Purple Daily - A Minnesota Vikings Podcast

TTP: Minnesota Vikings shouldn't invest in this MIRAGE sleeper running back

20 min
Jan 27, 20263 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Thor discusses Senior Bowl coverage and NFL draft prospects, including critical analysis of Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia's surprisingly small measurements and Clemson RB Adam Randall's lack of feel as a runner. The episode opens with Thor stranded in Washington D.C. due to travel disruptions, attempting to reach Mobile, Alabama for live Senior Bowl coverage.

Insights
  • School athletic department measurements significantly overstate player sizes; official measurements at all-star events reveal true dimensions that NFL teams already know but public doesn't
  • Physical measurables alone don't determine NFL viability; athleticism and size must align with positional requirements and on-field instincts
  • Converted position players often lack the foundational feel and instincts of players who grew up at that position, making them tweeners rather than versatile prospects
  • Media attention and college success (Heisman voting, social media presence) can inflate prospect stock beyond actual NFL draft value
  • Running back evaluation requires assessing vision, feel behind the line, receiving ability, and pass-blocking—not just size and athletic testing
Trends
Increasing gap between college athletic department player listings and verified NFL measurements creating public perception mismatchesPosition conversion trend in college football creating prospect evaluation challenges for NFL scoutsWeather-related disruptions affecting scouting operations and all-star event attendance across the industrySocial media and streaming platforms (Hulu, live streams) amplifying certain college prospects beyond their actual NFL draft valueSenior Bowl serving as both legitimate evaluation event and media spectacle for lower-tier prospects seeking visibilityNFL teams using all-star events (Senior Bowl, Combine, Pro Days) as verification checkpoints against inflated college metricsEmphasis on measurable athleticism (40-time, wingspan, acceleration percentiles) as objective counterweight to subjective film evaluation
Topics
NFL Draft Evaluation MethodologySenior Bowl Prospect AnalysisRunning Back Evaluation CriteriaQuarterback Measurement StandardsPosition Conversion Risk AssessmentCollege Athletic Department Measurement InflationAll-Star Event Scouting ProcessNFL Combine Verification ProceduresProspect Athleticism TestingMinnesota Vikings Draft TargetsBrian Flores Defense Scheme FitReceiving Production from Running BacksPass-Blocking EvaluationFilm Study vs. Measurables AnalysisUndrafted Free Agency Market
Companies
Vanderbilt University
Diego Pavia's college program; listed him at 6'0 despite actual measurement under 5'10
Clemson University
Adam Randall's college; converted him from WR to RB in senior year despite lack of positional feel
University of Arkansas
Mike Washington plays RB here; identified as legitimate sleeper prospect for Vikings
People
Diego Pavia
Vanderbilt QB; measured at 5'9, under 200 lbs; Heisman finalist; questioned as legitimate NFL prospect
Adam Randall
Clemson RB; converted WR; 6'2, 233 lbs; criticized for lacking feel, vision, and pass-blocking ability
Mike Washington
Arkansas RB; identified as legitimate sleeper prospect that Thor believes fits Vikings' needs
Kyler Murray
Referenced as comparison point; has bigger arm and better athleticism than Diego Pavia
Will Shipley
Former Clemson RB; context for why Clemson needed to convert Adam Randall to running back
Phil Moffa
Former Clemson RB; context for why Clemson needed to convert Adam Randall to running back
Nick Singleton
Referenced as comparison for RB lacking feel between the tackles despite athleticism
Brian Flores
Defensive coordinator; Thor interested in how Senior Bowl prospects fit his defensive scheme
Aaron Jones
Current Vikings RB; discussed as potential cut candidate affecting RB evaluation needs
Jordan Mason
Referenced as potential Vikings RB pairing in discussion of Adam Randall fit
Quotes
"I don't understand why Diego Pavi is at this event... If the Senior Bowl was we want to have the six, seven best quarterbacks as far as NFL prospects at our event, Diego Pavi wouldn't be here."
