The Vikings Can't Continue to Start Dru Samia at Right Guard
At this point, enough is enough when it comes to Dru Samia. The Vikings need to put someone else in at right guard this Sunday against the Falcons, because continuing to trot Samia out there every week would be nothing short of malpractice.
Heading into this season, there was some hope that Samia would emerge as the starter at right guard after the team moved on from veteran Josh Kline this offseason. They picked Samia in the fourth round out of Oklahoma in 2019 because they felt he was a good fit for their scheme and played with a nasty edge that good offensive linemen tend to have. After basically redshirting as a rookie, the idea was that he might be ready to take over that starting job this year.
Thus, it was surprising to see that Samia didn't really factor into the competition for a starting job at guard during training camp. The Vikings moved Pat Elflein to the right side to take Kline's spot, and the left guard competition was between uninspiring veterans Dakota Dozier and Aviante Collins.
Well, we've now seen why the coaching staff didn't trust Samia to be a starter. When Elflein went down before Week 2, the second-year backup was thrust into action. He's played every snap over the past four games and has arguably been the worst offensive lineman in the entire NFL.
182 offensive linemen (75 guards, 72 tackles, and 35 centers) have played enough snaps to qualify for Pro Football Focus's grades. With a grade of 34.2, Samia ranks 182nd out of 182. His pass-blocking grade of 20.8 is tied for last in that group, while his 40.9 run-blocking grade is also in the bottom five.
None of the stats for Samia are good. He's allowed 14 pressures and three sacks in four games, both of which lead the Vikings. He was flagged for three holding penalties against the Seahawks, meaning he now leads the team in that category as well.
The eye test also tells you how bad it's been. In Samia's first career start, DeForest Buckner did this to him:
One week later, he was so thoroughly dominated by Jeffery Simmons and the Titans' interior defensive line (allowing six pressures) that PFF gave him a 1.4 pass-blocking grade. That's out of 100. His technique, his positioning, his balance and center of gravity – they've all been awful.
Samia has at least shown some flashes of competence over the past two weeks – not facing Buckner and Simmons helps with that – but it hasn't been nearly enough. Look at this 30-second reel of miscues from another brutal night in Seattle:
"It was really him being in bad position most of the time or being over-aggressive," Mike Zimmer said of Samia's three holding calls. "You’ve got to keep working on being in the right position and understanding that on double teams, you can go ahead and be as aggressive as you want. But if you’re reaching a guy or cutting a guy off, you’ve got to make sure where your hands are."
These four games need to have been the end of this experiment. Continuing to start Samia is not only detrimental to the team's chances of winning, but it has to be ruining his confidence and damaging the likelihood that he's able to turn things around and eventually develop into a solid player. Right now, he just doesn't look anywhere near ready to play at this level. It's time to bench him and keep working with him in practice until he reaches a point where he's ready to play. That might never happen, but it's too early to rule it out as a possibility considering his size, athleticism, and the occasional flashes he's shown as a run-blocker.
The question obviously becomes who the Vikings could replace him with. Elflein is eligible to return from injured reserve whenever, but there have been no recent updates on the status of his thumb injury. Maybe we'll find out more this week on that front. For all of the deserved criticism Elflein has gotten over the past couple years, he would be a major upgrade from Samia.
Even if Elflein isn't healthy, the Vikings still need to go with another option. Maybe that's veteran Brett Jones. Maybe it's a tackle like Oli Udoh or Rashod Hill. Maybe it's finally giving Ezra Cleveland a chance at left guard and moving Dozier over to the right side. Heck, call up a practice squad player like Aviante Collins or Kyle Hinton. It's hard to imagine anyone could be worse.
As for Kline, it appears that concussion issues are keeping him out of football this year and could potentially have ended his career. If he was healthy, he'd absolutely have a job in the NFL right now.
I feel badly for Samia and hope he's able to get things figured out eventually. But if the Vikings plan on turning their season around and competing, they need to bench and replace him for this week's game and beyond. It just isn't working right now.
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