Bidding Wars Have Already Started ROLLING...

Bidding wars have already started rolling with less than two weeks before the trade deadline bringing tons of pressure on Nolan Teasley to make a blockbuster move to set the Vikings up for a deep season run that would certainly help them make a serious push for their first Lombardi trophy. We're going to break it down all of that in this episode of Vikings Digest but first we asked you guys to get us to 5600 subs before we kicked off against the Lions on Sunday and you guys absolutely crushed it with a couple of days to spare like you always do and now the road does not stop as we are just over 300 subscribers away. from eclipsing Bengals Digest so if you're part of the 89% of viewers who are not yet subscribed you want to stay up to date on all things Vikings make sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so you don't miss any of the episodes when they drop but that will hop right into the first topic and the only topic which is the Jonathan Taylor bidding war as we know that the Vikings are going to be very active before the trade deadline and Albert Breer was saying that the Vikings are looking and asking around for interior O-line D-line and at running back And as well as a recent report saying that even though the Colts do not want to trade Jonathan Taylor, the expected compensation that they are looking for him is apparently a first round pick, but his value is more in the range of the Christian McCaffrey trade from 2022. And we all remember that big blockbuster trade they did with the Carolina Panthers, where it was a 2023 second, third, fourth round pick and a fifth round pick. And a lot of people got me or were roasting me in the comments about one of the last videos I said, where if it is a first round pick. Go out and offer that, and a lot of people said absolutely not. And with the Christian McCaffrey trade, it does make sense where the Colts are wanting a first-round pick. It's understandable they're overvaluing one of their biggest or best player, basically, and one of the best running backs in the entire league. However, if it is more in line with the Christian McCaffrey trade, where the Vikings aren't going to have to give up a first-round pick, but it's a second, third, and fourth-round pick, and then a fifth-round pick for the following year, that would be a very, very interesting move and very compelling where Minnesota Might be willing to give that up. Me personally, I would say I'm okay with it just because when you look at our history of draft picks that haven't necessarily panned out outside of the first round, you can't really say that a lot of those guys were necessarily difference makers or ones that could replace what Jonathan Taylor would bring. And I know the running back draft class is looking very good as far as what's going on in college right now. So Minnesota would probably want to keep their first round pick just for that reason alone. However, if you can go out and get Jonathan Taylor and have enough space for a first round pick to get a running back next year as well, if they want to use Taylor as just an expensive one year rental, it totally does make sense. However, with where the Vikings are at right now, we knew that a trade was probably not going to happen this week because of how it would affect their salary cap. However, now that we're hitting on Friday going into Saturday now, it makes sense that we haven't really seen a trade happen and we probably won't see one happen throughout the entire weekend. As we turn over to the next week, where that is where it's going to get a little bit easier and possibly even further into trade deadline week, which means that we are going to be on Jonathan Taylor watch for a very long time. And somebody who is also on Jonathan Taylor watch is Nolan Teasley, who has been very, very busy on the phones. As per James Palmer, saying that he has been a madman looking for trades recently as the two positions they've been looking at are running back and tight end, with a full quote from Thursday Night Football saying that he's looking at everything. He's a madman on the phones, I'm told, and they're looking for a running back or a tight end. A lot of people are probably thinking, well, why do we necessarily need a tight end? We've got T.J. Hockenson, he's on the last year of his deal, and with his injury history, Minnesota might be wanting to go for a pass-catching tight end. A lot of their conversations. One of the trades that Minnesota will be looking at for a tight end was primarily a blocking tight end because of Josh Oliver injury, and it makes sense. However, when you got Gavin Bartholomew, who is doing very, very well since he came back from injury, which was a season ender, completely missed his entire rookie year last year. He's stepping in this year, and he's really done a very good job, just in one game, I know. But now we are going to see what more he can do as a starter for this team. Now that Josh Oliver is out, he's stepping up in a big way. And possibly even more, which now leads it to a pass-catching tight end, where with T.J. Hockenson being on last year's deal, it does make sense that you would want to move on and try and solidify your future at tight end, whether in a draft or in a trade. It definitely