The position with no glory. If you do your job, nobody notices, but if you mess up, everybody does. The offensive line in football is the epitome of a group effort. It will only be as strong as its weakest link.
In the case of the Vikings that is definitely true; Kirk Cousins ended last year being sacked 46 times, which was the third most out of any Quarterback in the NFL. To make matters worse due to Cousin’s playing style as a pocket passer, if he is not given good protection, the offense is thrown into a stagnant hole taking three plays to get struck out and having the real superstar on the team Ryan Wright (Punter) take the field. On the 2023 Vikings, the trenches are one of the weakest parts of the team.
The starters for the 2023 season included: Christian Darrisaw at left tackle, Ezra Cleveland at left guard, Garrett Bradbury at center, Ed Ingram at right guard and Brian O’Neill at right tackle. As backups to these starters, the Vikings only have four offensive linemen, most notably Austin Schlottmann at center and Olisaemeka Udoh at tackle who have both seen snaps in the first two games. Schlottmann is now the starting center for the Vikings for the foreseeable future as Bradbury has gone down with a low back injury. The problems with the interior offensive line have only been emphasized by this injury and Vikings fans were furious at Kwesi Adofo-Mensah until he signed Dalton Risner, a left guard, on Sept. 18 which will hopefully make a big difference starting next Sunday. Udoh has seen snaps after Darrisaw, one of the top-ranked left tackles in the league, has gone down with an ankle injury. Darrisaw is questionable to start for the Vikings’ next game.
A big part of the offensive line is the run-blocking abilities. Out of the six touchdowns the Vikings have scored, all of them have been off of passes pointing to a deficiency in the ability to run the ball. Undoubtedly, when the Vikings’ opponents are game-planning to stop the Vikings’ offense, the inability to run the ball allows the other team to focus more on pass defense potentially putting an extra person in coverage, making it harder for the wide receivers to get open. Overall, the Vikings’ offensive line had a 65.5 or lower PFF (ProFootballFocus) run-blocking grade not including O’Neill, the outlier on the line, finishing with an 85.5 grade. This PFF grade is out of 100 and a rating of 60-70 is usually consistent with a backup’s level of play and 70-80 is a starter’s level of play. The signing of Dalton Risner is not expected to give the Vikings’ offensive line a big jump in terms of run blocking as his talents are more focused on his pass-blocking abilities.
Looking ahead, there is no clear solution to the problems on the offensive line; however, the signing of Dalton Risner was a clear way to elevate it to the next level. Replacing Ingram with Risner will not only lead to a higher performance for that position but also for those around him. This signing to replace Ingram was a desperate move on Adofo-Mensah’s part and only adds to the embarrassment of the 2022 draft class which has only added one clear-cut starter on both sides of the ball.
Grace Barnnett • Oct 7, 2023 at 9:43 pm
I really want to learn about O’connell’s play design. Keep up the great work!!
#1 Titans Fan • Sep 21, 2023 at 3:03 pm
Very good stuff, although, you forgot about David Quessenberry; he has 19 snaps this year and his pff grade is 65.5 so I think he would have garnered a more complex understanding of this article if he was included.