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The Often Overbearing, But Otherwise Ordinary Offensive Line


SemperFeist

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The Vikings claimed offensive lineman Tyler Catalina off waivers from Washington. They waived offensive lineman Tiano Pupungatoa in a corresponding move.

Washington waived Catalina when it signed veteran offensive lineman Donald Penn. Catalina, 26, signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He played seven games, with two starts, for the team that season. He spent last season on injured reserve.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/08/01/vikings-claim-tyler-catalina-off-waivers/

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With O’Neill, Collins and Catalina not practicing, the Vikings were down to 13 offensive linemen Tuesday.

Rashod Hill and Storm Norton both took first-team reps at right tackle in place of O’Neill, while the rest of the starters remained the same. The unit, from left tackle to right guard, consisted of Riley Reiff, Pat Elflein, Garrett Bradbury and Josh Kline.

The second unit also was shuffled. Norton was in at left tackle while Dakota Dozier was the left guard and Brett Jones was at center. Guard Danny Isidora and rookie tackle Olisaemeka Udoh manned the right side.

Dozier and Udoh then pulled double duty as they lined up at left and right tackle, respectively, for the third unit. Left guard John Keenoy, center Cornelius Edison and right guard Dru Samia rounded out the group.

https://www.vikings.com/news/vikings-defense-steals-show-at-training-camp-practice?sf217103785=1

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8 hours ago, vike daddy said:

With O’Neill, Collins and Catalina not practicing, the Vikings were down to 13 offensive linemen Tuesday.

Rashod Hill and Storm Norton both took first-team reps at right tackle in place of O’Neill, while the rest of the starters remained the same. The unit, from left tackle to right guard, consisted of Riley Reiff, Pat Elflein, Garrett Bradbury and Josh Kline.

The second unit also was shuffled. Norton was in at left tackle while Dakota Dozier was the left guard and Brett Jones was at center. Guard Danny Isidora and rookie tackle Olisaemeka Udoh manned the right side.

Dozier and Udoh then pulled double duty as they lined up at left and right tackle, respectively, for the third unit. Left guard John Keenoy, center Cornelius Edison and right guard Dru Samia rounded out the group.

https://www.vikings.com/news/vikings-defense-steals-show-at-training-camp-practice?sf217103785=1

Hopefully this injury bug will run its course prior to the start of the regular season.

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Of course, not too concerned about Catalina, but I do really like Aviante Collins as one of the primary backups and of course, O"Neill is a critical piece...although, it doesn't appear that his injury is real significant, so he might only be out a day or 2.  

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6 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

Based on?

Unfortunately, he's often been injured (like he is now), but when he's healthy, he's a better backup swing tackle than Hill, as far as I'm concerned.  He's shown pretty good potential and versatility, as he can play inside in a pinch as well (and he might even be better suited to play there).  

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12 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

Collins has never actually played tackle or guard outside of the preseason, so I guess I’m at a loss as to why you would think he’s better. We’ve never seen it. 

Actually, he has...but it's been 2 years, since he got injured last year in the preseason.  He played in 3 games in the regular season in 2017 (although only the last game of the season did he play quite a bit), as well as both playoff games (more snaps in the Saints game, though).  When he plays, I think he's at the very least comparable to Hill, with a much higher ceiling.  

Edited by swede700
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43 minutes ago, swede700 said:

Actually, he has...but it's been 2 years, since he got injured last year in the preseason.  He played in 3 games in the regular season in 2017 (although only the last game of the season did he play quite a bit), as well as both playoff games (more snaps in the Saints game, though).  When he plays, I think he's at the very least comparable to Hill, with a much higher ceiling.  

Collins has only lined up as the 3rd OT. He was nothing more than an extra blocker out there instead of a TE. Not what I would call true tackle or guard experience. 

In 2017 he saw 1 ST snap in the first game against Chicago, 2 ST snaps against Cleveland, and 38 offensive snaps in the last game of the year against Chicago. But in that last game against Chicago, Reiff and Hill saw 100% of the snaps at tackle. Same for the 11 snaps he saw during the post season. All were as an extra lineman, while Reiff and Hill handled all of the snaps at tackle. 

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Elflein was good, Bradbury was OK.

Bradbury lost his balance while pass blocking a couple times but that didn’t affect the plays. He didn’t quite make a block on the NT (Malcom Brown) on an inside zone run play that was stuffed, could’ve done better there.

Didn’t see Elflein make any mistakes. 

The 1st string OL run plays that were stuffed failed once when Hill couldn’t get to a LB at the second level, and once when Ham missed a lead block.

Edited by Krauser
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As a team only gave up one QB hit and zero sacks which is good.  Any OL play where one does not notice players is a good thing because usually one only notices the mistakes and they gave up little to no QB pressure.  The slanting helped and they played good as a unit all in motion, kept the Saints D off balance and ran the ball very effectively especially late.  Hard to not be impressed with the OL play and O'Neill was not out there and that did not even matter much either.  Storm Norton played aggressively and Udoh looked decent and athletic as a big body on the outside.  

Not sure if it is the system they are running or the two TE sets or Bradbury but no doubt they looked like a better overall unit and if they can protect the QB like that and run the ball consistently they should have a much better season.

 

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With Vedvik being signed there has been little talk about this but nice to see Nate Wozniak signed by the Vikings after the Saints let him go.  Sure he is a long shot the former Gopher TE but is an interesting player at tackle because of that height and his athletic ability.  Hell with a two TE set maybe he could be a blocking TE also if he lost some weight but is currently I believe 6-10 300.  Maybe a jumbo package or something if tackle does not work as a TE.  Still cool they signed him and hopefully he can make the practice squad or something...

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