does make sense, but you do want to keep Hawkinson around. However, obviously the main thing here is Jonathan Taylor, where Kwesi Adofo-Mensah needs to make something happen fast before teams start getting interested. And as far as teams that are interested, you've got Minnesota that is bidding with the Cincinnati Bengals, As a reporter from Denver was saying that the Vikings and the Bengals are two teams to keep an eye on for a potential Jonathan Taylor trade because this was in light of a lot of the conversation going around the Denver Broncos being interested, but they got Jonah Coleman who just emerged recently, and if the Broncos have faith in him, they will probably roll with him while they have J.K. Dobbins and the other running backs as well with R.J. Harvey in there as well as a pass catcher. So the Broncos, even though they don't have a definitive number one running back with their three-back committee, they might be all set. And me personally. As long as Sean Payton suffers, I don't care. So if the Broncos aren't getting Jonathan Taylor and they feel all right with their three-back committee that they got going on over there, as long as Denver Broncos and Sean Payton suck, I don't care. As long as they do not get Jonathan Taylor, that is the big thing here. And the Cincinnati Bengals, they got Chase Brown, but he's having a really, really rough year. And then you got Samajian Ryan as well, who is not going to be a lead back by any stretch of the imagination. So it makes sense why the Bengals are really going to try and push for Jonathan Taylor. That's something to set that high-powered offense over the edge. You know, the Seahawks are interested, but they're getting Charbonnet back already, and they already got Quentin Nelson. You'd have to think that if Jonathan Taylor was going to the Seahawks, that he would have been included in that deal with Quentin Nelson as well. So, where that leaves everybody else? Well, you got the Giants. Cam Akers, he looked pretty good in his first game back in John Harbaugh's good graces. So, they're probably set at that spot as well. With the committee that they kind of got going on there, I don't necessarily see them demoting Cam Scadaboo to an RB2 or a 1B in that sense. I think that's a guy that is absolutely going to be a bell cow or just getting a large percentage of snaps just because of what he does in the pass-catching game. Then we look at Minnesota. It's really the only option left as far as things that should be heavily considered that are currently in the running. We got those other teams kind of floating around. We got the Seahawks, Giants, Broncos, Bengals. A lot of those ones don't necessarily seem like the right fits. Bengals maybe would be the second best fit, I would say, just because of how that's the last piece that they're really missing to kind of pull together that offense unless Chase Brown gets it together. But again, the Bengals, with Chase Brown, that is kind of their number one back unless they are going to trade him to the Colts with draft picks attached to it in exchange for Jonathan Taylor. With Minnesota, they might be able to get Jonathan Taylor without having to give up Jordan Mason or Aaron Jones. If they just want to go with the draft picks and something that caught a lot of traction recently on social media was this tweet that was put out by an infamous Twitter account by the name of Ricky. And he is somebody who has had his ear to the grindstone on a lot of things. But the other day he said another blockbuster trade is being finalized. And this one maybe was jumping the gun a little bit where no deal ended up happening the other day when it was posted. However, in the past with a lot of these trades, whether it's been in the NHL or in the NFL or other leagues as well, He's been pretty spot on when he tends to announce something earlier when before all the other insiders announce it. However, in this spot, he might have been off the ball, maybe as far as the timing of it, but not as far as the actual content of it. So we possibly will be seeing a trade more than likely happen in the next couple of days. It does make sense why they didn't make a trade happening this week, just because of their salary cap reasons. And as well as all the buzz around Jonathan Taylor as far as will he play Sunday because there was something that we've covered in our last episode about Jonathan Taylor where there was a possibility he might not be playing and that would be very indicative if he would be traded. However, today it was announced that Jonathan Taylor would be playing on Sunday along with Josh Downs who did request a trade. So it goes to show that even when players have requested a trade with the Colts, they are still going to be playing on Sunday. But it goes to show that even if Jonathan Taylor is playing on Sunday, doesn't necessarily rule out that he is not going to be traded, which I definitely love because, A, I have him on my fantasy team, so keep giving me points and helping me in the standings. Absolutely. And as well as if it gives him another game under his belt, where it can up where the Colts want to kind of show, hey, this is why he's worthy of a first round pick. I definitely understand it as a bargaining chip move. On their side of things, where it does risk