All right.
Welcome in to the Brew Report for Thursday, August 13th.
I am at the 18th and final of my training camp stops.
I will be with the Buffalo Bills today.
But before I get there, we have three things that we want to hit on in today’s Brewer report.
The first thing is what I saw in Minnesota a couple of days ago.
I happened to be there the day that Kyler Murray was named the starting quarterback and Really, I think this decision came down to, and it sounds simple, what was best for the Vikings in 2026.
There are a lot of veterans on that team, and you can run down the names, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Christian Darisa, Brian O’Neal, Aaron Jones.
Andrew Van Ginkle, Blake Cashman, Byron Murphy, who are around for the 14-win season of two years ago.
Obviously, that didn’t finish the way they would have liked, um, against the Lions in week 18 or against the Rams in the playoffs.
But there was really a feeling that they were squarely in the championship window then, and of course, things went the way that they went last year.
My feeling is that Kevin O’Connell, the front office, everyone there feels like after what they went through last year, they owed it to the players to give them the best answer for right now.
It’s not a young team.
It’s a team with a lot of guys that are in the, the, the, the heart of the prime of their careers, and the reality is you can’t throw another season overboard in the name of quarterback development here.
So, you know, where they were last year and going into 2025.
Initially, they’d want to create competition for JJ McCarthy, their former first-round pick.
What they couldn’t offer back then was Sam Darnold, you’re gonna be our quarterback for the next 5 years.
Daniel Jones, you’re gonna be our quarterback for the next 5 years.
And Donald had the chance to be that in Seattle, or at least earn that in Seattle, and Jones had the chance to earn that in Indianapolis.
And so, you know, they, they went all in on JJ McCarthy.
We know how that turned out last year, and they wanted to add competition to the room and see what happened.
And the idea all along was to put viable options in the room.
And if they could put 3 or 4 guys that they felt like they could start in the room, there’d be a better chance they come out with 1 that they could win with.
And that’s what they feel like they have right now in Kyler Murray.
Now, why move forward with Kyler Murray now?
I think it’s relatively simple.
He was ahead, that much is obvious.
I think the other piece of it is they want to be fair to the rest of the team and just being able to build an offense.
Give the guys an idea of who the quarterback’s gonna be, and now you can build an offense for Kyler Murray.
The belief is.
That they’ll be able to get the most out of Kyler Murray.
He hasn’t played an offense like Kevin O’Connell’s, so they do believe they’ll be able to do more in the keeper game.
They’ll be able to do more with the wide zone that Frank Smith is putting in in the run game, the way that Kyler Murray will be able to stress the backside of the defense, stretch out the front, create running lanes for the backs, um, and then, of course, there’s things that he’s gonna be able to do off schedule and so.
Um, you know, they really feel like he can be a quarterback in that offense that can put a lot of stress on the defense, um, that can help to dictate coverage because, you know, the threat he brings as a runner forces you either to spy him or to play zone, and, you know, the hope is that that that helps them get the most out of a really good group of skilled players they’ve got there.
Um, so I think, you know, if you want to sum this up.
The Vikings are now in a position where they can project going forward.
They don’t have to hope anymore.
They have an idea of what Kyler Murray is.
Uh, there’s obviously demonstrated evidence of that.
You know, he’s got 7 years in the, in the league under his belt, 7 years as a starter under his belt.
And we’ll see where he takes it from here.
All right, our second topic, the Green Bay Packers.
I was actually there the day before I was with the Vikings, and my overriding feeling on them is pretty much identical to what my overriding feeling was on them a year ago.
And last year I kind of grouped them with the Seahawks.
I thought those two teams had a lot of good young players.
They have balanced rosters, not a lot of holes, but what both those teams needed at the time was to have good players elevate to great.
And I think that happened in Seattle.
JSN, Charles Cross, I mean even some of the older guys, Leonard Williams, um, you know, Devin Witherspoon and JSN’s draft class, Byron Murphy a year behind them.
A lot of guys went from very good players to great players in 2025 and we saw what the result was.
The tough thing for the Packers to swallow here is that after training camp last year, they traded for a guy who is already a great player in Micah Parsons, and then one of their best players did ascend and become a great player in this position in Tucker Kraft, and both those guys tore ACL.
So question number one is gonna be what those guys are, and where those guys are at, um, you’re going, going into 2026.
We still got a few weeks before the start of the season .
Um, and then where they’re at in mid-season, um, I think Tucker Kraft will be ready for week one.
I’d expect Micah Parsons to be somewhere in October returning.
And so, you know, are those two guys, how do those two guys look out there?
Are those guys closer to full health?
And then are there other players on the roster that can ascend to Becoming great players.
So, it’s Matthew Golden, Deer and Cooper on defense, it’s Jordan Morgan on the offensive line, it’s guy like Devonte Wyatt, can Lucas Van Ness take another step?
Again, there are a lot of solid young players there.
Can those guys take the, the next step?
I think Jordan Love would certainly be in that group as well, as somebody who has shown a lot over the course of his, his, his NFL career, but might have another level in him.
Finally.
Uh, 3rd topic, I was with the Cleveland Browns today.
Uh, first of all, the quarterback situation is not that close to resolving itself.
We’re still probably a week and a half away from them making a decision.
Deshaun Watson will start on Saturday against the Bears.
Next week, Shadoor Sanders will get the start against the Bills.
Todd Monken and his staff will also have a set of joint practices with the Bills to further evaluate the situation.
I think both those guys have taken steps.
Shado Sanders, uh, his, his command has improved, his, his fundamentals have improved.
He’s going through his progressions quicker, his pocket movement has gotten faster.
Deshaun Watson knocked some of the rust off the offense that he’s playing in now is closer to what Bill O’Brien had him do in Houston from 2017 to 2020.
He’s getting more command of the line.
It’s part of playing the quarterback in Monken’s offense, the same way he had that command of the line in Houston.
So now we see where this goes.
Um, but I, I don’t think that they’re gonna veer from the path that they’re on right now, which is, um, to give both guys a start in the preseason and to make a decision after that.
You go into that week of that 3rd preseason game, you can start to build around, um, your quarterback.
The other thing I would take away from the Browns camp, and I didn’t expect to feel this way, but there’s a really interesting vibe there.
There’s a lot of energy.
It’s a younger team.
Um, in a lot of different ways, um, it feels like there’s just a bounce in the step of everybody there.
The practice that I was there for, great pace, great energy, great enthusiasm, like everything you’d want to see with the first-year coach.
And I, if I’m the Browns, you know, you look at this and They hit on a lot of guys last year.
Those guys still need to take another step.
So Carson Schlesinger, Mason Graham, Quinshaw Judkins, Dylan Sampson, Harold Fann and that whole group, ton of promise in year one, they gotta take another step.
And then you’ve got guys like Spencer Fano and Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston this year.
If those two classes hit, and now you got an extra first-round pick in 27, an extra second-round pick in 28, an extra third round pick in 29, you really could have something.
So obviously, the quarterback situation’s got to resolve itself.
Say there’s a pretty decent chance that the quarterback for 2027 isn’t even on the roster right now.
Regardless, I think there’s a lot of energy in the building and it feels.
Like they’re in a good place now heading into year one under Todd Monk.
Appreciate you guys coming out.
As always, you can leave your comments down below here on the YouTube page or you can get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert R.
Breer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.
Next time I see you guys, I think I’m gonna be from my home office finally.
See you guys then.
