The future of the Vikings, Part 4: Offensive line

A young player became elite while another struggled. What will the Vikings do at center?

Author:
Matthew Coller of Purple Insider
Publish date:
Jan 27, 2023 10:55 AM EST

As we continue our offseason series examining the future of the Minnesota Vikings, let's dig into the offensive line...

Elite tackles

From the outset of training camp, it was clear that 2021 first-round draft pick Christian Darrisaw was going to take a leap forward from his promising rookie season but even the Vikings couldn’t have predicted that he would make a jump into the rarest of left tackle air. The only tackle who graded higher by Pro Football Focus’s metrics was San Francisco megastar Trent Williams. Darrisaw ranked as the third best pass blocker and 10th best run blocker and scored the 11th best pass blocking efficiency.

Not only was Darrisaw magnificent but there are few players in the entire NFL that offered more surplus value to their team. The top left tackles in the league make $23 million, whereas Darrisaw only cost $3 million on his rookie deal. His status as a super bang-for-buck player will continue into next season as he has a $3.6 million cap hit. It isn’t until after the 2023 season that the former Virginia Tech star will be eligible for a long-term extension.

The only concern for the young star’s future is that he suffered two concussions in back-to-back weeks. While concussions are always a long-term worry, after he returned Darrisaw put together a strong five-game stretch to end the season. Overall the Vikings couldn’t have dreamed a better outcome at an ultra-valuable position.

On the other side, Brian O’Neill produced his highest graded PFF season of his career and tied Darrisaw for 11th place in pass blocking efficiency. His big jump from last year came in run blocking, where he placed fourth in the NFL.

O’Neill was also a steal in terms of surplus value for 2022. He carried a $7.8 million cap hit and produced like one of the best players at his position. However, that’s about to change. His cap hit jumps up to $19.6 million. Restructuring his deal, per OverTheCap.com, would cut that number in half. It seems inevitable that they will need to pull that trigger as the Vikings start the offseason $24 million over the cap.

While O’Neill will be returning from an achilles injury, the expectation is that the injury won’t slow down his game, giving the Vikings an argument for the best pair of tackles in the entire NFL going forward for years to come.

Will they re-sign Garrett Bradbury?

While we may have known that Darrisaw’s big jump was on the way in training camp, the same can’t be said for center Garrett Bradbury. Head coach Kevin O’Connell gave the indication that there was competition with Chris Reed and Austin Schlottmann but once the games began the 2019 first-rounder showed progress that hadn’t been there in previous years, particularly in 2021 when he was briefly benched. This year he rose from grading 22nd by PFF to 10th and his pass blocking went from dead last to cracking the top 15.

Bradbury’s improved performance isn’t crazy unique among offensive linemen, who have proven to need more time to develop than some other positions. But it came after the Vikings declined his fifth-year option, meaning that if he’s coming back to Minnesota, he’ll be doing it on a brand new contract.

What type of deal should Bradbury be seeking? New Orleans 2019 draft pick Erik McCoy signed for five years, $60 million with $33 million guaranteed. McCoy’s PFF numbers don’t stray far from Bradbury’s, making it a good comparable for the veteran center to work with this offseason.

Would the Vikings be interested in paying him that type of deal? After four years of playing with Kirk Cousins, it would make sense to bring him back (assuming Cousins returns under center) because of the importance of center/QB communication. Plus, he’s consistently been a good run blocker, which the Vikings will need in order to make strides in the run game next year. But they are a team on a tight budget.

If they can’t afford to bring Bradbury back (or he wants to go elsewhere), what are their options?

There are nine centers in free agency who played at least 50% of total snaps last season, the best of which was the Browns’ Ethan Pocic, the third overall best PFF center, the Jets’ Connor McGovern, who graded 11th by PFF, and San Francisco’s Jake Brendel, a top-10 pass blocker. Assuming they looking for a similar deals to Bradbury, the Vikings may have to search for bargains. Carolina’s Bradley Bozeman (13th in run blocking, 30th in pass blocking) could be a cheaper option or either the Rams’ Will Clapp or Tennessee’s Corey Levin, both backups who scored well in pass blocking.

