My Plan to Fix the Vikings

[VikingLord]

If Cody Ford is available at 18, I want him. If another highly ranked G is high on their board, take him. .

..

But we also need to commit resources (draft picks, preferably) to the OL... we've neglected it for years. Cousin's isn't mobile and he's our QB for the next two years. We better figure out how to protect him better.

I posted about Ford in the Draft Talk forum. He's pretty much ideal to play guard as a pro and would be an outstanding addition to the offensive line with an excellent chance to start immediately and have an impact immediately. But the secret seems to be out about him (if there was a secret). He's been playing OT in college and I think some were projecting him there as a pro, and as an OT he's probably not the best prospect coming out, but if you slot him as a pro guard, he could easily become elite. 335 pounds of pure athlete with good power and consistency who can pass and run block...

Man, if he's there at #18, that should be a no-brainer for Spielman. I just don't think he's going to slide that far.

Of course, he's not the only OL I think would be good value at #18. There are others, but he's perfect for what the Vikings need heading into 2019.

[Texas Vike]

If Cody Ford is available at 18, I want him. If another highly ranked G is high on their board, take him. .

..

But we also need to commit resources (draft picks, preferably) to the OL... we've neglected it for years. Cousin's isn't mobile and he's our QB for the next two years. We better figure out how to protect him better.

I posted about Ford in the Draft Talk forum. He's pretty much ideal to play guard as a pro and would be an outstanding addition to the offensive line with an excellent chance to start immediately and have an impact immediately. But the secret seems to be out about him (if there was a secret). He's been playing OT in college and I think some were projecting him there as a pro, and as an OT he's probably not the best prospect coming out, but if you slot him as a pro guard, he could easily become elite. 335 pounds of pure athlete with good power and consistency who can pass and run block...

Man, if he's there at #18, that should be a no-brainer for Spielman. I just don't think he's going to slide that far.

Of course, he's not the only OL I think would be good value at #18. There are others, but he's perfect for what the Vikings need heading into 2019.

On Walter FB's latest mock, he has him going at #19. There's lots of time between now and late April; I'm sure things will shift around a lot. Last season, there seemed to be more teams seeking OL than there were top caliber candidates. I suspect that may occur again, as it reflects a tendency in the NFL right now (demand is higher than supply), so Ford may well go in the top ten picks. He seems like the exact kind of mauler we need at G.

[Mothman]

On Walter FB's latest mock, he has him going at #19. There's lots of time between now and late April; I'm sure things will shift around a lot. Last season, there seemed to be more teams seeking OL than there were top caliber candidates. I suspect that may occur again, as it reflects a tendency in the NFL right now (demand is higher than supply), so Ford may well go in the top ten picks. He seems like the exact kind of mauler we need at G.

You guys are getting me excited about the draft!

What does it say that so many of us are pumped about the idea of the Vikings drafting a really good guard?

[Texas Vike]

On Walter FB's latest mock, he has him going at #19. There's lots of time between now and late April; I'm sure things will shift around a lot. Last season, there seemed to be more teams seeking OL than there were top caliber candidates. I suspect that may occur again, as it reflects a tendency in the NFL right now (demand is higher than supply), so Ford may well go in the top ten picks. He seems like the exact kind of mauler we need at G.

You guys are getting me excited about the draft!

What does it say that so many of us are pumped about the idea of the Vikings drafting a really good guard?

We all share a desperate desire to see our team FINALLY win the Super Bowl... and we aren't doing it without an OL.

Hope springs eternal, I guess. There is something really enjoyable about the NFL draft though. I was honestly somewhat pleased that we lost to CHI because I knew we weren't going to do anything in the playoffs this year and I wanted to get the best pick possible.

Maybe what is most enjoyable about being a fan is imagining how we would handle the decisions of a GM? We all secretly want to replace Rick.

[VikingLord]

What does it say that so many of us are pumped about the idea of the Vikings drafting a really good guard?

Visions of Randall McDaniel are dancing through my head lately...

Also, and I may be one of the few here who think the real benefit to a better OL won't be in the passing game as much as the running game, but I would like to see what a guy like Dalvin Cook could do with some actual holes to run through.

[PurpleMustReign]

On Walter FB's latest mock, he has him going at #19. There's lots of time between now and late April; I'm sure things will shift around a lot. Last season, there seemed to be more teams seeking OL than there were top caliber candidates. I suspect that may occur again, as it reflects a tendency in the NFL right now (demand is higher than supply), so Ford may well go in the top ten picks. He seems like the exact kind of mauler we need at G.

