Speaker 1: I think he has a way of making everyone feel
Speaker 1: like they're important because he makes you challenge your thoughts.
Speaker 1: You know, he asked you to why. So he's been
Speaker 1: great with us. Kevin has done a really good job
Speaker 1: sitting down with us with the position coaches and kind
Speaker 1: of talking through what they're looking for in players. And
Speaker 1: I think that is the most important first conversation we
Speaker 1: can have. This is the last Minnesota Vikings podcast in
Speaker 1: the month of February in twenty twenty two. That sounds
Speaker 1: absolutely crazy to say, because I feel like with March
Speaker 1: around the Quarner, February was just a blink because of
Speaker 1: all the things that I've been happening within the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings organization. Thanks for listening to the podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Tatum Everett. Gabe Henderson's enjoying a little R and R.
Speaker 1: But we do have our producer Jay Nelson here with
Speaker 1: me in the TCO radio room. And Jay, it is
Speaker 1: really hard to believe that it's already March. People talk
Speaker 1: about warp speed over the last couple of years, it
Speaker 1: just feels like it's continuing at this point. I know
Speaker 1: that's definitely something when you get older, it happens even more.
Speaker 1: But I would think, you know, you saw the memes
Speaker 1: at the end of the year saying welcome to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, and everyone's like, what happened to twenty twenty
Speaker 1: Like just we're at the point again where hey, guess what,
Speaker 1: the NFL season's over and reset button and we're just
Speaker 1: kind of often sprinting at the shore. And when you
Speaker 1: have such a turnover in staff like we've had this
Speaker 1: off season, I think it almost makes it more amplified.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of hurry up and wait, hurry
Speaker 1: up and wait. And really, you know, new GM quasi
Speaker 1: A Dopamenza has only been on the job for twenty
Speaker 1: thirty days now almost I think he's got to his
Speaker 1: thirty day mark. Yeah, I mean, it's just insane. Well,
Speaker 1: but it's funny you think about that and you say, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's thirty days. Where have those thirty days gone? I mean,
Speaker 1: the hurry up and weight factor was kind of as
Speaker 1: an organization, once they made the decision to move on,
Speaker 1: you're kind of anticipating and waiting and you know who's
Speaker 1: going to be in, different people coming in, and then
Speaker 1: they finally make the decision, they bring in Quacy and
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, hit the ground running because we got
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff to do. But then we were
Speaker 1: still waiting for head coach and then we're like, are
Speaker 1: we gonna make the decision now? Or we ended up
Speaker 1: waiting because he was in the Super Bowl winning a ring.
Speaker 1: So because of all of that stuff, like you said,
Speaker 1: hurry up and wait anticipation and then pull back, and
Speaker 1: then we finally, you know, make the decision with the
Speaker 1: head coach. It's been a really weird offseason and that
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, here we are a couple days
Speaker 1: away from the combine starting and the twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: league year basically resetting right away. Of course, because March
Speaker 1: does mean that the NFL combine is here. I keep
Speaker 1: going back to a guy like Bill Belichick because he
Speaker 1: always had the thing that you would always just kind
Speaker 1: of roll your eyes and say, why do you feel
Speaker 1: that way? But you get it. They get done winning
Speaker 1: a super Bowl and they'd say, you know, how do
Speaker 1: you feel about winning the Super Bowl? And he's like,
Speaker 1: we're six weeks behind our draft prep at this point.
Speaker 1: You're just like, can you not just enjoy the fact
Speaker 1: you won another Super Bowl? Or in one. Now you
Speaker 1: kind of get a little bit of a taste of
Speaker 1: what that's like. Where other people have already been planning
Speaker 1: for the last month and a half. You gotta imagine
Speaker 1: that's kind of a little bit what Kevin fields right
Speaker 1: right now is that he's like the high of winning.
Speaker 1: He is in the Super Bowl parade on a Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and the introduces a head coach of a new organization
Speaker 1: on Thursday morning, and you've got to assemble your staff
Speaker 1: and as you said, get ready for the combine. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's going to be a head coach for a week
Speaker 1: and a half before going to the Combine. It's just crazy.
Speaker 1: It's just crazy. But I mean as crazy as it's
Speaker 1: also very exciting to see this new coaching staff embark
Speaker 1: on assembling the best roster absolutely possible. But you know,
Speaker 1: there are several people behind the scenes that have been
Speaker 1: hard at work in the scouting process while the team
Speaker 1: was hiring, and we were lucky enough Jay to talk
Speaker 1: to two of those guys, and they'll be our guests
Speaker 1: in this week's podcast. Vikings co directors of player Personnel
Speaker 1: Ryan Munnins and Jamal Stevenson, two guys that have been
Speaker 1: around for a very long time, been a part of
Speaker 1: this organization at different levels. But to a t you
Speaker 1: start asking people have been around for a while and
Speaker 1: know who these guys are. They are consummate professionals and
Speaker 1: it's really great to be able to talk to them today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: speaking with Quacy earlier this week, he says he feels
Speaker 1: very lucky to have those guys on his side. And
Speaker 1: you know, when you're the GM, I think everyone is
Speaker 1: always a little worried about turnover and what their vision
Speaker 1: is going to be. But it just feels like he
Speaker 1: meshes very well with the player personnel staff that the
Speaker 1: Vikings have. But I think that's also a testament to
Speaker 1: what that department has created over the years. They've always
Speaker 1: been a group that's been willing to kind of be
Speaker 1: innovative and try to do whatever they can to find
Speaker 1: the information they need to make a good decision. So
Speaker 1: it feels like when they came in there, it was
Speaker 1: just something where they have this established feeling where everyone
Speaker 1: kind of understands what their roles are, they know what
Speaker 1: they're supposed to do. They've definitely shown over the years
Speaker 1: that they've found a lot of really good talent that
Speaker 1: have come on to this team. So the fact that
Speaker 1: they both kind of come from different backgrounds yet are
Speaker 1: seen as the main two people to help lead this
Speaker 1: group that is so critical right now. Again, it's just
Speaker 1: great to have them on the show to kind of
Speaker 1: pick their brains a little bit about what really happens
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Dare I say a word that we've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of lately. Do they collaborate really well?
Speaker 1: Very well? And I just I really do feel like
Speaker 1: the fact that the very tongue in cheek obviously, but
Speaker 1: that's the thing is, you can say a tongue in cheek,
Speaker 1: but it really is a big deal, especially for those guys,
Speaker 1: because they have to understand kind of where each other's
Speaker 1: coming from. They have to be able to throw out
Speaker 1: ideas and kind of have almost a shorthand, especially with
Speaker 1: a brand new group coming in right. The adaptability piece
Speaker 1: of all of that is something that you know, there
Speaker 1: have been several coaches changes while these guys were here,
Speaker 1: yet they are still around doing the Lord's work for
Speaker 1: the Vikings. You know, you're dealing with not only the
Speaker 1: coaching turnover that is kind of a normal thing annually.
