Tackle Ezra Cleveland was drafted by the Vikings in the second round and while he has two incumbent starters to compete with in 2020, he still could receive some playing time.
Minnesota returns two tackles from 2020 — Riley Reiff and Brian O’Neill. The Star Tribune reported that the Vikings were mulling a position switch for Reiff, possibly to guard, in February of 2019.
Cleveland could very well come in and play tackle, moving Reiff to guard and helping the Vikings fill out the offensive line.
Minnesota runs a zone-blocking system, a system that has linemen block players within a region of the field, as opposed to man blocking, and The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen thinks Cleveland will be a good fit because of that.
Nguyen explains more here:
“The Vikings will continue to implement an outside-zone-based system under Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak. The system requires smaller, more athletic offensive linemen because blocking on the outside requires movement and blocking defenders in space.
There is certainly risk associated with drafting boom-or-bust prospects such as Cleveland, but the Vikings picked him at the bottom of the second round. There was buzz that he would get drafted in the first round. In this system, good tackle play is so important in the run game because in outside zone, the tackles are often assigned to reach or kick out defensive ends one-on-one. I like how the Vikings filled a need with good draft value and a high-upside player who fits so well schematically.”
Let’s hope Cleveland is a good fit and can adjust to an NFL offense quickly. If that’s the case, the offensive line can make another step in the right direction.