The other option could be to slide Chris Reed into the starting job. His performance against Green Bay left much to be desired but he quickly improved in Chicago and has a track record that suggests he can be a quality offensive linemen when called upon. With a full training camp, the veteran journeyman would have a much better chance at a good showing. He’s only under contract for $2.7 million on the cap next season.

There isn’t really anyone waiting in the wings. If they thought former late-round pick Kyle Hinton could be the guy, well, that dream died when he was signed away from the Vikings’ practice squad by the Falcons. Josh Sokol spent the year on the practice squad but does not appear to be a future starting option.

Drafting a replacement would appear to be out of the question in the first round. They have so many other needs in the draft and already saw how long Bradbury took to become a quality player. Even if they are taking a long-term viewpoint on the roster, there are always numerous veteran centers available in free agency and it isn’t a highly paid position so the surplus value is low even if the player turns out to be good during their rookie deal.

The most likely scenario seems to be another veteran replacement but the Vikings do have a tendency to keep their own. We can’t completely count out a return to Minnesota.

Guard development?

Coming into the season, the Vikings cannot have expected their guards to rank No. 1 and No. 3 in terms of most pressures allowed at the position but that’s how it turned out for third-year guard Ezra Cleveland and rookie Ed Ingram.

When the Vikings picked Cleveland in the second round, they instantly moved him to right guard and then slid him over to the left side in Year 2. They hoped that he would become more comfortable at left guard in Year 3 and maximize his high-end athletic ability. And he did that in the run game. Cleveland ranked as PFF’s third best run blocker, only behind stars Chris Lindstrom and Joel Bitonio. But in pass protection, there were far too many lapses. Opponents beat Cleveland for an eye-popping 20 QB hits, which led the NFL.

After seeing the way in which Bradbury took another step forward in Year 4 and considering Cleveland’s extremely reasonable price tag, it would come as a surprise if they made any effort to make a change at left guard.

At right guard, there was a good argument at any given point in the season to bench Ingram. He allowed an outrageous 11 sacks, tied for the most ever allowed since PFF started tracking sacks allowed by linemen in 2006. In the playoffs against the Giants, he was a target for the opposing defense, giving up five QB pressures and producing the lowest PFF grade of any guard in the postseason.

The Vikings may love his traits but the production will need to improve by leaps and bounds in order to make him a serviceable pass blocker next season. Again, we have seen it before but defenses have an entire season of tape to understand the ways to attack the right guard position with their pass rushes so life isn’t about to get any easier.

Teams are always in a difficult spot with highly-drafted linemen. All-Pro Andrew Thomas was one of the worst graded PFF linemen in his rookie year and now he’s a star. But we have also seen a number of drafted O-linemen (a la Matt Kalil or TJ Clemmings) who never get better.

It’s impossible for the Vikings to know which way it will go with Ingram and Cleveland. The best path is likely to be prepared to make a change if needed. Last year they never pushed the big red button and went to Reed but the hook has to be shorter if there isn’t serious progress. Well, maybe it should have been shorter this year considering that interior pressure ultimately undid the offense in key moments against the Giants.

Depth

The Vikings called upon Oli Udoh in the playoffs and he performed better than ever before, which could earn him some attention elsewhere. Udoh is a free agent, which likely means they will stick with Blake Brandel as the swing tackle. Austin Schlottmann is also a free agent. It’s unclear how his injury at the end of last season will impact his chances to return. That leaves the Vikings with 2022 draft pick Vederian Lowe and Chris Reed as the only other depth linemen. Clearly they will need to change that with a veteran free agent or two and developmental players in the draft.

Conclusions

Where it matters most, at tackle, the Vikings are the cream of the crop. But the yearly issues with interior pressure did not stop with a new system in place and now the Vikings need to either pay big money to their solid center or replace him for a cheaper price. There’s plenty of reason to think things could come together with a new player at center and improvement by the guards but the Vikings will most likely enter next season with many questions on the O-line, for about the 10th year in a row.