Speaker 1: There's always some additions and subtractions. But not only are
Speaker 1: you doing almost an entire coaching staff change, but the
Speaker 1: GM change too. And I think for those guys, they're
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to read the tea leaves
Speaker 1: of you know, what does each group want, and just
Speaker 1: to kind of figure out, like, how do we thread
Speaker 1: the needle of finding the kind of players that not
Speaker 1: only the GM is kind of looking for, but all
Speaker 1: of the coaches as well, and taking all that input
Speaker 1: on top of having to evaluate hundreds and hundreds of
Speaker 1: players that are potential candidates to be on this roster.
Speaker 1: So they're both incredibly good at what they do, and
Speaker 1: all of the support staff they have behind them are
Speaker 1: also very very good at their jobs, and so you know,
Speaker 1: we're in good hands. It's just nice that it feels
Speaker 1: like there's a bit of a mesh going on there
Speaker 1: between kind of the old school and the new school
Speaker 1: of people coming in the door. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: a lot of questions fans have, you know, how is
Speaker 1: this relationship going to coexist and work for the success
Speaker 1: of this team moving forward? And I think you're definitely
Speaker 1: want to continue listening because I think they gave a
Speaker 1: very good perspective and behind the scenes look as to
Speaker 1: what they do on a day to day basis, but
Speaker 1: as well as like how they are getting along with
Speaker 1: the new staff and how they plan on collaborating moving
Speaker 1: forward in this scouting process. But first, before we get
Speaker 1: to that interview, you know new head coach Kevin O'Connell.
Speaker 1: We got to hear from him again this week as
Speaker 1: he introduced his three new coordinators yesterday, and well, I
Speaker 1: just thought, Jay, that we just go and break it
Speaker 1: down name by name instead of saying them all at
Speaker 1: one time. So we'll go in the order of the
Speaker 1: press conferences. So we started out with defensive coordinator Ed Dontel,
Speaker 1: who is a Super Bowl winner in and of himself.
Speaker 1: He had two rings with the Broncos. He's been a
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator for three other teams. He comes in with
Speaker 1: this wealth of experience that's kind of his resume in
Speaker 1: like very fast form. So, Jay, what was your impressions
Speaker 1: of him after hearing from him as one of those
Speaker 1: guys watching his press conference. I kind of just the
Speaker 1: vibe that was coming off him was, oh, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is what definitely one of those defensive coaches, kind of
Speaker 1: the excitable guy who loves just loves and eats and
Speaker 1: sleeps and breathes football. You know, it's funny. I joked
Speaker 1: yesterday and I said, this guy is somebody who was
Speaker 1: going to be a football coach, yes, whether he wanted
Speaker 1: to or not, because that is the personality he was
Speaker 1: going to be coaching something something, some sort of motivational speaker, coach, whatever.
Speaker 1: It was. Just Ed's kind of got that that flavor
Speaker 1: it and it feels like from all of the reviews
Speaker 1: after all the years of being in football, you know,
Speaker 1: that's kind of the m o of what people talk
Speaker 1: about is infectious energy and kind of a motivating guy
Speaker 1: that can get the best out of his players. So
Speaker 1: watching the press conference, what was really interesting to me
Speaker 1: was he was just as we just described, excited to
Speaker 1: join it. And part of the thing that he cited
Speaker 1: was when he was meeting with Kevin and Quasi's just
Speaker 1: to try to get the job in the first place.
Speaker 1: The vision, the goals of what they talked about, and
Speaker 1: kind of this whole idea of looking for somebody who's
Speaker 1: willing to participate, to listen, to motivate, and Ed was
Speaker 1: very very cognizant of the fact that he's like that's
Speaker 1: what I want to do. That is my goal. That
Speaker 1: is what I try to do as a coach. And
Speaker 1: you know, the thing that jumped out of me. He
Speaker 1: was basically saying, nobody's going to have more fun than us. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like that. That was the thing when when he
Speaker 1: was again, that's that positive, infectious energy. And you know,
Speaker 1: he got a lot of questions because he's worked in
Speaker 1: a lot of three four systems, a lot of people
Speaker 1: were asking him, well, we're going to run four three
Speaker 1: three four, and he kind of said yes, well, he
Speaker 1: said yeah, above all of the above. Yeah, And you
Speaker 1: know I asked him that same question and the impression
Speaker 1: that I got from him because we're going to release
Speaker 1: some more interviews next week with him, so you get
Speaker 1: to know more of what he says through the Viking's
Speaker 1: Entertainment network. But I think it's important to note that
Speaker 1: he has been around for a very long time thirty
Speaker 1: one years in the coaching industry, and so you don't
Speaker 1: like and he said this in his press conference, but
Speaker 1: I've always kind of believed this as well. You don't
Speaker 1: stick around in this coaching industry if you can't adapt
Speaker 1: and move with the times. And that's exactly what he
Speaker 1: harped on. So I think it's very important to ask
Speaker 1: the question, what scheme are you planning on running? But
Speaker 1: I also think that at this point time, Ed is
Speaker 1: just showing that he is fluid. Like he's worked in
Speaker 1: the three four for the last eleven years, but before
Speaker 1: that when even he was with the Packers and with
Speaker 1: Atlanta he ran a four three. He's not unfamiliar with
Speaker 1: these concepts. So if we're going off of what they're saying,
Speaker 1: impressors what Kevin O'Connell has been saying, it sounds like
Speaker 1: they are willing to run the best scheme for the
Speaker 1: players they have, whether or not it's what they essentially
Speaker 1: want to Yeah, and he cited the fact that it's
Speaker 1: something that's talked about in all circles across the NFL
Speaker 1: at this point, the fact that most teams end up
Speaker 1: having to run Nickel a ton and so he's just
Speaker 1: looking at saying, yeah, we can run Nickel out of
Speaker 1: four three. You're going to run Nickel out of three four.
Speaker 1: And he was basically saying the league will help dictate
Speaker 1: and the offense we play against will help dictate what
Speaker 1: we're going to do. And I think for a guy
Speaker 1: like ed his goal on his side with his coaches
Speaker 1: is to identify what players are going to fit best
Speaker 1: for that flexibility. So it was just something that he
Speaker 1: also talked about the fact that he won to see
Speaker 1: people grow as players and people. There was a very
Speaker 1: conscientious feeling on his side of saying, my goal is
Speaker 1: to connect with these players as best as possible, to
Speaker 1: figure out what motivates them and to get the best
Speaker 1: out of him. And on top of that, when he
Speaker 1: was asked about you know, what's it going to be
Speaker 1: like in practice, etc. He cited saying, playing against West
Speaker 1: Phillips offense will battle test us. That is something that
Speaker 1: I think getting the new school offense going against the
Speaker 1: new school defense and seeing how he adapts to that,
Speaker 1: that's going to be something that's going to be a
Speaker 1: lot of fun to watch here this preseason and all
Speaker 1: of the offseason on the trend install everything. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: mentioned the next guy we should talk about, offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: Wes Phillips, grandson of Bombs, son of Wade, and I
Speaker 1: loved it when I sat down with him earlier this week,
Speaker 1: he said he's the black sheep of the family because
Speaker 1: he's so offensive minded. But one thing that struck me
Speaker 1: as in speaking with him is just he is a
Speaker 1: very calm, even keeled kind of guy. Never got too high,
Speaker 1: I never got too low. And he was very oh,
Speaker 1: what's the word. He was very intentional, which again is
Speaker 1: something I know we've heard from all of these guys
Speaker 1: so far, but it's a great word to describe how
Speaker 1: he answered questions. He doesn't he's not quick to talk.