a potential injury in this game on Sunday, Yes, absolutely, but if he goes out there and has a great game where he's putting up over 100 yards and scores a touchdown, that might give the Colts all the reason to tell all these teams and Nolan Teasley saying, all right, you want to get Jonathan Taylor? Yes, the Christian McCaffrey trade equivalent would be very nice. However, did you see what he put up on Sunday? This is why he's worth a first-round pick. So that is where Nolan Teasley could have something to kind of weigh out as far as options in his head. And as far as with the other names to watch out there, it's going to be very difficult to get somebody better than Jonathan Taylor. As far as the other names that are out there. There were some that were put out on there by the Vikings Gazette where they were saying that Ben Bredesen would be someone to watch for, Tony Pollard, Cam Bynum, Kirk Cousins. Obviously, not all can be acquired, but they all make some sense. Kirk Cousins, I don't necessarily see why that is on there. Cam Bynum, that totally makes sense. I think Minnesota made a big mistake letting him go, but the price was starting to get way too high. Tony Pollard, I think, would be a fantastic consolation prize if they do miss out on the Jonathan Taylor sweepstakes. Or the Colts just decide not to move on from him. Ben Bredesen, I know a lot of Vikings fans are wanting them to bring him in. But I do not think he has the chops to be a starter on this offensive line. Even if it is just for this season. I don't think he will bring that insurance that a lot of Vikings fans are thinking he would bring. They just love the idea of both Bredesens playing on the same team. Tony Pollard, if you bring in a guy like that. Especially after he's coming off of three touchdowns last week. And he's potentially not playing on Sunday. That is where it gets a little bit interesting as far as, all right, Tony Pollard, that might be a name that steals a lot of the Vikings running back conversation, even though a lot of fans are definitely going to want them to get Jonathan Taylor because he's a premier talent. Tony Pollard, on the other hand, might be cheaper and would be a lot more versatile within a three-back set with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, whereas Jonathan Taylor is a kind of back that would command 17, 20 touches a game and be that workhorse on all those three downs. It would make it very tough for Minnesota to rotate Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason in. But if you bring in a guy like Tony Pollard, that changes things drastically as far as how you can utilize a three-back committee. Even though Tony Pollard could be your first and second down back, you still have the opportunity to be able to rotate him in and out because he's not a premier back where he's going to be able to be top five running back in the league or anything like that and command a backfield and just all the touches. It's not going to be like that. So if you bring in a guy like that. That could be a little bit more, a little bit less stress to put on your running backs as well, especially with the injuries with Aaron Jones this year, Jordan Mason coming back from injury. So where Minnesota might like that idea more, where yes, Jonathan Taylor, premier talent. However, he is going to command almost every single touch out of the backfield, leaving no room, virtually no room for Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones, and with McGowan getting 11 touches last Sunday for the Colts against the Vikings. I think that is a very big sign that the Colts are trying to. either lighten Taylor's workload to trade him or just trying to see how the future of their running back position would look without him. However, once he's traded, definitely see him going into a full-time RB1 role, no RB1A, 1B type scenario at all in Minnesota anymore. And we would see Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones take a major backseat to JT. But again, bring a guy like Tony Pollard, suddenly you go from a two-back committee to a three-back committee where all those guys Could be capable of starting on any other team, just like our wide receiver core is, even though we haven't utilized Jalen Jennings in the best way possible. It goes to show that Minnesota would have depth and talent at almost every single position on the offensive side of the ball. But let us know your guys' thoughts down in the comments below. If you think Minnesota is going to make a deal happen to get Jonathan Taylor, or do you think if Tony Pollard is the more appealing choice because it'll cost less as far as draft capital given up and as far as contract and salary. And as well as adding a lot more versatility to this Vikings running back core, if you're able to have a three back kind of three headed monster with Jones, Pollard and Mason versus if you bring in Taylor, it's going to be Taylor and then Jones and Mason kind of accompanying him getting in touches whenever they can. But let us know down in the comments below is that's going to do it for this episode of Vikings Digest. Thank you guys again so much for liking, subscribing, hitting that bell icon so you don't miss the episodes when they drop. But for now, I've been your host Griffin. Take care.