You guys are getting me excited about the draft!

What does it say that so many of us are pumped about the idea of the Vikings drafting a really good guard?

Depending on who is there and how things go, I would consider trading up for one. There are some really intriguing prospects that as was said earlier,will likely go early. If they can get a good mix of FAs and draft decently, I think they could have a much better line fairly quickly.
Of course, if they put cardboard cutouts of SpongeBob SquarePants rathen than the OL they had last year, they would be better.

[YikesVikes]

As Vikings fans we must be suffering from amnesia. Did you guys not see what happened to our oline this season? You mean to tell me taking a CB (BPA) in round 1 and 2 would better serve this team? Lets stop with the myth about oline being a league-wide problem. No it is not. Many teams in the league have a great to good oline. We are at the bottom of most categories that reflect poorly on our oline. Not every team is as bad as us. We built a top defense and have great skill players at every position on offense and STILLLLLLLLL missed the playoffs. None of that matters. You build a team in the trenches. This is madness to still be talking about BPA. We have hugeeee holes on the oline. The guys we have there should be backups or on the street. Why must we continue to talk this nonsense about BPA. Its the same thing you guys said last season after the draft and I told you guys.... we will be in trouble this season due to the oline. Yet, here we are again. Until we develop this oline. We are doing nothing. I don't care if we draft Moses to play running back and Jesus to throw the ball. Our oline is that bad.

NFC Teams that made the playoffs with good olines.
Saints
Rams
Eagles
Cowboys

Teams that made the playoffs with Ok Olines
Bears
Seattle

Teams that made the playoffs with bad olines
Nobody
Nobody
Nobody
Nobody

[YikesVikes]

Moderator's note: Purplepain2018, I merged your post below into this thread because there was already a thread about fixing the Vikes and already a discussion about the o-line happening in this thread this morning. Starting new topics is fine but (everyone) please check to see if there is currently a similar conversation occurring before starting a new thread. Thanks! —Jim

Now I know that I am not saying anything here that every Vikings fan already knows..my question is how did Zimmer and Spielman let our offensive line get so bad and did nothing to fix it. It wasn't like this just happened overnight. The Vikings offensive line has been bad for a couple of years now. Just a quick question....who was the last first round pick the Vikings used on an offensive lineman under Zimmer? It was Matt Kalil….who started out good in his first year or two and then his play started to decline.

The Vikings must use two of their top three picks this year in the draft to draft offensive lineman. The line has to get younger, stronger and more athletic and free agency is really not the place for that to happen. Sure, you can sign a free agent on the OL, but they have usually already been in the league for four or five years. The Vikings need to get younger and develop some depth on the OL. The only two players on the OL that are good enough to hang around for 2019 are Elflein, Oneill, and maybe Reiff; other than that they need to start from scratch.

There are plenty of young OL players coming out in the draft that we can draft to help strengthen this unit again. This is why we need a new GM who knows how to work the draft. Spielman tries to get cute like he did last year in drafting Mike Hughes at CB when he knew how bad our OL was. Take a look at the 2018 draft class for the Vikings...how many of those players contributed to the team in 2018? If the Vikings do not draft at least two offensive lineman in the first three picks Speilman needs to be fired.

A better question is who was the OL before Khalil we last used a 1st on? We have the same issue at QB. This team historically has not invested premium picks into the most important positions in football. Yet we are surprise we still don't have a chip.

Our logic has historically been.... It's hard to find quality olinemen so lets wait until they have been picked over in the draft (5th round) and build a line from those leftover pieces. Meanwhile, we keep drafting Cbs even though those can be found in the later rounds.

[9man]

Texans? Where dos their OL rank? I think bad, hence the spanking by the Colts. Who happen to have an excellent OL.

[YikesVikes]

Texans? Where dos their OL rank? I think bad, hence the spanking by the Colts. Who happen to have an excellent OL.

I was talking AFC. However, they have a QB that was able to power them past their bad oline. Came to playoffs and got killed as you pointed out. You have to develop at least an average oline. We keep wanting to not do so. You

[9man]

Texans? Where dos their OL rank? I think bad, hence the spanking by the Colts. Who happen to have an excellent OL.

I was talking AFC. However, they have a QB that was able to power them past their bad oline. Came to playoffs and got killed as you pointed out. You have to develop at least an average oline. We keep wanting to not do so. You

Yeah i get your point. The Colts are good example of making progress on the OL. They have turned that unit around from one of the worst to one of the best.