Speaker 1: You can tell that he's very not calculated, but he
Speaker 1: thinks about what he says. Intentional, cerebral. Yeah, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: one of those things with him. One thing I learned
Speaker 1: really early, even back in high school playing football, was
Speaker 1: my defensive coordinator played college football, but he was a
Speaker 1: record setting running back in college, comes to high school
Speaker 1: football and starts coaching defense and is just a beast
Speaker 1: at defensive coordinator. It was the first time it really
Speaker 1: opened my eyes to the fact that a guy like
Speaker 1: Wes Phillips, coming from a defensive minded football family, knows
Speaker 1: exactly what they're trying to do and then flips it
Speaker 1: on its head and says, how do we attack that
Speaker 1: and exploit it in a manner that can actually beat
Speaker 1: everything I've learned my entire life so looking at a
Speaker 1: guy like Wes, he's cerebral, he's intentional, he's very calculated
Speaker 1: in the way that he'll answer stuff. And I really
Speaker 1: am excited to see kind of what is his style
Speaker 1: of offense going to be? Given how much the league
Speaker 1: has changed over the last two years, let alone five years.
Speaker 1: What is the role of the offensive coordinator If Kevin
Speaker 1: O'Connell's calling the plays, but you got to think they're
Speaker 1: four seconds, five seconds, six seconds to decide what's next.
Speaker 1: If Kevin's doing something else, I mean, you know, like
Speaker 1: he's got to focus on certain things. Wes is probably
Speaker 1: assisting him to the best visibility. That's that's his number
Speaker 1: one job. Wes is essentially doing the job that Kevin
Speaker 1: just has. That's the thing. So like he knows what
Speaker 1: he's signing up for. And I think that's also big
Speaker 1: because if you have a guy that comes in who's
Speaker 1: not on board with that, yes, that could cause friction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing as I think, you know, if
Speaker 1: Kevin bringing Wes from the Rams, having been in that
Speaker 1: kind of system, understood and worked with him when he
Speaker 1: was you know, working with tight ends in LA and
Speaker 1: now he's coming in as essentially offensive coordinator and kind
Speaker 1: of the right hand man for Kevin to lean on
Speaker 1: when it comes to game prep and breaking down film
Speaker 1: and figuring out, you know, what exploits are we going
Speaker 1: to use this week? What kind of stuff can we
Speaker 1: add to the playbook this week that can exploit something
Speaker 1: that we see defensively on film. A guy like Wes
Speaker 1: Phillips is going to be critical because Kevin can't necessarily
Speaker 1: do all those things he did before. He's got head
Speaker 1: coaching duties now, so he trusts Wes Phillips implicitly to
Speaker 1: make sure that the game tone and the playbook and
Speaker 1: everything is the table is set working with the players
Speaker 1: so that Kevin on game day can make the best
Speaker 1: calls possible given what Wess helps at the table with.
Speaker 1: And I think that's part of this, like media culture
Speaker 1: of asking about play calling duties gets a little too
Speaker 1: hokey pokey, Like there are so many other things an
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator does that doesn't involve play calling. And like
Speaker 1: you said, Kevin is not going to be able to
Speaker 1: do everything he's gonna he used to do, and he
Speaker 1: has to find the best person possible that he trusts
Speaker 1: to relay that message. Just like you said, one of
Speaker 1: the things that he was even asked press conference is
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, how important is the running game
Speaker 1: in your offense kind of a thing, and his quote was,
Speaker 1: the running game is important, but winning the game is
Speaker 1: the most important. Again, going back to what we were
Speaker 1: just talking about with Ed, the tone has been set
Speaker 1: with we're going to be flexible to whatever needs to
Speaker 1: happen to win the game. That is something that I
Speaker 1: think is fun to hear because you understand that the
Speaker 1: idea of getting married to one scheme, one set, one
Speaker 1: ideal in order to win a game. Everyone that it
Speaker 1: feels like we're bringing in at this point are kind
Speaker 1: of saying, no, we're going to be adaptable because that's
Speaker 1: what the league demands at this point. No shade on
Speaker 1: what's happened in the past, but as we've already talked
Speaker 1: about in this podcast, this league evolves and changes so fast.
Speaker 1: Adaptability is the only way to survive. I can tell you,
Speaker 1: as a guy who has drafted numerous Fantasy Football Patriots
Speaker 1: running backs week to week, they do not care because
Speaker 1: they look at whatever a defense is going to give them.
Speaker 1: So the idea that you can come in with an
Speaker 1: idea and a goal of how you think you're going
Speaker 1: to win. If you do not adapt, if you do
Speaker 1: not change, you do not make halftime adjustments, in game adjustments,
Speaker 1: or at least have a plan to do that, then
Speaker 1: that's where teams can get in trouble. And I just
Speaker 1: feel like all of these different people have basically been
Speaker 1: citing over and over again just in a short amount
Speaker 1: of time, how adaptable this team is going to be
Speaker 1: in order to win games well. Rounding out this new
Speaker 1: coordinator staff is Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels. He is
Speaker 1: a thirty two year old coming to us from Dallas,
Speaker 1: Texas most recently, I think I think it's important to
Speaker 1: note that he's been coaching in the NFL since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: I asked him a question the other day why I
Speaker 1: spoke to him a couple of times this week, and honestly,
Speaker 1: his energy is contagious and I love that because obviously,
Speaker 1: when you have a special Teams group, energy is number
Speaker 1: one probably the most important thing to have as a
Speaker 1: special teams because sure that yeah, for sure, yeah, Special
Speaker 1: teams coaches have always been kind of your high energy
Speaker 1: people because yeah, if you think about it, they're having
Speaker 1: to pull an amalgam of players from offense and defensive
Speaker 1: side to motivate and motivate them because not only are
Speaker 1: you running down the field to possibly be a gunner
Speaker 1: or make a tackle, then you have to turn around
Speaker 1: and run back out on that field and play wide
Speaker 1: receiver or something along those lines. So as a special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator, you need high energy people that can get
Speaker 1: people to pay attention for very specific amounts of time
Speaker 1: to do their job and then get back to the
Speaker 1: rest of their duties on the field. So it felt
Speaker 1: like Matt Daniel's first press conference, you could feel just
Speaker 1: he's another high energy guy, very high energy, and you
Speaker 1: know he's a former player. He played in the NFL,
Speaker 1: he played in college. Special teams was definitely his bread
Speaker 1: butter when he was in the league, and I think
Speaker 1: that's huge to the relatability to players. To be able
Speaker 1: to go up to guys and like understand where they're
Speaker 1: coming from is so big nowadays and Matt's got that.
