A real offensive line, or just another "offensive" line

[VikingTom]

I have hope that the Vikings may finally have enough talent on board for this unit to become a strength. I am not expecting miracles this year. That would be asking a lot to plug in two rookies and suddenly have greatness. I do think this is a unit that will show improvement as the season progresses. I do think this is a group that will be better than the 2020 O line from day 1.

Tackles: Brian O'Neill, Christian Darrisaw, Rashod Hill, Oli Udoh, Blake Brandel, Evin Ksiezarczyk: We all have high expectations of Darrisaw. Yes he will be a rookie at a demanding position, so there may be a few growing pains. I feel he will overall have a good rookie season. Someone to keep an eye on is Oli Udoh. Lots to like about him, but was always felt he needed time to develop. He has now been in the system for a couple years. It would seem to me that it is time to move up the depth chart.

Guards: Ezra Cleveland, Dakota Dozier, Wyatt Davis, Dru Samia, Kyle Hinton, Zack Bailey: Guards will be so much better if Davis steps up and claims a starting role.

Centers: Garrett Bradbury, Mason Cole, Cohl Cabral: This is a big year for Bradbury. He needs to prove he is the longer term solution at center. Cole could push him a bit, and of course Cole has versatility as he also plays guard.

If, if, if, the rookies step up as hoped for the starting O line for week one will be Darrisaw, Cleveland, Bradbury, Davis, O;Neill. That would be a very young offensive line that could approach greatness.

[CharVike]

PFF gives a projected overall ranking of 27th out of 32 teams for 2021. That don't work. Bradbury can't pass block at all. IMO that's a huge problem. That's why I was hoping we would have added Kendrick Green to the mix in the draft. He would have lite a fire under our interior guys #### and maybe they would have stepped up. Ezra struggled with pass blocking also. So who knows. I can't judge rookies. I thought Samia was a great pick and at this point he shouldn't be on an NFL roster. If everything works perfect and Darisaw is an average LT and Davis is an average G we could move up to a slightly less than average OL maybe 17th in the league. That's the best case scenario. Our worst case scenario is staying at 27. That can work against garbage teams but against the top teams it will cost us. It always does.

[J. Kapp 11]

PFF gives a projected overall ranking of 27th out of 32 teams for 2021. That don't work. Bradbury can't pass block at all. IMO that's a huge problem. That's why I was hoping we would have added Kendrick Green to the mix in the draft. He would have lite a fire under our interior guys #### and maybe they would have stepped up. Ezra struggled with pass blocking also. So who knows. I can't judge rookies. I thought Samia was a great pick and at this point he shouldn't be on an NFL roster. If everything works perfect and Darisaw is an average LT and Davis is an average G we could move up to a slightly less than average OL maybe 17th in the league. That's the best case scenario. Our worst case scenario is staying at 27. That can work against garbage teams but against the top teams it will cost us. It always does.

Ezra finished pretty far down the list of guards per PFF overall last year, but he was in the top half of the league over his last 6 games. So he improved, and many expect that trend to improve. ESPN considers him a breakout candidate.

Darrisaw should hold his own. I don’t see him as an instant Pro-Bowler, but he’s got too much talent and size to completely fail.

Davis could struggle early, but if a converted tackle like Cleveland can improve over the course of his rookie season, then so can an All-American guard.

O’Neill is solid at right tackle. It’s one position we can feel good about, barring injury.

The wild card to me is Bradbury. Such an enigma. An absolute beast in the run game, but literally gets put on his backside in pass protection. Cousins’ biggest weakness, as it is with many QBs, is pressure up the middle. Bradbury just HAS to improve.

[VikingsVictorious]

It is entirely possible Darrisaw is a better than average LT this year. I think we are being too cautious with estimating how well he will do. I think at worse he will be average. This is assuming the "groin" issue is all better now.

[VikingsVictorious]

PFF gives a projected overall ranking of 27th out of 32 teams for 2021. That don't work. Bradbury can't pass block at all. IMO that's a huge problem. That's why I was hoping we would have added Kendrick Green to the mix in the draft. He would have lite a fire under our interior guys #### and maybe they would have stepped up. Ezra struggled with pass blocking also. So who knows. I can't judge rookies. I thought Samia was a great pick and at this point he shouldn't be on an NFL roster. If everything works perfect and Darisaw is an average LT and Davis is an average G we could move up to a slightly less than average OL maybe 17th in the league. That's the best case scenario. Our worst case scenario is staying at 27. That can work against garbage teams but against the top teams it will cost us. It always does.

Yep Samia was big 12 Offensive Lineman of the year. I thought he was a great pick.

[S197]

At this point, I’ll believe it when I see it. This is by far the most draft capital invested in the OL so in theory they should be well above average.

[CharVike]

PFF gives a projected overall ranking of 27th out of 32 teams for 2021. That don't work. Bradbury can't pass block at all. IMO that's a huge problem. That's why I was hoping we would have added Kendrick Green to the mix in the draft. He would have lite a fire under our interior guys #### and maybe they would have stepped up. Ezra struggled with pass blocking also. So who knows. I can't judge rookies. I thought Samia was a great pick and at this point he shouldn't be on an NFL roster. If everything works perfect and Darisaw is an average LT and Davis is an average G we could move up to a slightly less than average OL maybe 17th in the league. That's the best case scenario. Our worst case scenario is staying at 27. That can work against garbage teams but against the top teams it will cost us. It always does.

