This Has MASSIVE Implications for the Vikings...

This has massive implications for the Vikings, not only heading into Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, but also for the rest of the season after Kevin O'Connell addressed the Kirk Cousins trade impact on this roster moving forward, and what it could mean for the rest of the QBs on the depth chart. We're going to break it down all of that in this episode of Vikings. So I just want to first, we recently eclipsed 6,000 subs, so thank you guys so much for helping us get there. And now we're trying to hit 6,200 before we kick off against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon. So if you're part of the 88% of viewers who are not yet subscribed, you'll 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. It's hopefully going to be a very explosive game and a game in which Kirk Cousins is looking to maintain his race of trying to have the most passing touchdowns this season as currently he is at a 40% chance of doing so on Kalshi right now. And on Kalshi, you're trading directly against other users, not the house like traditional sportsbooks. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome events across sports, politics, or even the weather. For example, if you were to place a $25 trade on Kirk Cousins to lead the NFL in passing touchdowns this year, That would give you a payout of $99.56, or if you wanted to go a step further as well and have Justin Jefferson record three-plus touchdowns in a game this year, which might be likely now that Kirk Cousins is back and slinging the rock, that would give you a $53.40 payout on a $25 trade. So if you are interested in trying out calls, you use the link in the description or pin comment and use code DIGESTNFL to get $55 added to your account instantly when you trade your first $25. With that, let's just hop right into it, which is that Kevin O'Connell talks the Cousins It was a big morning for the Vikings as we heard Kevin O'Connell take the podium as well as Nolan Teasley and then Kirk Cousins as well. The Kirk Cousins presser we're going to cover in a separate video as well. So stay tuned for all of that. But as far as what Kevin O'Connell had to say on Kirk Cousins, if you missed our Nolan Teasley video, we posted that earlier in the day. So go ahead and check that out on the channel. But sticking on what Kevin O'Connell was saying with this one, saying that obviously he spent a good part of the morning and a good part of the day with Kirk. It's great to have him back in the building and you feel his energy right away. And this move was all about late season football that Kevin O'Connell touched on beautifully, saying we want to be playing our best football in December, but also make sure that we understand the point in the season that we're at right now. We need to specifically start playing better on offense and more consistent to be the team that we think we can become. And I know a lot of people are saying that team can become a Super Bowl contender. The defense that they have right now, the offensive weapons that they have, the best wide receiver in football, and now having a quarterback that can get those weapons the ball. and make sure the defense stays off the field as much as possible so they aren't having to do everything for us. I mean, you look at the last game, if Byron Murphy wasn't tackled, he might have scored a touchdown for us. And you look at that scoop and score, Andrew Van Ginkel scooping it at the one, and we still don't score a freaking touchdown. I mean, they called that fumble back, of course, which would have been a lot worse if they had scored because it would have been even more of a momentum killer. But still, the defense was doing everything they could except for scoring touchdowns, which is the offense's job. So you want to make sure that you can go through the rest of the season without having to have your defense do physically everything and rely on your offense at least a little bit. But as far as Kevin O'Connell wanting to get Kirk Cousins comfortable, he did talk on that as it pertains to Week 10 as well. Saying that we're just working through getting him comfortable, getting him up to speed, and he's really smart. A lot of things come back quick to him, and some of the things we've known, we've kind of grown in nuanced, subtle changes, making things more efficient or learnable over the years, just getting him caught up to speed on that. As it pertains to Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, he was saying that I do think it's still too early to commit wholeheartedly to what the plan on Sunday looks like, but I will say I'm excited about the opportunity of spending every moment we can between now and then to get him comfortable and allow him to play for us this Sunday. We also want to be fair to Kirk and make sure he feels good about it. So obviously, you want to make sure that Kirk Cousins is going to be familiar with the system. I mean, he already is. So I don't think it'll be too much time getting up to speed, especially with where the Vikings are right now with their quarterback situation with the health and the inconsistent play or unbearable, unwatchable play or unplayable quarterbacks. They are all hoping that Kirk Cousins can suit up on Sunday for the Minnesota Vikings so they can get a really good chance to win a division game that they can also steal again Even though they lost to the Detroit Lions a couple weeks ago, they have a chance to go into Lambeau against a Green Bay Packers team that likely will not have Josh Jacobs, and they can take advantage of that fully with them having to just go on to the passing game. The passing defense is where our defense excels at, at creating turnovers, locking down receivers. They're going to have to do that again on Sunday against a very high-powered offense with probably the best wide receiver duo in football right now with Matthew Golden and Christian Watson. So it's going to be very interesting to see. But as far