Speaker 1: But not only that, you know he is also a
Speaker 1: fast riser, much like the rest of the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: After he finished playing, he was a GA at Colorado
Speaker 1: University and then after that Sean McVay plucked him out
Speaker 1: and he was an assistant special teams coach for four seasons,
Speaker 1: I think, But he also attached himself to his special
Speaker 1: teams coordinator with the Rams and traveled with him. So
Speaker 1: he's learned under a guy that's been a special teams
Speaker 1: coordinator for an extremely long time as well. So I
Speaker 1: think he's really excited about this opportunity, and he even
Speaker 1: mentioned the fact that he's excited to build on the
Speaker 1: turnaround from this last season from twenty twenties from what
Speaker 1: Ryan Ficken did. His whole idea, he said, was a
Speaker 1: simple approach with an aggressive mindset. I think with him
Speaker 1: being able to come in look at this roster, having
Speaker 1: the established people yet figuring out what the new crop
Speaker 1: of players are that are going to be coming in
Speaker 1: not only through free agency but also through the draft.
Speaker 1: Those are when the special teams coordinator is looking at
Speaker 1: those so incredibly close going what can I do with
Speaker 1: that linebacker, What can I do with that defensive end,
Speaker 1: What can I do with that wide receiver that's coming in?
Speaker 1: You know everyone always sites it, but a guy like
Speaker 1: Adam Feeling coming in the door saying I will do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to make this team, and I know
Speaker 1: that my biggest opportunity is through special teams before I
Speaker 1: can prove everything else. I think a guy like Matt
Speaker 1: Daniels is going to take whatever he can and just
Speaker 1: start making diamonds out of those pulled gems out of
Speaker 1: the out of the cut. And I just feel like
Speaker 1: Matt Daniels the motivating side, the former players side, and
Speaker 1: then kind of the creative mindset of being aggressive. Um.
Speaker 1: He cited the fact they had black four punts and
Speaker 1: scored a touchdown last year in Dallas. He's coming from
Speaker 1: a team that had that same aggressive mindset. And I
Speaker 1: feel like if if the Vikings then can have a
Speaker 1: similar feeling as they did with Ficken and how much
Speaker 1: players loved being with them. I'm really curious to see
Speaker 1: what mac Daniels is going to get out of these guys.
Speaker 1: And boy did his eyes light up when I mentioned
Speaker 1: the name Kenai Wongu. Yeah, he is ecstatic to be
Speaker 1: able to coach him. When when when I spoke to him,
Speaker 1: he kind of he had said like, um, I gotta
Speaker 1: cook story free. You know in Dallas when we were
Speaker 1: about to play you guys, is when he was healthy again,
Speaker 1: we were like, now, we're not going to really game
Speaker 1: plan for him, like we're not really sure what he
Speaker 1: can do. We're just not you know, we're not we
Speaker 1: don't know yet what this kid is capable of. And
Speaker 1: they saw glimpses of it in that game, he said.
Speaker 1: But he said it's a good thing they got lucky
Speaker 1: because the next game against Baltimore was the ninety nine
Speaker 1: yard to the house. I mean, yeah, so he knows
Speaker 1: what this kid is capable of. He said. He watched
Speaker 1: a lot of tape on him when they were preparing
Speaker 1: or you know, thinking about preparing for him when he
Speaker 1: was on the Cowboy staff. But he is excited about
Speaker 1: that kid. Caney was the guy that on draft night,
Speaker 1: there are a couple of people that were messaging me saying,
Speaker 1: you know, what are we doing picking a running back?
Speaker 1: We don't need a running back? And I immediately screenshot
Speaker 1: and just special teams like that is this guy. He's
Speaker 1: running a you know, four two four forty or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, and you're just looking at him saying, this
Speaker 1: guy is a potential difference maker like Cordarrell used to
Speaker 1: be when he used to see Devin Hester there too.
Speaker 1: He has the speed and he showed us this past
Speaker 1: season he has the ability to house a kick. And
Speaker 1: if you just think about as razor thin as all
Speaker 1: of these games are that we played last year, a
Speaker 1: kick return, a punt return, whatever it is, a punt block.
Speaker 1: If you can score on special teams and you get
Speaker 1: that third phase of an NFL team to contribute that way,
Speaker 1: it can make all the difference in the world. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: Matt had to bring that up, didn't you. That's the
Speaker 1: thing is, he's got to be drooling thinking about here's
Speaker 1: some of the weapons I get to play with and
Speaker 1: how to shape that. And I'm excited to see what
Speaker 1: Matt can do with those guys for sure. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a template for consistency right there, you know. I mean.
Speaker 1: And he definitely thanked Ryan Ficken. He gave him a
Speaker 1: lot of credit for turning what was a weakness in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty to a strength in twenty twenty one. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think this is an exciting parts He,
Speaker 1: much like Wes Phillips, believes the cupboard is not empty. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, Well, this new coaching staff will be joined
Speaker 1: by the player personnel department when the NFL combine kicks
Speaker 1: off next week, we had the opportunity to sit down
Speaker 1: with co directors of player Personnel Ryan Munnins and Jamal Stevenson,
Speaker 1: which was their first time here on the Minnesota Vikings podcast.
Speaker 1: So let's listen it. Thank you guys so much for coming.
Speaker 1: I know you guys are so busy with your schedules
Speaker 1: getting ready for this offseason. We have Ryan Munnins and
Speaker 1: Jamal Stevenson, the co directors of player personnel here for
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings. Here's your first time on the podcast.
Speaker 1: First time. How are the nerves, I'm just kidding. So far,
Speaker 1: so good. Yeah, I mean, look, I already messed up
Speaker 1: once before we did this, so that was probably a
Speaker 1: little tension out of the room. Right there we go.
Speaker 1: I know you guys, fans may not know your face
Speaker 1: is necessarily, but they've seen your work over the several years.
Speaker 1: How many years have you guys each been with the team. Well,
Speaker 1: we've in scouting. We've both been here the exact same time.
Speaker 1: We both started in two thousand and two. I started
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight as an intern, but moved into
Speaker 1: scouting in two thousand and two, So you know, we
Speaker 1: we kind of came up through different paths. I came
Speaker 1: up through the pro side. Mall came up through the
Speaker 1: college side, and he could speak to that. But you know,
Speaker 1: but over the last year here, we've kind of merged
Speaker 1: our roles kind of into into one. Has the ability
Speaker 1: to come in at the same time and knowing each
Speaker 1: other for so long, has that helped this relationship kind
Speaker 1: of grow over the years for sure? You know, Like
Speaker 1: like Ryan said, I mean we both well, I started
Speaker 1: here and I was hired in May of two thousand
Speaker 1: and two from the Houston, Texans at where I came
Speaker 1: from prior to here, but I was on the college side,
Speaker 1: like Ryan said, So you know, obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: my time was spent on the road, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of his time doing the pro work has
Speaker 1: been in the building. But when I've come here for meetings,
Speaker 1: obviously we've gotten to know each other over the years,
Speaker 1: and this year has just been fantastic to be able
Speaker 1: to work with Ryan and have that familiarity already already
Speaker 1: formed twenty years in the business. Tons of stuff has
Speaker 1: changed over that time frame, between technology being on site,
Speaker 1: being remote, everything even just let's happened in the last
Speaker 1: two seasons. What is the biggest change that you each
Speaker 1: have seen over the last twenty seasons trying to get
Speaker 1: ready for something like the NFL Draft. Yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: it's probably just the technology. Right. So when I first started,
Speaker 1: you know, I remember I had an old beta player
Speaker 1: and I would literally take an old mailbox and go
Speaker 1: down to the storage room and grab a bunch of
Speaker 1: beta tapes and come back up to my office and
Speaker 1: I'd have, you know, one hundred beta tapes stacked up,
Speaker 1: and I would just go one film through the next.