[YikesVikes]

I was talking AFC. However, they have a QB that was able to power them past their bad oline. Came to playoffs and got killed as you pointed out. You have to develop at least an average oline. We keep wanting to not do so. You

Yeah i get your point. The Colts are good example of making progress on the OL. They have turned that unit around from one of the worst to one of the best.

The right player does that. They invested a top 6 pick into a can't miss guy. He made the LT better and the center better. We may not have that top pick but two good players can make the difference. Imagine having a 3 solid interior players in 2 guards and a center. Paring them with Oniel....

[StumpHunter]

Texans? Where dos their OL rank? I think bad, hence the spanking by the Colts. Who happen to have an excellent OL.

I was talking AFC. However, they have a QB that was able to power them past their bad oline. Came to playoffs and got killed as you pointed out. You have to develop at least an average oline. We keep wanting to not do so. You

There is no doubt that you need a good line to win it all. I think Houston could have won with a more experienced QB though, and that the line wasn't the biggest problem. Watson threw the ball very poorly, even when he had time. He was basically a first year QB, and will come back next year with this game under his belt, and ready for playoff football, but this year, he wasn't.

I also think that the issues on our line are a bit overblown. They were asked to protect an immobile QB who held the ball too long, and gave up lots of pressures and sacks because of it. Games in which they could have had success running the ball (New England comes to mind) the OC refused to run the ball, driving down rushing stats that were never going to be good, but didn't need to be as bad as they were.

I just look at what Foles did against the Bears, with nearly a second less to throw on average, while nearly doubling the distance he threw the ball on completed passes versus what Cousins threw against the Bears. You look at that, and I don't know how you can say the QB was not the problem. The line was not good, and an injured defense gave up to many rushing yards, but the QB gave them no shot at winning.

You want to fix this team, teach the QB to get rid of the fricken ball quickly. He is talented enough to do it, and I think the right OC can get him there. I just hope that the media, fans, his teammates, and coaches don't continue to give him a pass "because the line is just so bad, what QB could win with it." That is a bunch of BS, and it flies in the face of the facts. That he had time to throw, he just couldn't do anything with it.

[YikesVikes]

There is no doubt that you need a good line to win it all. I think Houston could have won with a more experienced QB though, and that the line wasn't the biggest problem. Watson threw the ball very poorly, even when he had time. He was basically a first year QB, and will come back next year with this game under his belt, and ready for playoff football, but this year, he wasn't.

On the season he completed 68% of his passes for 4100 yards 26 tds, All while missing his team's 2nd best WR. I don't think throwing the ball is an issue for him. His line sucks and it showed vs. comp.

I also think that the issues on our line are a bit overblown. They were asked to protect an immobile QB who held the ball too long, and gave up lots of pressures and sacks because of it. Games in which they could have had success running the ball (New England comes to mind) the OC refused to run the ball, driving down rushing stats that were never going to be good, but didn't need to be as bad as they were.

The issues with the line are not overblown. We can't run the ball and we can't pass protect. How can you overblow deficiencies is both aspects of the offense. I hate when people talk about a QB holding the ball too long. They rarely imagine that no one is open. You then explain that we have a problem running the ball consistently but then said the problems are overblown? Did you watch week 17? Do ou realize that prior to New England, we had only one game over 100 yards as a team.

I just look at what Foles did against the Bears, with nearly a second less to throw on average, while nearly doubling the distance he threw the ball on completed passes versus what Cousins threw against the Bears. You look at that, and I don't know how you can say the QB was not the problem. The line was not good, and an injured defense gave up to many rushing yards, but the QB gave them no shot at winning.

Foles also has one of the best Olines in the league. Top 3. You need to delete this paragraph.

You want to fix this team, teach the QB to get rid of the fricken ball quickly. He is talented enough to do it, and I think the right OC can get him there. I just hope that the media, fans, his teammates, and coaches don't continue to give him a pass "because the line is just so bad, what QB could win with it." That is a bunch of BS, and it flies in the face of the facts. That he had time to throw, he just couldn't do anything with it.

We were the 2nd or 3rd most pressured team in the league and you don't think we had a problem with the oline. We had games where a lineman gave up double-digit pressures and you think that was the QB's fault. None of this makes sense. Kirk is not Keenum athletically but what Remmers and Compton put outthere on film was could have them arrested for abuse.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Theres a lot of good posts in this thread. But I think the main problem on this Vikings team, is Rick Spielman. He simply doesnt know QB talent, Oline talent or WR talent. His scouts must do a horrible job too, esp. with QB scouting. Its going to hurt getting a new GM, probably a rough patch, but a good GM could take this team to, and win, the SB.