The Vikings finally have offensive line continuity
EAGAN — Quick trivia that you can use at family reunions and barbeques this summer: When was the last time the Minnesota Vikings had all five offensive linemen start two years in a row?
I’ll give you a minute to run through the Dakota Doziers, Tom Comptons, Josh Klines, Alex Boones, Mike Remmers’ of Vikings recent O-line history in your head.
OK here’s the answer: 2012 to 2013 with Matt Kalil, Phil Loadholt, John Sullivan, Charlie Johnson and Brandon Fusco.
So when the Vikings trot out Christian Darrisaw, Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury, Ed Ingram and Brian O’Neill — all of whom were the starters last season — it will be a pretty rare sighting.
It wasn’t clear heading into the offseason whether that would be the case. At the opening of free agency, center Garrett Bradbury was not sure if he would be back in the middle of the line. The uncertainty, however, did not last long. Only a few days into free agency he signed a three-year, $15.75 million contract to remain in Minnesota.
“My wife and I sat down at the beginning of this and were like: We want to be somewhere where we want to live, we want to be somewhere with good coaches, system, locker room and thinking about everything we wanted, Minnesota had it all,” Bradbury said. “We love it here. Over the past four years this has turned into home for us.”
The veteran center saw significant improvement in his numbers by PFF’s grading system, going from 22nd to 10th in overall grade. The jump came on the heels of a tough 2021 season that saw him briefly benched for veteran backup Mason Cole. Bradbury cited the chemistry with his teammates as one of the reasons for improvement.
“The more reps you have together as an O-line the better you are,” Bradbury said. “That was my third year with Ezra, fourth year with Brian, second year with [Darrisaw] and Ed played every snap all year. When you know the guys you’re playing next to, you know what they are good at. Experience matters at lot at the O-line position.”
For O’Neill, who rated by PFF as the eighth best tackle in the NFL last season, getting Bradbury back was a big deal. He tried to “remain neutral” when advising Bradbury about his future but made it known he wanted his center leading their position group again.
“He’s somebody I’ve leaned on for four years….he’s our communicator up front, he’s the guy who puts everybody in the right places,” O’Neill said. “I think he’s played at a really high level for a long time and I was happy the team rewarded him in the way they did because he certainly earned it and deserves every penny….it’s really good for our group and I think he’ll step up as a leader not only in our O-line room but for our whole team.”
Both players point to offensive line coach Chris Kuper as having an impact on the line’s mentality and the need for everyone to be working in unison in order for the blocking scheme to work.
“He coaches team protection a lot,” Bradbury said. “There’s usually four guys rushing the quarterback and five of us, so there’s someone uncovered, how can we help each other? You play as a unit and that’s why those reps are so important…that togetherness, going out there and saying, ‘We are one, we are only as good as all five of us are together.’ And in the run game as well, we all need to be on the same page and let’s do this together.”
“Him coming in and being able to coach us hard from the jump really helped…It’s helped a lot of people individually what he’s brought to the table,” O’Neill said.
Last year’s line showed improvement from years past and seems to have the building blocks to improve with all five players having been drafted in the first two rounds. They produced the highest pass blocking grade as a unit since 2017 and the best run blocking grade since Adrian Peterson’s legendary 2012 season. But there is still room to be better. In total the Vikings gave up the eighth most sacks and no pair of guards allowed more pressures than Cleveland and Ingram, who are both looking for a Bradbury-like improvement this year.
Continuity with each other, the coaches and the offensive system gives them a chance at making the necessary gains — or at least you would think so. It’s hard to remember what a line playing together in back-to-back years actually looks like.