Speaker 1: And now the technologists so different. Now I can I
Speaker 1: can just click on a button and I can watch
Speaker 1: every guy's you know, every run play, every pass play,
Speaker 1: every pressure, every every sack, every you know, every explosive play.
Speaker 1: I can sort them, you know, by the click of
Speaker 1: a button. And just from an ability to isolate plays
Speaker 1: and isolate situations, the technology has come so far just
Speaker 1: on the film side of it. And I think that's
Speaker 1: the most drastic change. Yeah, I would, I would have
Speaker 1: to agree. It have to be the technology side. I
Speaker 1: mean when I started on the road, I mean, you
Speaker 1: had to be at the school to physically be able
Speaker 1: to watch their film. And uh so I didn't know
Speaker 1: much about any of the players. Say I was going
Speaker 1: to Florida that day, there there was no way to
Speaker 1: watch their tape, you know, until I got to the school.
Speaker 1: So you spend a large amount of time during the
Speaker 1: day actually watching tape from the Florida kids. But now
Speaker 1: that film is available instantaneously, and you know, after the
Speaker 1: game is played the next couple of days, I may
Speaker 1: have that on my computer and I'm able to watch
Speaker 1: it get ahead start, so i know what I'm going
Speaker 1: to look at when I when I'm there at Florida.
Speaker 1: So then a lot of my time is spent getting
Speaker 1: to know the player as opposed to sitting there in
Speaker 1: a film room watching tape. So the technology has been great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And just just to piggyback off that, you know, just
Speaker 1: just the technology in general, the access to information, to
Speaker 1: you have player information at the click of a button.
Speaker 1: You know, all of the information that we've gathered, reports,
Speaker 1: physical features, timing testing, all of that, you know, is
Speaker 1: in a very accessible database and it's information that we
Speaker 1: can grab, like I said, at the click of a button.
Speaker 1: And that's really what's changed so much versus you know,
Speaker 1: when I first started, it was going back to hold
Speaker 1: catalogs and looking up players. And I know that makes
Speaker 1: me sound like a like a dinosaur, but but it's
Speaker 1: amazing just how how quickly the technology changes from year
Speaker 1: to year, and it gets better and better every year.
Speaker 1: And I assume for both of you that just helps
Speaker 1: with the efficiency of being able to arrive where you're going,
Speaker 1: get your business done, but then be able to move
Speaker 1: on to the next or even handle more people and
Speaker 1: see more people than you might have done before. Where
Speaker 1: you were kind of keyed in on maybe a couple
Speaker 1: of people out of school, you can look at a
Speaker 1: larger group of people while you're there. That's absolutely right.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're you know, before the technology exists, it,
Speaker 1: you know, you could only really factor in, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe three to four schools a day. I mean, because
Speaker 1: sometimes you have a school that has ten or fifteen prospects,
Speaker 1: so you're sitting there, you're really grinding through a ton
Speaker 1: of tape at the school and you really can't move
Speaker 1: on until you get that done. So sometimes if you
Speaker 1: had that many prospects, like at a Florida State or
Speaker 1: an Alabama, you'd spend two days there, you know, just
Speaker 1: getting the getting the tape done. And now there's so
Speaker 1: much more access to tape. You can you can get
Speaker 1: that tape done, you know, before you go to any
Speaker 1: of the schools, you know, on the weekend, and now
Speaker 1: you can get maybe five or six schools you can
Speaker 1: do you can do two schools in a day because
Speaker 1: you've already gotten the tape work done. And so your
Speaker 1: main goal at the school is to watch practice and
Speaker 1: then get the background information on these players you know
Speaker 1: as worth sitting in draft meetings. Now it gives us
Speaker 1: the ability to take a certain position, and if we
Speaker 1: have you know, a handful of players that are stacked
Speaker 1: pretty equally, you know, we can we can easily pick
Speaker 1: out the critical factors that are most important to us,
Speaker 1: they are most important to our coaching staff. So if
Speaker 1: we take an fugh receiver, we're able to watch all
Speaker 1: third down plays and just watch them back to back
Speaker 1: to back. Or we can take all the x's and
Speaker 1: we can watch all the explosive plays and watch them
Speaker 1: back to back to back and just make sure that
Speaker 1: we get our stack right and we feel really good
Speaker 1: about the group. Just you know, the the ability to
Speaker 1: save time and to feel really thorough about the process,
Speaker 1: I think is a big one for us. Does it
Speaker 1: help you find maybe that diamond in the rough a
Speaker 1: little bit easier now? With the there's just so many
Speaker 1: names out there, so much tape. It's almost an embarrassment
Speaker 1: of riches at times because you do have the ability
Speaker 1: to see Eddie and all college players out there. Is
Speaker 1: there a time where you sit back and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: like this kid, maybe you know, twenty years ago, may
Speaker 1: not have been discovered. Yeah, I mean it definitely, Like
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, it makes you more efficient. It
Speaker 1: puts more tape at your disposal more quickly, more rapidly,
Speaker 1: without you know, saying having to live from here to
Speaker 1: you know, a small small city in Alabama to to
Speaker 1: watch a player. I mean you can pull up that
Speaker 1: tape you know, right here and be able to do
Speaker 1: that without getting on a flight and you know, spending
Speaker 1: the resources to do that. So yeah, I mean it
Speaker 1: definitely makes it easier. The technology makes it easier to
Speaker 1: identify players for sure. And I also think with as
Speaker 1: many bowl games as there are now, you know, you've
Speaker 1: got the Hula in the East West, and the NFLPA
Speaker 1: and the Senior Bowl. I mean, so many of these
Speaker 1: kids are invited to these games, and a lot of
Speaker 1: small school kids get exposure to these games, and so
Speaker 1: you're able to watch kind of apples to Apple's competition.
Speaker 1: And I think it's really important that less of these
Speaker 1: kids are are getting buried or left behind because there
Speaker 1: is so much exposure and there's so you know, so
Speaker 1: much accessibility to these Bowl games. I assume even I mean,
Speaker 1: you can go back if you really want to and
Speaker 1: find all the high school tape and everything else. Given
Speaker 1: today's social media age where everyone's posting everything and all
Speaker 1: the services that are available. You know, you kind of
Speaker 1: touched on a little bit too of just trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, then how do you discern between um kind
Speaker 1: of weeding through all of that in order to kind
Speaker 1: of come to a decision on how you grade that player.