ThorMid-episode
"Adam Randall is a mirage as a prospect. I think it's someone that's going to be forwarded as this guy's body beautiful, he's a great athlete and he has a versatile skill set and I think a lot of people are going to get sucked into that."
ThorLate-episode
"Adam Randall abjectly lacks feel behind the line of scrimmage. It's a guy that just doesn't like have that feel whatsoever."
ThorLate-episode
"I would be surprised if Diego Pavia gets drafted. Very good college quarterback. That stuff goes without saying. I don't see the translation of the game."
ThorMid-episode
"Mike Washington from Arkansas is a running back that I think is a sleeper that I think is actually the kind of a guy that they want Mike Washington to be."
ThorEnd-episode
Full Transcript
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AJ, I'm coming off the travel nightmare day from hell, but it is good to see you and how are you doing? I think I'm doing a lot better than you, buddy. Tell me what's going on. I know yesterday it was like, I mean, we've been hyping this up. We're going to get you down to Mobile and I know there was snowstorms affecting a lot of the kind of middle part of the country, but I don't know, maybe my dumb radio mind, my St. Cloud State education is like, oh, he's going to be flying over all that weather. It's not going to affect him. It sounds like it did affect you. You went through pretty much hell and back over the past 24 hours, getting on, off planes, talking to different representatives from companies, going into hotel rooms. You don't have chargers. You don't have extra sets of clothes. Walk me through the past 24 hours for you. Yeah, I think I'm on either my fifth or sixth different itinerary. And today will be with my third airline. Now I'm on Delta. We started with American, went to United, now on Delta. But yeah, cancellations just galore. And then rebooking and rerouting. I did finally get out of Minneapolis and get to Washington, D.C. Thought we were in the clear. and then our flight was on time up until it wasn't. And then they started delaying us, delaying us. It was a two-hour delay. Then we get on the flight and I was so excited that I tweeted out, you know, now I'm headed to Mobile. And we then sat on the tarmac for an hour before the captain came on and said, we have timed out. We're bringing you back to the gate. We can't fly out tonight anymore. And this was, you know, pushing midnight. So that's when, you know, we, we all had to then scatter and find, you know, our hotels or whatever, but Bagot's still at the, at the airline. And, uh, today we are going to attempt to try to get out. We are going to Atlanta first and then Atlanta to Mobile. Um, if those two things go off. So, so everyone out there, uh, send, send your thoughts and good vibes that we can get to Mobile. Yeah. I mean, in our team's chat, like our score North team chat yesterday, you, uh, I, we, I knew that you were dealing with some stuff. And then at like 11, maybe 1130, you did like the nothing stops this train. It was a picture of you in an airplane seat. I was like, all right, sweet. He's going to get there. I don't have to worry about it. And then maybe it was maybe it was last night. I texted you. I was like, hey, you know, you know, just figure out stuff for the show today. And you're like, dude, I'm not even there yet. I'm in D.C. I'm like, oh, my God. What of your three airline experiences so far have been short stints and you have not got to your destination? what's been uh what's been the the best one that you've rode on so far oh guys well i guess i would say united just because that's the one successful flight that i've gotten on to although they couldn't get me all the way to mobile so i i hope i'm singing the praises of delta this evening but yeah all these airports down here like you know we're from minnesota and and i feel like msp does a pretty good job with like snow and ice yeah they do a great job let's just say it was a clown show down here in Washington, D.C. yesterday. We get on this flight and all of the windows are covered in ice. And you immediately think like, oh, that's not a great sign, but they're going to de-ice us. And then we sat there for an hour when we were watching another big plane get de-iced. And that was basically our hour on the tarmac was waiting behind this other plane. And then we never got up to our spot in line before we apparently timed out or whatever. But it at least gives you appreciation for, you know, the resources that they have at the local airport to take care of some of this stuff. Because like some of these airports down here have never seen snow or ice before. Well, I mean, that's not ideal so far. Hopefully we can get you there. Hopefully they can get you there. And hopefully when you do get there, you've got luggage in tow. So you're not wearing the same what slamming jamming shirt for the next three to four days. or you can sample some of the best dollar store general uh down in mobile and make it work with little ragtag uh ensemble but for the meantime full transparency for the