as if they don't have Kirk Cousins, Kevin O'Connell did touch on what their contingency plan is, saying Kyler has just started really his running progression, I would call it. Don't really have an update on him other than he's still in that week-to-week mode. Hamstring strains respond differently and kind of progress different timelines. I think on the report projection later today, they didn't have a practice today, he would be a DNP. Carson did sustain a minor ankle injury, but we're projecting him as a limited participant. Hopefully progresses throughout the week and to be available. As far as the depth chart is concerned, moving forward for the rest of the season, Kevin O'Connell had a few thoughts to say on that as well, stating that as far as moving forward, obviously with Kyler, he's week to week right now, like we just said. Hopefully Carson can get to a place where he can be a number two. I also thought Max go in late in the game the other night. He showed some of the things that he's really worked hard on. And I agree, Max Brosmer looked pretty solid on Monday Night Football. I know it was garbage time against not a lot of the starters, but still looked a lot better than he did last year and in the preseason. And as far as Kyler knowing very much, that knows we're very much looking forward to getting him healthy. Providing us with the depth of the quarterback room that we're bringing Kirk here to hopefully pick up right where he left off. Also, he's joining a 6-2 football team with nine games to go with some challenging games ahead. Which is going to be the biggest thing for the Vikings as you've got the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. You've got the San Francisco 49ers after that. You've got the Atlanta Falcons after that. Then you've got the Carolina Panthers. And then it'll be the New England Patriots, I believe, the week after that. So some really tough stretches here where, yes, the Panthers and the Falcons, a lot of people are counting those as easy wins. But you can't necessarily do that because the Falcons, you don't know which team is going to show up each week and they still have Bijan Robinson. Then you look at the Carolina Panthers, you don't know which Bryce Young is going to show up every week and if Chuba Hubbard is going to get going. So that's going to be a very big factor for Minnesota going forward into these games where they are hoping to have a bigger edge than they had with other quarterbacks under center. As far as a quarterback battle, this was a very interesting question that he was asked, but I think it's a very compelling one and one that needs to be addressed. Where if Kyler, when Kyler Murray is healthy to come back, will there be a quarterback battle in Minnesota midseason? To which Kevin O'Connell said. I don't think you can have a competition during the season. It's well documented that it's hard enough during the off seasons. We acquired Kirk to join a 6-2 football team and play. And as I told Kyler, it hasn't been ideal with the injuries. The way I look at it is when Kyler's healthy, we'll have a quarterback room that we feel really good about. We also feel really good about the potential to have Kyler Murray, Carson, and Max in that room as we push forward down the stretch. Because the biggest thing for the Vikings... is staying healthy and what I love here is that Kevin O'Connell didn't flat out say they were benching Kyler Murray or that he was done. He was just saying that hey he's just got to be ready if his number is called because right now with Minnesota Vikings we know that starting quarterbacks don't tend to stay healthy very long unfortunately in recent years. So that was the thing that isn't in Minnesota's control which Kevin O'Connell said that we do not hold the cards on how this will go from a health standpoint or anything like that with anybody on our team and that's why we prepare Prepare young players on our practice squad. Prepare players at all different positions to be able to step up. We've just learned over time that just how important this position is and how it helps to unlock not only our offense, but a lot of things on our roster. So basically saying that, yeah, obviously we're going to keep Kyler Murray around if there is an injury with Kirk Cousins. He'll be stepping in if there's an injury there again. Carson Wentz will step in. So it's just making sure that, hey, if you need to have this possibility rise where you have another quarterback injury and Kirk Cousins, God forbid, gets hurt, then you're confident where you can put Kyler Murray in there On certain teams, he is a starting caliber quarterback. Then it's Carson Wentz. Well, that's a little bit on the other side. I might be preferring Max Brosnan stepping in there at this point at QB3. But I still do really like that Minnesota is going to have a fairly stable, seemingly quarterback room as far as depth goes, should anything happen to Kirk Cousins. As far as Kyler Murray's role in all that and him accepting all of it, Kevin O'Connell did have a conversation with both Carson Wentz. And with Kyler Murray as well, saying they both took the conversation very well. And as far as Kyler Murray accepting the fact that he could be losing his starting job, saying he did. Kyler wishes he could be out there this Sunday. Nothing killed him more than not to be out there in a game like that on Monday. But the reality is what it is. It's one of those things where I think he appreciated hearing about it before a transaction took place. At the same time, he knows I believe in him. He knows that I believe in Kyler. Like I believe in Carson. I believe in Max. I just want him to get healthy and get back to work because you just never know. Like we were talking about with the health thing. That Minnesota does not control those aspects. So making sure that Kyler is healthy, if anything arises, is going to be paramount. But he was also asked about where things potentially went wrong with Kyler Murray. And this is where