Yep Samia was big 12 Offensive Lineman of the year. I thought he was a great pick.

That's why I try not to get to excited about draft picks. I've followed the draft for many years and was using JOEL BUCHSBAUM SCOUT'S NOTEBOOK in the 80s. Great publication from PFW. The jump to the NFL is tremendous. As the saying goes the party is over. Plus these kids have coin in their pocket now. That's never easy to deal with for a 22 year old.

[VikingsVictorious]

Yep Samia was big 12 Offensive Lineman of the year. I thought he was a great pick.

That's why I try not to get to excited about draft picks. I've followed the draft for many years and was using JOEL BUCHSBAUM SCOUT'S NOTEBOOK in the 80s. Great publication from PFW. The jump to the NFL is tremendous. As the saying goes the party is over. Plus these kids have coin in their pocket now. That's never easy to deal with for a 22 year old.

We never know for sure. People overperform and underperform their draft position all the time. However, I like getting excited about draft picks. Sometimes they work out spectacularly like Jefferson last year. I'm excited about our rookie OLs and sure they could underperform, but until that happens I'm excited and hopeful that they will overperform.

[VikingLord]

PFF gives a projected overall ranking of 27th out of 32 teams for 2021. That don't work. Bradbury can't pass block at all. IMO that's a huge problem. That's why I was hoping we would have added Kendrick Green to the mix in the draft. He would have lite a fire under our interior guys #### and maybe they would have stepped up. Ezra struggled with pass blocking also. So who knows. I can't judge rookies. I thought Samia was a great pick and at this point he shouldn't be on an NFL roster. If everything works perfect and Darisaw is an average LT and Davis is an average G we could move up to a slightly less than average OL maybe 17th in the league. That's the best case scenario. Our worst case scenario is staying at 27. That can work against garbage teams but against the top teams it will cost us. It always does.

I'm not sure what they base their projections on, but given that 2 of the 5 positions on the OL will be manned by new starters I guess that is a safe projection.

In my view what the OL needs to do better is run block, especially on downs 1 and 2, but also in short yardage situations. The key to unleashing Kirk Cousins and making the passing game effective is to avoid obvious passing situations, and they do that by running well on the early downs. While the Vikings ran the ball on average well last year, it was largely feast-or-famine on early downs, with Cook often having to break multiple tackles on his own, and they were surprisingly ineffective running in short yardage situations.

In short, keep the pressure off Cousins so he can play loose and fast and not overthink things.

[CharVike]

That's why I try not to get to excited about draft picks. I've followed the draft for many years and was using JOEL BUCHSBAUM SCOUT'S NOTEBOOK in the 80s. Great publication from PFW. The jump to the NFL is tremendous. As the saying goes the party is over. Plus these kids have coin in their pocket now. That's never easy to deal with for a 22 year old.

We never know for sure. People overperform and underperform their draft position all the time. However, I like getting excited about draft picks. Sometimes they work out spectacularly like Jefferson last year. I'm excited about our rookie OLs and sure they could underperform, but until that happens I'm excited and hopeful that they will overperform.

That's good to get excited and yes I hope the guys perform well also. They were both solid picks.

[allday1991]

It is entirely possible Darrisaw is a better than average LT this year. I think we are being too cautious with estimating how well he will do. I think at worse he will be average. This is assuming the "groin" issue is all better now.

I'm ok with this. We got rid of a over paid Reiff and got potential young talent. Reiff was way overpaid, even worse was hearing Viking fans skewed pff grades that somehow made Reiff look like a decent to good player, the Bengal's singing him for half of what we paid him just confirmed my original thoughts, Reiff was an 'ok' player on a horrible line. With him gone we save money and have potential for a better LT, hopefully this is a real offensive line, however only time will tell.

[VikingLord]

It is entirely possible Darrisaw is a better than average LT this year. I think we are being too cautious with estimating how well he will do. I think at worse he will be average. This is assuming the "groin" issue is all better now.

I'm ok with this. We got rid of a over paid Reiff and got potential young talent. Reiff was way overpaid, even worse was hearing Viking fans skewed pff grades that somehow made Reiff look like a decent to good player, the Bengal's singing him for half of what we paid him just confirmed my original thoughts, Reiff was an 'ok' player on a horrible line. With him gone we save money and have potential for a better LT, hopefully this is a real offensive line, however only time will tell.

Reiff was a solid presence on the line and a leader on the field. He wasn't the most talented or consistent, but he wasn't bad either.

There is reason for optimism with the changes on the OL, but if I've learned anything over my years watching football it is that OL is a particularly challenging leap from college to the pros. I like the players the Vikings drafted and I think they are going to become really good as pros, but there will be some bumps and likely some times when we remember Reiff's play a little more fondly.

[CharVike]

Zimmer said they will take it slow with Darrisaw the 1st few days but he is moving around good. I didn't realize he had groin surgery after the season.

[VikingLord]

Udoh split 1st team reps with Dozier at RG to start training camp apparently...

I was hoping Udoh would get a chance to step up this year. Looks like he's going to get that chance, and with any luck he does well there and the Vikings don't look back.

[S197]

I don't really understand Udoh at guard. I think he's going to struggle with those crazy long arms. Plus he held his own alright in limited reps at RT, a position that makes a lot more sense. Hopefully this is all temporary until Davis "earns" the job.