It’s time for some football.
In advance of today’s game, the Vikings swapped cornerbacks with the Dallas Cowboys. The Vikings sent Andrew Booth Jr. to the Cowboys for Nahshon Wright. The teams swapped corners that weren’t really working with the teams that drafted them. The Vikings selected Booth in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. The Cowboys selected Wright in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Both have a new opportunity with a second team. Booth is a talented corner. Former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is the Cowboys defensive coordinator. He’s one of the best coaches of defensive backs in the game. If he can’t get something out of Booth, no one can. At a unique 6’4”, Wright fits a Brian Flores defense like few corners can. Perhaps both players can find better traction in new places. On a more familiar level, Wright and Vikings corner Mekhi Blackmon are cousins. It’d be a much better family reunion if Blackmon hadn’t torn his ACL during the first practice of training camp. For now, Wright has perhaps a month-long audition to make the reunion real.
So, the Vikings host the Raiders today in one of the most anticipated preseason games in recent memory. The NFL is all about the quarterback. The Vikings have a quarterback situation. Sam Darnold is the stand-in. J.J. McCarthy is the quarterback of the future. I do not want to see McCarthy in a regular season game until he’s 100% ready. That could be now. It could be in November. It could be next year. On this, I trust Kevin O’Connell, and the coaches. For now, I just want to see the kid on that US Bank Field against a “vanilla defense.” I also want to see Darnold shred the Raiders. These two teams played to a 3-0 Vikings win last season. I hope to see much more scoring. On the Vikings side.
Other than the quarterbacks, I want to see:
- the receivers beyond Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison
- the second offensive line
- the defensive line
- the corners
Players I want to see
- J.J. McCarthy, of course
- Dallas Turner, of course
- Jalen Nailor
- Jeshaun Jones
- Levi Drake Rodriguez
- Dwight McGlothern
-Will Richard
While not a priority, I would like to see a win. The Vikings haven’t won a preseason game since 2019. An end to that streak would be nice.
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