watching and listening audience because of the situation we wanted to get an episode out This probably is going to be a quicker show than normal I know Thor you got like you said you got another itinerary of what you're going to try to do. So we're going to try to do something quick. What I wanted to ask you about though, just so we do have something to discuss today. Senior Bowl, it is still happening despite you not being there right now, unfortunately, it's still going on today. Give me the preview of what is actually going to happen today, what practices, what is the normal schedule for what is happening down in Mobile today? So right now, as AJ and I record, it's Tuesday morning. Senior Bowl every year, you have three days of practice. You have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. They traditionally take Friday off, and then that's sort of getting ready for the game, and then the game is played on Saturday. If I was in Mobile right now, I would be at a Waffle House having my pre-practice tradition meal before practice one. Unfortunately, we're not at the Waffle House right now, but there will be the first practice today in Mobile, Alabama. One thing that I'm watching out for is I heard yesterday, you know, during my travels, talking to some of my colleagues around the industry as they were trying to get there as well. I heard a rumor that there was going to be more opting out at this event, as some of the prospects maybe struggled to get in with weather-related things as well. So I'll be curious to see that once I get there, the rosters as they're constructed. Do we have any other extra pullouts? But we did have the guys that were there yesterday. They did do the weigh-ins and the measurements yesterday. that's always interesting uh because as i think people out there know schools exaggerate the listings and bios and uh we always get brought back to reality in the pre-drop process you know beginning with these all-star events uh then the nfl combine and then pro days when you have to stand up there on a scale in a room full of people and you have to get measured you know in a room people um the the one that was drawing the most interest uh publicly and with the media yesterday from the measurements was mr diego pavia and we knew the quarterback from vanderbilt we knew that diego pavia there was going to be a lot of attention on him the there was a lot of surprise by his measurement him coming in at five foot nine and change yeah there shouldn't have been um that's what the NFL scouting services, his last verified measurement was almost essentially exactly what it was months ago on, on these shows, you know, I would say in what his measurement was, but he's listed at six foot by Vanderbilt. And so, you know, the public that doesn't have access to that or the media that didn't have access to that was very surprised when he comes in under five foot 10 and under 200 pounds. And I mean, we already knew he wasn't going to be by any means, despite like where he was for Heisman finalists and stuff like that. We knew he wasn't going to be a day one, probably still not even close to a day two draft pick. But now with these measurements kind of taking it back, granted it's more public stuff because you're saying this has been the recorded thing teams have probably known about this. Does this new measurement of coming in under 510 even sink that stock a little bit more? I would actually like to go a little bit further, which is I don't understand why Diego Pavi is at this event. Well, let me rescind that and rephrase. I know why Diego Pavi is at this event. It's because of the attention that he'll bring. If this, though, if the Senior Bowl was we want to have the six, seven best quarterbacks as far as NFL prospects at our event, Diego Pavi wouldn't be here. He'd be at the Hula Bowl. He'd be at the Dream Bowl, something like that. it there's a little bit of a sideshow feel to it um i i don't know that diego pavia is a legitimate nfl prospect i certainly not a quarterback uh you know again less than five foot ten uh and under 200 pounds does not have a big arm you know people will be like oh well what about kyler murray kyler murray has a much bigger arm than poppy he's bigger and thicker as well and he's a guy Yeah, he can squeeze out of a crack, too, and try to find some space. I don't think Pavia necessarily matches that. 100%. So then you start thinking, well, is he a good enough athlete to play another position? I don't really think so. Pavia is a decent athlete, but he's not a great one. Kyler Murray is a great athlete. Pavia, now this is over the summer. We're going to have to see once they get out there and they start testing. I had a 4-7, 5-40 on Pavia. So you think about a transition, if you're, you know, again, just an eyelash under five foot 10, you're around 200 pounds. Even the idea, like the thing of slot receiver, if he can run in the four sixes and maybe he maybe he will end up running it in in the four sixes Is he going to run in the four fives I highly doubt it Right And so even thinking about that position