Speaker 1: Is it using past knowledge, is it something where there's
Speaker 1: there's newer technology that you really kind of you know,
Speaker 1: throw it in and kind of kick out a number,
Speaker 1: like for you specifically within the room, working with all
Speaker 1: the coaches and everybody, how do you process that information
Speaker 1: then to not get lost in the weeds. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's a it's a pretty thorough process and we've
Speaker 1: we've done it here for a long time. You know,
Speaker 1: all of our scouts have access to the same technology,
Speaker 1: the same video. Um, So on any one given player,
Speaker 1: we may have three or four different reports and opinions
Speaker 1: on that player from our scouts, and then once we
Speaker 1: combine our our coaches and add them to the process,
Speaker 1: then you're you're getting the full picture of what you
Speaker 1: think that player may be. You know, some of us
Speaker 1: do go back. I can watch some YouTube videos of
Speaker 1: a kid in the high school or u you know, um,
Speaker 1: if he played basketball, you know, you can watch him
Speaker 1: do a three sixty dunk. Or you know, we had
Speaker 1: a player here, Fred Evans wants to jumped out of
Speaker 1: a pool, uh, you know, at three hundred pounds and
Speaker 1: landed on his feet. So, I mean there's the technology
Speaker 1: clues you into all of that and uh, and it's
Speaker 1: available for all of us. So, but our process is
Speaker 1: pretty inclusive, you know, with our scouts, our coaches, and
Speaker 1: once all that information is put together, we meet on
Speaker 1: it and we come up with a final grade. Every
Speaker 1: year we ask ourselves, how can we get better, how
Speaker 1: can we improve our process? What haven't we done in
Speaker 1: the past, Like, you know, how have we missed m
Speaker 1: and why have we missed? And I think those are
Speaker 1: really the critical factors. And I even think now, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's a you know, one thing Kuzy has
Speaker 1: has done immediately he's done, come in and done a
Speaker 1: good job and just say like, how can we improve this?
Speaker 1: You know, what your thoughts, what are your ideas? And
Speaker 1: I think every year we're trying to do that and
Speaker 1: I think every year we get better too. But to
Speaker 1: Jamal's point, you know, it's a combination of a lot
Speaker 1: of different things. It's scouts, it's analytics, it's coaches, and
Speaker 1: when that all comes together, hopefully you're you're making the
Speaker 1: right decision. And it's got to be the right fit
Speaker 1: for your team, because one player for one team may
Speaker 1: not be a player for another team. Some of us
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, when we see all of you guys
Speaker 1: in the building showing up doing the work and all
Speaker 1: the meetings for hours and hours on end, fans a
Speaker 1: lot of times don't start paying attention until the scene's over.
Speaker 1: And when it comes to your crew and your group.
Speaker 1: This is something that starts long before the season's done,
Speaker 1: and then you're like, oh, the combines coming up, we
Speaker 1: should pay attention how long like for you in your process,
Speaker 1: when does this really start? And the culmination is the
Speaker 1: actual draft day and then after that signing for agents
Speaker 1: and everything. But what is that timeline typically like for
Speaker 1: your group? Yeah, so our scouts start watching tape in
Speaker 1: the summer, you know, prior to college football season starting.
Speaker 1: And typically or sometimes it's you know, we have two
Speaker 1: three years worth of of looks on a player because
Speaker 1: you know, with COVID and everything, um, and guys returning
Speaker 1: for an extra year, you've already watched that player, um
Speaker 1: when he was a senior and now he's a super senior.
Speaker 1: So there's there's there. You know, sometimes two three years
Speaker 1: looks on on on a player, and we really start
Speaker 1: that process in depth in the summer. Um. Like I said,
Speaker 1: all the tape is available to each scout and they
Speaker 1: can do that from the comforts of their own home. Uh.
Speaker 1: So that process starts in and then uh, in the fall,
Speaker 1: we're able to go out and um, you know, go
Speaker 1: visit these schools and and just kind of follow up
Speaker 1: on that initial summer summer tape work. Uh. And then
Speaker 1: as that process goes through the fall, we're going to
Speaker 1: bowl games. So our scouts are out and um, you
Speaker 1: know they're going to bowl games, They're going to all
Speaker 1: Star games. So we're watching all the seniors, the Top
Speaker 1: Sea in your Prospects, at the East West Game, at
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl, the Hula Bowl, so many, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: now all star games that are are in play, and
Speaker 1: we're kind of just in the process now where we're
Speaker 1: starting to talk about those players. These are our initial
Speaker 1: draft meetings with our scouts, so the coaches have not
Speaker 1: really gotten involved to this point yet. That comes in April,
Speaker 1: right before the drafts and they've had time to watch
Speaker 1: players and interview them at the combine. So it's a
Speaker 1: pretty thorough process that starts in the summer, and you
Speaker 1: know it goes year round almost and I just think
Speaker 1: you really have to find that balance, you know, we,
Speaker 1: like Jamal said, we start that process in the summer,
Speaker 1: and I think that's really crucial because when you go
Speaker 1: in in the fall, it's it's you don't have as
Speaker 1: much time to watch film at the school, right because
Speaker 1: you're going in and you want to find out the
Speaker 1: football character and you want to find out, you know,
Speaker 1: the off field character these players, and and so you
Speaker 1: really don't have as much time to sit down and
Speaker 1: just grind tape when you're at the school call. So
Speaker 1: that's why it's it's so important to build a foundation
Speaker 1: of summer tape. Obviously as we go through the season, right,
Speaker 1: you have to find the right combination of balancing your
Speaker 1: workload between the college side, the pro side, adding players
Speaker 1: to your own team, and managing your own roster, which
Speaker 1: has become much more difficult over the last couple of
Speaker 1: years because of COVID and the number of code replacements
Speaker 1: on any given day. And that's and that's really the
Speaker 1: day to day roster management is a big chunk of
Speaker 1: what you're doing during the season. And then also balancing
Speaker 1: out you know, the pro side as we do advanced
Speaker 1: out and reports for the coaches and we're watching games
Speaker 1: and and you know, communicating on a day to day
Speaker 1: basis what the coaches with the coaches or what they're
Speaker 1: looking for and how we can help them on a
Speaker 1: game to game basis. Right. You mentioned a little while
Speaker 1: ago new Vikings general manager Quasi at Dopamenza and what
Speaker 1: he's done so far on the job. I mean it's
Speaker 1: been I think the other day when I spoke to me,
Speaker 1: he's been there about a month, So I actually want
Speaker 1: to ask huge, mal though, what are your first like
Speaker 1: initial impression of quis very chill vibe, but a pleasant personality.
Speaker 1: I think he has a way of making everyone feel
Speaker 1: like they're important and their opinions are valued. Um, you know.
Speaker 1: And and the one thing that he's done for me,
Speaker 1: um that I really necessarily didn't do in the past,
Speaker 1: was he makes you challenge your thoughts. Um. You know.
Speaker 1: He asked you the why, and he wants to see
Speaker 1: proof of the why and why you see what you see.
