable?

635
00:31:57,800 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: Does that make you a good GM?

636
00:31:59,280 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 2: No? No?

637
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 1: But what does especially in this situation what I laid

638
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: out and I don't really know how to say it,

639
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 1: but I'm.

640
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 2: Just going to kind of jumble my way through it.

641
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 1: Again, I think it's important to have that person Like

642
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: a dog is a man's best friend. That person needs

643
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: to be a dog for Kevin O'Connell, Okay, doesn't need

644
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: to be or have to be. It would be cool

645
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,560
Speaker 1: if like there was somebody who was like, you know,

646
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: because Kevin, as you know, wants to win and wants

647
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 1: to succeed so badly that you got to believe that

648
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,360
Speaker 1: there's some personal you know, like he holds things in

649
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 1: internalizing it hurts, you know, and may I don't know,

650
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: may privately or whatever spelled off in ways that just

651
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: to let it let off steam. So to have that

652
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,239
Speaker 1: person be a dog, a man's best friend. Okay, And

653
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,480
Speaker 1: you got other people who are really good at picks,

654
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 1: and Rob's not going to be the grind. The film

655
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 1: come up with the South Dakota State back up cornerback

656
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: who played two games, loved him in two games, then

657
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 1: he got hurt, everybody forgot about him, was taking him

658
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 1: in the seventh. Maybe he is morphing into that guy.

659
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 1: But the Rob that I've known for two plus decades

660
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:13,640
Speaker 1: not that guy. It's it's with that role. Do you

661
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,760
Speaker 1: think it's important, of course to have somebody work in

662
00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,800
Speaker 1: unison with the head coach, but the head coach and

663
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 1: the deal he got into this year. You know, if

664
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell has moving forward a big say in personnel

665
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 1: related decisions, well he's earned that. He's earned that with

666
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 1: that deal, the trust, with the organization, the games he's

667
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:40,240
Speaker 1: won despite dire circumstances. And if that's the case, which

668
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:41,959
Speaker 1: I don't know what to be, but if it is,

669
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: then what's the like what are keys to the one A,

670
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,040
Speaker 1: the John Oates, the herb, the you know what I'm

671
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 1: saying here?

672
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 2: The second? The next position? Yep. I think any successful

673
00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 2: NFL team typically has you talk with triangles. There is

674
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,239
Speaker 2: a triangle of stability. I'll call it as not as

675
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 2: catchy as triangle of authority, but I'll work on it.

676
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 2: General manager, head coach, quarterback. If you have those three

677
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,800
Speaker 2: things where you're solid, you have a pretty successful organization.

678
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:18,959
Speaker 2: You look at the teams that are in the super

679
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,839
Speaker 2: Bowl or are in contention just about every year that

680
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 2: is generally the case that those three things are. We

681
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:27,959
Speaker 2: know we are in good shape here, and these people

682
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:28,800
Speaker 2: all work well together.

683
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:34,280
Speaker 1: Schneider, McDonald, Lynch, Kyle Shanahan to a certain extent, Roseman

684
00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,800
Speaker 1: and whomever. But Siriani, yep, it's identifier. Reed Patrick Mahomes,

685
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:39,359
Speaker 1: Brett Veach.

686
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, the Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, and they've

687
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 2: been able to survive the quarterback changes there because of

688
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,600
Speaker 2: that McVeigh Lesneaed Stafford. I mean a hundred percent there.

689
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 2: You have to have that. And I think right now

690
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,719
Speaker 2: obviously they have a GM search and the quarterback is

691
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:02,399
Speaker 2: in question, so you have two thirds of that triumvirate

692
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,200
Speaker 2: that's not solidified right now. So I think you need

693
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:11,760
Speaker 2: somebody that, for Kevin O'Connell, sees things in a similar fashion.

694
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 2: You know, maybe it can be a little bit of

695
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:15,879
Speaker 2: a let me push back on this in a way

696
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:17,880
Speaker 2: that we can work together. You know, somebody that can

697
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,280
Speaker 2: sharpen him a little bit, I think is always important.

698
00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 2: But you need somebody whose philosophies are aligned with Kevin

699
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 2: O'Connell's and way of building a team is probably aligned

700
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,440
Speaker 2: with Kevin O'Connell's. So I think those things are important.

701
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:36,719
Speaker 2: And then yeah, just somebody that I think has an

702
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:40,760
Speaker 2: eye for players, has an eye for talent in the draft,

703
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,440
Speaker 2: because a lot of these financial issues they've had have

704
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,280
Speaker 2: been the drafts haven't worked very well. So is that person,

705
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 2: you know, can that be Robertsensky. I possibly, but I

706
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 2: also think you need a personnel department. However, this looks

707
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 2: to deliver a little more often than it has, so

708
00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,320
Speaker 2: maybe it is Robertsinsky and you can figure out getting

709
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:01,359
Speaker 2: into the nuance here.

710
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, like somebody who privately can pull somebody to the

711
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 1: side and say, Paul Ben Kevin, yeah this can we

712
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 1: talk about this for a second, like like, what's your

713
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:12,279
Speaker 1: approach to what?

714
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 2: I don't know you're saying here. Yeah, it was just

715
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 2: something like like that, Yeah, somebody somebody that has that

716
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 2: level of trust with Kevin O'Connell confidence. Yes, yeah, I

717
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 2: think because you're going to work with the head coach

718
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,960
Speaker 2: that has won a lot of games and has a

719
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 2: lot of high stakes coming up in the sense that

720
00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 2: he's here in a lot of ways to get the

721
00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 2: quarterback position right and they got to get that figured out.