I some people had tossed out what about like a move piece full back kind of a thing, but for Pavi to do that, you're going to have to bulk up to like 220, 225 pounds at least right. To play a role like that. And maybe his speed would be more befitting of that. The problem is this guy's got a 73-inch wingspan. It's a guy with narrow shoulders, short arms as well. It's just a tiny frame. And so when you're thinking about, oh, let's just bulk him up, you sort of run into problems there as well with the projection. If Pavia goes out this week and he's awesome, awesome, awesome on the field, maybe his arm is a little bit stronger than we thought watching the film, maybe you convince someone with a priority free agent type contract I would be surprised if Diego Pavia gets drafted. Very good college quarterback. That stuff goes without saying. I don't see the translation of the game. And again, if he wasn't as popular as he was and he didn't finish second in the Heisman voting and Theo Vaughn wasn't having him on his live streams, I don't know that he would be here. That's just what it is. Just on quality of prospect, I don't think he should be here. I am very curious to see him. We're curious to get a microphone in front of his face. But, yeah, that measurement, while for the public it was disappointing, it was sort of in line. And Diego Pavi is going to have to test really well athletically in addition to having a really good week here. I think to have any shot back of the seventh round, but I don't really see that. Really we're competing, I think, for undrafted free agency, how much money you could get in that. on the flip side of that though for guys who maybe had surprising in a good way measurables come out yesterday one is clemson running back adam randall i know the vikings are more than likely going to be um in for some sort of running back whether it's through acquisition and free agency trade or through the draft well clemson running back adam randall came in yesterday with a measurement of 6'2 and 5'8", 233 pounds. A guy who, from my quick look at it, and correct me if I'm wrong here, Thor, was a wide receiver for the early part of his career. 10 catches in 22, zero carries as a running back. 20 catches in 2023. Once again, zero carries as a running back. Last season in 24, 16 catches, only four carries. This year, shifts into the backfield. 168 carries. He gets 114 yards on the ground. 10 touchdowns still mixes in with 36 receptions more in the short game. But for 254 yards and three touchdowns there. So a little bit of a coming out party in a senior year. But what can you tell me about either what you like or don't like about Adam Randall being a little bit of a surprise measurement yesterday? Yeah, I mean, like you look at the measurements, just an eyelash under 6'3", you're over 230 pounds. It's just running back. That's a converted wide receiver. and he's going to test as a really good athlete. Just on-field athleticism last year, he was a 99th percentile athlete on the field for the running back position just with the chips, almost 98th percentile acceleration, 94th percentile change in direction. So it's a really good athlete in a big package that because of the position transition, you would think that it's like this versatile skill set, and he's being, you can hear him now forwarded as a sleeper. People are starting to bang the drums. That's the good part of the eval. And I think for Viking fans, it's like, well, you know, if Aaron Jones is cut, could this, you know, 6'2 1⁄2", 233-pound converted receiver monster, could he be a good fit next to Jordan Mason? I'm here to throw some cold water on this one. Adam Randall, it's not a versatile guy with a versatile skill set. It's a tweener. the reason that he didn't take off a wide receiver at Clemson, they never really trusted him totally with that. And I think in part because of the size and because it's a manufactured touch kind of a receiver, you're like, we can get some value out of him at running back, especially Clemson. You know, in recent years, you had lost Will Shipley, you had lost Phil Moffa, et cetera. And so they had this huge vacancy at running back and it seemed to be a decent idea. it's just that Adam Randall abjectly lacks feel behind the line of scrimmage. It's a guy that just doesn't like have that feel whatsoever. I've talked about this with like Nick Singleton as an example of this, of a guy between the tackles. He just lacks feel and vision. Adam Randall doesn't have it categorically. At least Nick Singleton has sort of a base level sort of thing to go with his running style off of. Adam Randall doesn't appear like he has a plan with that. And then troublingly for a former wide receiver Adam Randall led this class with six drops last year right Like you know and the receiving production wasn great out of the backfield I mean 36 catches it's decent, but for a converted wide receiver where that's your thing is manufactured touches, 36 catches, less than one yard per route run, six drops. I'm not impressed by that. He's not winning down the field as