Speaker 1: And you know, that's something that I'm really not used
Speaker 1: to because in the past I would just put it
Speaker 1: in my report. Here it is, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: And uh, he makes you think about why, why you're
Speaker 1: why you're saying a certain player can't do this or
Speaker 1: why can a player do this? And so you have
Speaker 1: to go back and and really examine, you know, and
Speaker 1: you have to be mindful when you're writing that player. Okay,
Speaker 1: I better put in Okay, this is play number thirty six.
Speaker 1: This is what I'm saying. This is an example of
Speaker 1: what I'm saying here. So it's it's more like fact checking, really,
Speaker 1: and I think it's good for us, you know, as
Speaker 1: older scouts, but it's also good for the younger scouts
Speaker 1: to be able to see what an example of why
Speaker 1: we're seeing what we're saying. So he's been great, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's been in our process and and
Speaker 1: h but he's he's kind of just letting us run
Speaker 1: with it. And you know, which I think is smart
Speaker 1: because we our process is where it is at this
Speaker 1: point already and we're getting close to the draft now.
Speaker 1: He's he's provided input, um and kind of guidance along
Speaker 1: the way, but the structure of our meetings has remained
Speaker 1: virtually the same. So he's been great with us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I would say, you know, don't discount just walking
Speaker 1: around the building and feeling some chemistry and some positivity.
Speaker 1: And I think that's really important whether it's at the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings or Best Buy or General Mills. I just
Speaker 1: think to be around really positive people and people that
Speaker 1: will encourage you to push you in a really positive way. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's really really important when it comes to
Speaker 1: not only Quacy, but even all the new coaches that
Speaker 1: are now in the building and some of them essentially
Speaker 1: being kind of finalized last week when it comes to
Speaker 1: that point though, with you and how closely you work
Speaker 1: with them, how quickly do you have to get up
Speaker 1: to speed of what they're looking for. It's trial by fire, right,
Speaker 1: So you go from no coaches in the building to
Speaker 1: also you have a full staff in the building, and
Speaker 1: it is It takes energy, and it takes really a
Speaker 1: lot of time to establish relationships, and you have to
Speaker 1: be smart enough to know that that's just not going
Speaker 1: to come overnight. Chemistry just doesn't happen overnight. So it's
Speaker 1: going to be a process. But you really have to
Speaker 1: make an effort to get to know these coaches and
Speaker 1: want to be in their office and talk about their
Speaker 1: position and talk about, you know, what they're looking for
Speaker 1: and players. And I'll say this, Kevin's done a really
Speaker 1: good job here in the first week as we're sitting
Speaker 1: through draft meetings, sending you know, sitting down with us
Speaker 1: with the position coaches and kind of talking through what
Speaker 1: they're looking for and play. And I think from the
Speaker 1: scouting perspective that that is the most important first conversation
Speaker 1: we can have before before we can do anything on
Speaker 1: the scouting side, is to figure out what type of
Speaker 1: player they want, what type of player they're looking for,
Speaker 1: whether it's measurables or characteristics or football character. I think
Speaker 1: all of those things really really mattered. And until we
Speaker 1: absorb that as scouts and we have clear communication with
Speaker 1: the scouting staff and the coaching staff, that's that's the
Speaker 1: only way we can really move forward. But like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, to establish these true relationship with coaches, it's
Speaker 1: going to take walking into their office and sitting down
Speaker 1: and having a cup of coffee and asking about their
Speaker 1: family and really just getting to know these coaches on
Speaker 1: a personal basis and trying to earn some trust. And
Speaker 1: I don't think Jamal and I are naive enough to
Speaker 1: think that that happens overnight, because but but it's a
Speaker 1: process that I really enjoy doing and I know Jamal
Speaker 1: does too. It's it's love being around people, being around
Speaker 1: new people, being around coaching talking football, and so it's
Speaker 1: it's been positive a plus across the board. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I spoke to Queasy earlier this week. He I asked
Speaker 1: him about, you know, the personnel, how is it around
Speaker 1: guys who have been established in this league for so
Speaker 1: long and kind of coming in being the new guy,
Speaker 1: And he was like, I mean they're pros. Like there's
Speaker 1: future general managers all over this personnel department right now
Speaker 1: because they know how to do their business around here.
Speaker 1: And he kind of like lit up a little bit,
Speaker 1: like he was really excited about you guys in particular.
Speaker 1: And so as you head to the NFL combine, what
Speaker 1: are your feelings with this new coaching staff, new germ manager,
Speaker 1: knowing what you need to find next week or what
Speaker 1: you're looking for, but then also actually having the combine,
Speaker 1: you guys are like back in your element. Absolutely. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great to be going back to Indy. You know,
Speaker 1: we took last year off because of COVID and basically
Speaker 1: it was a medical only combine, so we didn't partake
Speaker 1: in that as you know, as a scouting group. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great to go back. The combine is just another
Speaker 1: part of the process, but it's an important one because
Speaker 1: not only do we get all the top players in
Speaker 1: one area, we get their medical information, which is critically important.
Speaker 1: We get to watch them work out, which is also great.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, sometimes if you're sitting there watching tape,
Speaker 1: you're not able to maybe distinguish how stronger quarterbacks arm is.
Speaker 1: If you don't watch go watch a game live, or
Speaker 1: you know, you may miss out on a kid's athletic
Speaker 1: ability on tape, but then you see it live at
Speaker 1: the combine running a forty or a shuttle and you said, wow,
Speaker 1: that guy's not as stiff as maybe I thought he
Speaker 1: looked on tape. So being able to see that live
Speaker 1: is critically important. But I would say the most important
Speaker 1: thing is getting in front of all these you know,
Speaker 1: the players that we're interested in and sitting down and
Speaker 1: you know, doing a you know, it's not a very
Speaker 1: long interview, eighteen minutes or so, but it gives you
Speaker 1: just kind of a window into who that player is
Speaker 1: as a person. Oftentimes during the year, these these players
Speaker 1: are you know, um shield it from your you know,
Speaker 1: being able to actually talk to you you're there on campus,
Speaker 1: but you're there to watch film. You're there to talk
Speaker 1: to coaches and strength coaches and trainers, and you don't
Speaker 1: get to face up with a with a player or prospects.
Speaker 1: So to be able to see them, look them in
Speaker 1: the eye, and hear them speak and talk about what's
Speaker 1: important to them that that's a big part of the combat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's probably the one thing I'm probably most excited about
Speaker 1: is Listen, We've we've had the opportunity to sit down
Speaker 1: with these kids one on one, you know, scout to player.
Speaker 1: But now it's our turn to to kind of sitting
Speaker 1: back of the room and watch, you know, whether it's
Speaker 1: the head coach or the coordinator or the position coach
Speaker 1: um talk to these kids and talk football and talk
Speaker 1: through plays and look, you know, ask them what they're
Speaker 1: looking for in particular situations. And it's a really good
Speaker 1: learning environment for us to see our coach is And
Speaker 1: it'll be especially important this year to get in front
Speaker 1: of these kids with our coaches because it's the first
Speaker 1: time we've been with our coaches, and so you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it'll be important to see exactly how they coach,
Speaker 1: how they teach, and kind of what they're looking for
Speaker 1: out of these players too. The combine is always usually
Speaker 1: the kind of unofficial official kickoff to the next season.
