The Vikings offensive line made some important strides in 2019.
After the team struggled a bit in preventing pressure in 2018, the offensive scheme shifted to one that emphasized play-action passes and rollouts.
That scheme helped the offensive line improve. Pro Football Focus ranked the Vikings offensive line as the 29th best in the NFL for 2018. In 2019, the team moved up to 19th on PFF.
Running back Dalvin Cook also rushed for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns, both of which were career highs.
However, the Vikings could always use more help on the offensive line. Minnesota released guard Josh Kline this offseason. That, plus the current offensive line draft class, makes one thing certain: Minnesota shouldn’t shy away from taking an offensive lineman early.
Here is the case for the team to take a tackle with one of the first two picks:
It’s a very good tackle class
Similar to the case for taking a corner, the Vikings can do so without having to be too aggressive in the draft, meaning Minnesota doesn’t need to trade up in order to find value.
The Vikings could easily land either Josh Jones out of Houston, Austin Jackson out of USC or Georgia’s Andrew Thomas. I think it’s safe to say one of those three drops to No. 22. I could see Minnesota taking one if that’s the case.
The team has depth on the offensive line, but not enough starters
Barring the Vikings re-signing Kline to a cheaper deal, it seems like the team will have to replace at least one starting offensive lineman from last season.
Some of the other starters were serviceable for the team in 2019. PFF gave grades to each Vikings offensive lineman, the highest-graded player was tackle Brian O’Neill, who earned a 70.8 out of a possible 100.
O’Neill was solid, and the others have shown promise, but the team needs to make sure it doesn’t fall off on the offensive line after likely losing Kline this offseason. It could do that by drafting a tackle.
The Vikings can move Riley Reiff to guard
It might make sense to take a guard because of Kline’s likely departure. However, it seems like the 2020 tackle draft class is better than this year’s guard class.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said this at the NFL Combine:
“I think the tackles are pretty good. I think the guards maybe dropped off a little bit from last year,” Zimmer told reporters. “We’re just starting to process. We’re going to try and figure out what’s the best fit for us.”
Also the team has some options, because of Reiff’s potential versatility. The Star Tribune’s Andrew Krammer reported in February of 2019 that the Vikings were considering moving Reiff to the interior of the offensive line.
If the Vikings draft a tackle, the team could likely work out a position switch on the offensive line, making it so the team only loses one starter this offseason.