722
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:42,240
Speaker 2: He I know, it feels the hope from the fans

723
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 2: of winning one. Remember him sitting in his office the

724
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 2: year after he got hired and talking about that first

725
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 2: playoff game they lost, and he was like, Yeah, it's

726
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,640
Speaker 2: still weighing on me because I will go to the

727
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:56,280
Speaker 2: grocery store and people say, hey, just one before I die,

728
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 2: Like he hears that stuff from fans and wants to

729
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 2: be the guy that ants that it delivers that. So

730
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 2: how about Tim Quayne's. Yeah, I mean, that's a great

731
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 2: thing if you can do it, but it's also like you,

732
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 2: if you're carrying that every day, it's a lot. Say

733
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:13,480
Speaker 2: this whole state would go and it would we know

734
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,879
Speaker 2: that the state would lose its mind. It would bring

735
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,319
Speaker 2: the state together like few things would if they win one.

736
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:20,799
Speaker 2: I think even if they got to one, it would

737
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,879
Speaker 2: be fascinating to see what that is like. But when

738
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 2: you're carrying some of that, it is I think that's

739
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 2: a good goal to have. But the idea of okay,

740
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 2: another year's tick by, another year's tick by, and we

741
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 2: haven't gotten there, we haven't made a step closer to that,

742
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 2: that pressure starts to mount. So somebody that can be

743
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 2: a partner for Kevin O'Connell in a time in his

744
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,520
Speaker 2: tenure where there's probably a little more pressure than there's been. Yeah,

745
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:46,480
Speaker 2: I think that's important.

746
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,359
Speaker 3: Maybe you've thought about this, maybe you have an eye

747
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 3: have is I wonder if Brazinski and just what this is,

748
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 3: they're going to go go for a new GM you

749
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:59,600
Speaker 3: mentioned kind of downstream a GM inheriting draft picks. Do

750
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 3: you believe that Brazinski and this group as it is

751
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 3: now would be fully empowered to make any potential decision.

752
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:09,759
Speaker 3: I mean, if you know, and this is sky high,

753
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 3: super hypothetical, make the big trade for a Q being

754
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 3: make a significant shift in personnel during this period. Do

755
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 3: you believe governors off and they can truly operate freely

756
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:24,040
Speaker 3: as they are now?

757
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 2: I think it would for them to do that, it

758
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 2: have to be something obviously that Kevin O'Connell is in

759
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 2: lockstep with, because he's going to be the one that

760
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,759
Speaker 2: would work with whoever takes this job and whoever this

761
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 2: quarterback would be to make all of this work. So

762
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 2: that's going to become part of it. I don't think

763
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 2: there would be a no, you can't do this philosophically thing,

764
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,439
Speaker 2: but it I think in a lot of these things,

765
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 2: the Wilts would say all right, because I know I

766
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,240
Speaker 2: know a lot of their process is are we all

767
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,600
Speaker 2: in alignment or are we at least understanding of how

768
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:55,920
Speaker 2: this all works together with all of the people that

769
00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,800
Speaker 2: have a voice in these decisions. So specifically with a quarterback,

770
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 2: I think that would be the big question if you

771
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:05,160
Speaker 2: can sell them on that piece of it. Yeah, I

772
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:06,799
Speaker 2: think they could do it. I don't think there's going

773
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:08,320
Speaker 2: to be a no, it's not you're not going to

774
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:10,040
Speaker 2: be the GM. We're not going to do it in

775
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 2: full stop. That ends the conversation. I don't think that's

776
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:16,360
Speaker 2: how it would go. But you have to account for

777
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,960
Speaker 2: all of the factors here where if it's not the

778
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,840
Speaker 2: person making this trade that eventually is going to be

779
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,759
Speaker 2: the one that's responsible for it as the GM, you

780
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,160
Speaker 2: have to make sure that the head coach is in

781
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 2: alignment with it as well. So I think all of

782
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,320
Speaker 2: those factors come into it. It's case by case stuff,

783
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,560
Speaker 2: but those factors are part of whatever case you would

784
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 2: be analyzing in that scenario.

785
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:39,760
Speaker 1: I think getting fired up for the combine, I always

786
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 1: get there.

787
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 2: I mean it's trying to get some sleep ahead of

788
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,120
Speaker 2: time is a combine. Combin's kind of exhausted as just

789
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,200
Speaker 2: as I get older, Like every year i'm at the combine,

790
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,840
Speaker 2: I'm like, it's the old Danny Glover line from Lethal Weapon.

791
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:54,440
Speaker 2: I'm getting too old for this bleep, but I always

792
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,520
Speaker 2: love that one. Yeah, every year I feel old. My

793
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,359
Speaker 2: Elite movie but you're getting older and I'm old. Yeah,

794
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:04,200
Speaker 2: I mean it's you haven't hit that status yet, not yet,

795
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,760
Speaker 2: but everybody talks about like forty four being a cliff

796
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 2: and I just turned forty three, so it's like, Okay,

797
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,399
Speaker 2: we're getting there. You're the best. Thank you for coming by.

798
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:16,880
Speaker 1: Thanks man, Ben Gasline, Ben Gasoline, Start Tribune Star Tribune

799
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 1: dot com. We go to the West coast around the

800
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 1: corner and to chat with Softy from Seattle and kJ

801
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:25,440
Speaker 1: R Radio. He's at Radio Row and at the I

802
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:28,560
Speaker 1: believe the Moscone Center in the South Beach area of

803
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:29,319
Speaker 1: San Francisco

804
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 2: And we will chat with a Softy next