Can we Fix our Offensive Offensive Line by staying young and cheap?

[wcblack34]

At 14, we are in a position to get a Day One starter at Left Tackle. If we trade back to the 20s, we should be able to get a Day One starter at LT or at Guard. Either way, OL has to be the pick. Frankly, if Trey Lance or Justin Fields fell into our laps at 14, I'd still say we need a Tackle or Guard (although I wouldn't complain if they took the QB). There's always a chance that you overdraft when you draft for need, but the line is the worst unit on the team; and it isn't close. This team goes nowhere if Cousins is running for his life on every play. They should pick a couple of Guards in the 3rd and 4th rounds too. They need to dedicate substantial draft capital to the OL. We have every other position group locked in for a couple of years (possible exception being linebackers). 

My preference is Rookie LT/Cole(rookie 3rd rounder)/Bradbury/Cleveland/O'Neill with Udoh/Hill/Rookie/Rookie backing them up. 

[VikeManDan]

Under Spielman's leadership the Vikings have drafted 3 OL 3x in his GM tenure.

2015: T.J. Clemmings (4th), Tyrus Thompson (6th), and Austion Shepherd (7th)

2019: Garrett Bradbury (1st), Dru Samia (4th), and Oli Udoh (6th)

2020: Ezra Cleveland (2nd), Blake Brandel (6th), and Kyle Hinton (7th)

I think a lot of us would like to see Rick and team draft 3+ OL again in 2021. Hopefully before the 5th round as the hit rate in Spielman's tenure past the 3rd round has not been great.

 

[vikingsrule]

41 minutes ago, wcblack34 said:

At 14, we are in a position to get a Day One starter at Left Tackle. If we trade back to the 20s, we should be able to get a Day One starter at LT or at Guard. Either way, OL has to be the pick. Frankly, if Trey Lance or Justin Fields fell into our laps at 14, I'd still say we need a Tackle or Guard (although I wouldn't complain if they took the QB). There's always a chance that you overdraft when you draft for need, but the line is the worst unit on the team; and it isn't close. This team goes nowhere if Cousins is running for his life on every play. They should pick a couple of Guards in the 3rd and 4th rounds too. They need to dedicate substantial draft capital to the OL. We have every other position group locked in for a couple of years (possible exception being linebackers). 

My preference is Rookie LT/Cole(rookie 3rd rounder)/Bradbury/Cleveland/O'Neill with Udoh/Hill/Rookie/Rookie backing them up. 

If Trey Lance or Justin Fields fall to 14, that’s the direction I go without thinking twice. Not interested in Jones.
 

As for what happens on draft day, I prefer moving down and grabbing an OG. I’d really like to see Cleveland get a shot at LT but I don’t know how likely that is. If I could get Davis or Vera-Tucker in the 20s and plug them in at RG, and grab a mid round LG to compete with Cole and Dozier, I’d be pretty content. 
 

If Cleveland doesn’t workout at LT it certainly forces a mid season OL shake up. Which isn’t ideal of course, maybe Hill takes overs or if Vera-Tucker is the pick, move him over.

[solidvikingfan]

Moving down just doesn't seem like a good idea when at least 4 teams after us seem like O-line needy as well we could cost ourselves the opportunity of taking a more plug and play option and I think taking Darrishaw as LT or Vera-Tucker as LG is fine at 14.

[SemperFeist]

Just now, solidvikingfan said:

Moving down just doesn't seem like a good idea when at least 4 teams after us seem like O-line needy as well we could cost ourselves the opportunity of taking a more plug and play option and I think taking Darrishaw as LT or Vera-Tucker as LG is fine at 14.

This. Many times, this. 

[swede700]

The only thing I say is it depends upon how many of the potentially available OL are in the same tier on their board.  If there's a 5 or 6 that are in the same tier, they may be able to move down into the early 20s and still get a guy in the same tier, but if there's less than that, they'd probably be best to just take their guy there.

[SemperFeist]

25 minutes ago, swede700 said:

The only thing I say is it depends upon how many of the potentially available OL are in the same tier on their board.  If there's a 5 or 6 that are in the same tier, they may be able to move down into the early 20s and still get a guy in the same tier, but if there's less than that, they'd probably be best to just take their guy there.

Having my pick of the guys in that tier is most important, IMO, than taking the last guy on the list and getting an extra late 3rd or 4th round pick. 

[swede700]

33 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

Having my pick of the guys in that tier is most important, IMO, than taking the last guy on the list and getting an extra late 3rd or 4th round pick. 

I do agree with that, but it's just something to consider.  We know how Rick likes to play the draft board manipulation game.

[Cearbhall]

1 hour ago, SemperFeist said:

Having my pick of the guys in that tier is most important, IMO, than taking the last guy on the list and getting an extra late 3rd or 4th round pick. 

I would go even further. I would rather take a random pull from the tier than take the guy that the rest of the teams didn't like as much. Odds are, they are not picking completely at random and have reason to like those other guys better. At least with the random pull you have a lot better chance of getting one of the better ones than hoping that nobody else is any better at distinguishing the players than the Vikings.