I think the writing is absolutely on the wall as far as Kyler Murray's future as a QB1 on this team. I think that he is only going to be a QB1 if there is an injury to Kirk Cousins or if he just absolutely craps the bed, which I don't think he will do. But if that does happen, that is where Kevin O'Connell touched on where things possibly went wrong with Kyler Murray, saying, I think the times when he was comfortable, he was throwing completions, he was using his athleticism both on schedule and off. We saw some critical, critical plays with him using his legs as well as his arms. It's just the amount of actual snaps when he realized when he was when he really realized when he was healthy and when he was able to have consistent preparation. It just hasn't been ideal. Well, I was closing that off saying that I wouldn't by any stretch say that's a complete It just happened where we had the opportunity to acquire a player we know really well. We know with where we're at right now, how important it is to maximize who we want to be as a team, and we had an opportunity to do so. And I absolutely agree with the Vikings capitalizing on that opportunity. I mean, fans were basically just banging down the doors of US Bank Stadium and the TCO practice facilities saying, go out and get a quarterback. Go get Kirk Cousins. Go get Justin Herbert. Go get Daniel Jones. Go get somebody to help this offense and get them back on track. It's not working with Carson Wentz, and it's not working with Kyler Murray, so now they have to figure out what to do with that. And so with Kevin O'Connell saying, hey, if things went wrong with Kyler Murray, it wasn't necessarily the level of play, it was just the consistency, and that is the big thing here, is that availability is the best ability. That is one of the biggest things, not just in sports, just in life in general. Success is when preparation meets availability and a little bit of luck, and that is where Kyler Murray has unfortunately faltered in this scenario. Where he has not been available very often. So that leads Minnesota to needing to find a contingency plan. And if Kyler is healthy to go. Usually it won't last very long. Or at least Minnesota doesn't have the confidence in him. It seems like. Or that he does not have the consistency to match. Whatever confidence Minnesota might have in him. To be able to be effective. And get this team back into Super Bowl contention. The last thing that I want to touch on here. Is what Kevin O'Connell has asked about. The QB shuffling. Since Kirk Cousins left Minnesota a couple years ago. Stating that there can be a map looking backwards say it's all over the map but I would just say that we can only make the decisions in the moment and try to do what's best and in many ways you're projecting you're trying to evaluate where you are in that place and where you think you can get to with an optimistic approach but hopefully getting the best out of the players and what I do think here is worth keeping in mind is that yes Minnesota might have made a mistake moving on from Kirk Cousins when they did however when you look at the state of the Vikings at that point they didn't They didn't have the defense they have now. They didn't have the offensive line they have now. They had the offensive weapons, but they didn't have any protection for Kirk Cousins. That exposed a lot of problems that Minnesota had to fix up. They didn't fix up the offensive line while they fixed up the defense. And then we saw Sam Darnold get exposed by that later on in the season when it mattered most. And then you got Minnesota going back to square one and all those things. However, with where they're at right now, you look at, I mean, it was more of a genius move on the Raiders part, only paying less than a million dollars for him when he was coming off of a hundred million dollar contract. But what the Vikings are doing here. I think it's a great move in the sense that you're bringing in Kirk Cousins after all the turmoil that happened and you didn't have to resign him for 30 plus million dollars a year. And that was the huge thing here where, yes, does it suck that we had to wait or had to go so many quarterbacks and so much turmoil to get back to where we started? Absolutely. We wouldn't have been able to get back to where we started or at least been able to maintain where we were trying to get to or what we were trying to get to with the holes that we had if we were paying Kirk Cousins so much money every single year. Thankfully with this year, we're not paying very much. So we're able to kind of go all in with it and bring in a guy of his caliber to get us to that point, even though we don't have the cap space to go out and get a quarterback of that caliber on a fresh contract or anything like that because of how much limited cap space we have. So bringing him in here on a one year kind of, I mean, they're not signing him on one year, but he only has one year on his contract where you bring him in to try and go all in for this year. If it works great, you can figure out what you want to do then. But if it doesn't, well, you. You didn't have to invest too much in it. You didn't lose $30 million out of it. So that at least is something Minnesota can look back on where, yes, this is a very high reward investment, but it's also a very low risk one at the same time. And that is what I love about this move. Let us know your guys' thoughts down in the comments below. If you think Kyler Murray is for sure done in Minnesota, do you think it's going to end with him requesting a release? Or do you think Minnesota is just going to keep him around as a QB2 for the rest of the year moving forward? Let us know down in the comments below as that's going to do it for this episode of Vikings Digest. Again, thank you guys so much for liking, subscribing, hitting that bell icon so you don't miss the episodes when they drop. And thank you to CallSheet for sponsoring this video. But for now, I've been your host, Griffin. Take care.