a runner you know it's just like get the ball in his hands and then have this big guy kind of run but you look at his broken tackle metrics based on the amount of touches that he had he's just sort of average at that too I think this guy is a mirage as a prospect I think it's someone that's going to be forwarded as as you know this guy's body beautiful he's a great athlete and he has a versatile skill set and I think a lot of people are going to get sucked into that. He can't pass block. He doesn't have a feel as a receiver, as a running back right now. And he certainly has no feel as just a pure runner. This is the kind of prospect I will let another, if I'm sitting in the seat of a Viking evaluator, I'm letting another organization sort of grab that shiny object because I want a legitimate running back prospect to fall down to me. I'm curious if Adam Randall out here in Mobile, this is an event that's designed for a guy like that um a big athlete you know running around in space or whatever so he might get some shine from this week this is not a prospect that i'm going to be high on though um after having watched him over the years i think he's a guy without a position um and i don't think he's long for the nfl to be honest yeah all right so the vikings uh search for that uh diamond in the rough running back might have to look elsewhere than the clemson backfield but um thor i i know you have itinerary stuff to get to you've got um planes to catch taxis trains carriages i'm not sure trying to get trying to get to i will walk there if i have to um before we wrap what what where where you heading next like what is the next step for you in this uh this trek to mobile so we're heading back to dulles airport here uh in a little bit and then uh we are going the itinerary for today that we have been switched on to is to atlanta and then to mobile so if if Those two flights go off. I'll be in Mobile this evening. I will unfortunately miss the first day of practices, at least being inside of the stadium. But we got the laptop charged up. I'm hoping to watch the practices, at least clips. But as much as I can on the laptop, you know, there's there's beads, of course, with the practices going on. So hopefully as I'm traveling today, I'm also able to follow along with that. And hopefully I will get into Mobile this evening, which would set up tomorrow morning is the media availability period with the prospects. So if I'm able to get in there tomorrow, we get like an hour and a half prior to the practices to interview everybody, the Mobile Convention Center. And then we have a full day of practices. And then you also get access to the players through that. So Wednesday is the big day for player availability at the Senior Bowl. that is what we're trying to get there now uh so that we can take a part of so we're crossing the fingers aj put out put all your good mojo out there into the universe that uh my two flights go off today and with that i mean we already kind of said tentative for the time earlier but now it's just tentative of whether or not we actually do the show if you get down there but assuming you get down there assuming everything goes off without a hitch or at least minimal hitches we will be live on the score north youtube channel tomorrow evening we're gonna say six o'clock still for the time being when very very much pending um but we will be live with thor talking about the media lunch and day two practices at the senior bowl we'll have clips from interviews he's done throughout the day once again assuming everything goes somewhat to plan and we can get him down um into mobile alabama so thor godspeed safe travels any final words hey thanks a lot well i knew i threw you know some cold water on a couple of prospects today but there is a lot of prospects down there that I have my eye on for the Vikings. We've talked about the individual defensive positions and almost at every level, you have at least one hole there to plug offensive line. And then the skill guys, you know, that we talked to. And well, Adam Randall is not my cup of tea as a prospect. There are some here that are Mike Washington from Arkansas is a running back that I think is a sleeper that I think is actually the kind of a guy that they want Mike Washington to be. And so, you know, excited to get eyes on him, excited to see some of these defenders as well. And if I get a shot to talk to him, you know, have you, have you seen any of that Brian Flores defense? How do you think you would fit into that Brian Flores defense? So yeah, excited for that. And again, everyone put out your your good thoughts and good vibes into the universe that I can get down there, but that's all the time that we have for today. Hope to be with you tomorrow evening on Wednesday or that live show. We will give you updates on that as we go. But if, if we are able to get down to Mobile, I would love to see you all at that live show. we'll answer all your questions at that time. But for producer AJ, I'm Thor. That's all the time we have for today. Hopefully we'll be talking to you tomorrow.