Speaker 1: Get to see your colleagues, get to see people that
Speaker 1: used to work with before when it comes to the combine.
Speaker 1: Besides just getting to the players, what else does it
Speaker 1: mean for your group now from this point of the
Speaker 1: combine moving forward to draft day, kind of that official
Speaker 1: launch into the next season for not only the Vikings
Speaker 1: but for the NFL. It's a great opportunity for our
Speaker 1: entire organization. Everybody that goes down there to kind of bond.
Speaker 1: I mean that there is time to bond, whether it's
Speaker 1: with the scouts or the coaches, or the trainers or
Speaker 1: the cap people, and you know, just basically our entire
Speaker 1: organization is down there, and it is a really good
Speaker 1: bonding experience. You know, we were down to man Cato
Speaker 1: for so many years at training camp, and now that
Speaker 1: that we're here, you know, that man Cato time was
Speaker 1: kind of our time to get away and kind of
Speaker 1: bond and set the stage. And so not only for
Speaker 1: our own team, but just just to see people around
Speaker 1: the league and talk to you know, other scouts around
Speaker 1: the league and other coaches around the league, or other
Speaker 1: coaches that you've been with or that we're here with
Speaker 1: the Vikings for an extended period of time and to
Speaker 1: see those guys again. So I think that's a big
Speaker 1: part of it too, aside from from the workouts and
Speaker 1: the testing in the interviews, just to be able to
Speaker 1: see people and kind of establish or reestablish relationships again. Well,
Speaker 1: we wish you the best of luck, and obviously the
Speaker 1: time that you spend in the combine is so valuable,
Speaker 1: not only as you just said, to this coaching staff
Speaker 1: and establishing these relationships, but also for constructing the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two Vikings roster for this season, which is just
Speaker 1: so exciting. We thank you so much, though, guys, for
Speaker 1: giving us a nice behind the seeds inside peak at
Speaker 1: what you guys do every day and heading into the
Speaker 1: combine what you're looking for and how that's handled, because
Speaker 1: I think that's something that maybe fans think they know
Speaker 1: more about, but I hope that they took away a
Speaker 1: lot learning from you guys today. So thank you so
Speaker 1: much to Ryan Munnins and Jamal Stevenson, co directors of
Speaker 1: player personnel for the Minnesota Vikings, for being here on
Speaker 1: our podcast. Thanks thanks for having us. A huge thank
Speaker 1: you to Ryan Munnins and Jamal Stevenson for being our
Speaker 1: guests in the podcast. I know I keep repeating how
Speaker 1: thankful we are, but when you've got guys that are
Speaker 1: this busy, that can only really talk in their lunch
Speaker 1: hour to us, which is so nice. Really, it really
Speaker 1: is a feeling of thankfulness because you know, I like
Speaker 1: that they were willing to speak with fans and let
Speaker 1: them kind of inside a day in their life. Those
Speaker 1: two guys are some of the nicest guys that we
Speaker 1: have here in the organization, and I know they don't
Speaker 1: get promoted a ton. I know that when Rick was here,
Speaker 1: he would always talk about how much work Jamal did
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Same thing with Ryan. As they said,
Speaker 1: they've been working on a bunch of this stuff since
Speaker 1: the summer, so this really is kind of their super
Speaker 1: Bowl time coming up in the next month or so,
Speaker 1: a prep and like you said, for them to take
Speaker 1: twenty to thirty minutes out of their time during their
Speaker 1: lunch hour in between meetings was a huge deal. So
Speaker 1: very grateful to have those guys in the show this week. Yes,
Speaker 1: the behind the scenes look is always interesting to me.
Speaker 1: You know, to be a fly on the wall of
Speaker 1: one of those prospect interview rooms would just be epic.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing is, you know, that group is
Speaker 1: kind of an insular group and they pull people from
Speaker 1: all different departments and you talk to them at this
Speaker 1: time of year and they're like, you know, justifiably, so
Speaker 1: they can't say much because they don't want things getting
Speaker 1: out that they're discussing, and you completely understand that it's
Speaker 1: always interesting after the fact that times you'll get some
Speaker 1: information as who you know, here's why we picked this
Speaker 1: player after we picked them, etc. Etc. But for that group,
Speaker 1: you know, I think fans would absolutely love the ability
Speaker 1: to be able to hear and see what they do.
Speaker 1: I'm just hoping that those guys are able during this
Speaker 1: time to catch up and get what they need, not
Speaker 1: only coaching wise, but in all these meetings and then
Speaker 1: between the combine, the pro days, all the prep, the
Speaker 1: subterfuge that always tends to happen, free agency, everything, that
Speaker 1: they're able to really be able to focus and find
Speaker 1: some great players to help this team for sure. I mean,
Speaker 1: it all gets going next week when the NFL Combine
Speaker 1: kicks off, which is obviously so great to see it
Speaker 1: returned to at least some sense of normalcy. I mean,
Speaker 1: we have it. I don't know how, you know. I
Speaker 1: know that the players actually were very or the prospects
Speaker 1: rather integral and making sure that they can make these
Speaker 1: meetings and things like that, so it should be an
Speaker 1: exciting time. I think that we've got a lot of
Speaker 1: people here at the Vikings Entertainment Network that are headed
Speaker 1: down there next week to provide coverage and analysis. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to experts and we'll also talk with We'll have
Speaker 1: a couple of interviews dropping with Quacy and a few
Speaker 1: of the coordinators. So it's going to be a really
Speaker 1: exciting week to be a part of Vikings dot Com,
Speaker 1: the YouTube page or the app wherever you get your
Speaker 1: Vikings information. It's going to be a very very hectic week.
Speaker 1: We'll also wrap it all up with an MVP episode
Speaker 1: next week as well. So I mean, it's just going
Speaker 1: to be a lot of info. I hope you're prepared
Speaker 1: to get to know everyone really well. Be ready for
Speaker 1: your feeds to just explode over the next five six
Speaker 1: days next week. And like you said, this is always
Speaker 1: the exciting time of year because you're finally starting to
Speaker 1: get a little bit of a taste of who the
Speaker 1: new crop is and what your possibilities might be for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. Exactly. It's just a lot of fresh
Speaker 1: newness around here. It's a very bright and exciting time
Speaker 1: here at TCOPC. We're not taking a break anytime soon.
Speaker 1: The break was like a one week vacation. I think
Speaker 1: it was kind of a sad break. Yeah, that month
Speaker 1: kind of got eating up real quick, real quick. But no,
Speaker 1: we're excited to keep giving you and providing you content
Speaker 1: behind the scenes looks at what's going on here because
Speaker 1: we know you guys are all interested in what's next
Speaker 1: for the Minnesota Vikings. So for Jay Nelson, I'm Tatum
Speaker 1: Everett Skull. You you wo