Some light reading for you to consider:chicagopurple wrote:I disagree.
Tackle is NOT like WR. Many new players get a chance to start especially on teams where the "veteran" is someone who was a total liability in the past.
http://www.theintelligencer.net/sports/ ... y-for-nfl/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... /80918122/
The days of College OL being the safest high draft picks are over. The Vikings are not alone in their plight either, which is why the guys in FA were so expensive this year. This is also why expecting to fix this problem in the draft is not a very viable short term strategy. It is entirely likely that all the mock drafts / draft analyses are over valuing college OL vs. how the NFL GMs are rating them.
Consider that 25% of the first round picks were DBs who will also have a steep learning curve due to the differences in the NFL game both physically and in the rules for PI and Defensive Holding. At the same time, only 2(!) selections were OL and the first one didn't go until pick 20 and the second one was pick 32. In 2015 only 2 of the fist 30 OL taken cracked the starting line up for their respective teams the following season.
It is a mistake to just look at this from the perspective of the Vikings. You have to consider what is going on in the league as well.