Brian O'Neill Believes Continuity Will Be Huge For Vikings' O-Line in 2023
When the Vikings made the decision to re-sign free agent center Garrett Bradbury, it ensured that their starting offensive line would remain the exact same in 2023. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw, left guard Ezra Cleveland, and right guard Ed Ingram are all still on their rookie contracts. Brian O'Neill, the longest-tenured member of the unit, is signed to a long-term contract.
It's a fully homegrown O-line bursting with athleticism and draft pedigree. Starting with the Vikings' previous regime, the franchise invested a pick in the top two rounds on an offensive lineman for five consecutive years from 2018 to 2022.
- 2018 Round 2, Pick 62: Brian O'Neill
- 2019 Round 1, Pick 18: Garrett Bradbury
- 2020 Round 2, Pick 58: Ezra Cleveland
- 2021 Round 1, Pick 23: Christian Darrisaw
- 2022 Round 2, Pick Pick 59: Ed Ingram
Ingram is heading into his second NFL season and looking to take a big leap after leading the league in pressures allowed as a rookie. Everyone else has been together for at least two full seasons now. And the entire unit — like the rest of the Vikings' offense — is heading into their second season in Kevin O'Connell's system.
O'Neill believes that continuity and another full offseason in this offense are going to lead to big things in 2023.
"We've kind of talked about in the O-line room, like, based on specific schemes, the linebackers might fall back a little bit more or they might play frontside a little bit more based on different things that they see," he said. "We're talking about that differently this year than we were last year when we were talking about 'This is this play, this is who you have on this play, now run it.' This year, the next step is 'OK, what does the defense see? How is this different from the other scheme that we run that looks similar and how does it look different to them? What's the next level of understanding for us?'"
O'Neill went down with an Achilles injury in Green Bay in Week 17, keeping him out of the Vikings' playoff loss against the Giants. That was disappointing for him, but he said his recovery is going well and he's expecting to be ready to go for the start of this season.
"It's been really smooth," O'Neill said. "Since the diagnosis, there's been no surprises, from the morning we took the MRI to going into the surgery, coming out of the surgery, and everything since then."
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