The Often Overbearing, But Otherwise Ordinary Offensive Line

[JDBrocks]

 

another reason that it's important to get Darrisaw back.

[swede700]

Udoh would be the backup and not Lowe?

[PrplChilPill]

4 hours ago, JDBrocks said:

 

another reason that it's important to get Darrisaw back.

Yikes. And good luck to him in his recovery!

[wcblack34]

7 hours ago, JDBrocks said:

 

another reason that it's important to get Darrisaw back.

That’s terrible news for Brandel. He was playing his way into a ERFA tender or a decent contract for someone in free agency. Not sure if the Vikings tender him now. 

[swede700]

9 hours ago, wcblack34 said:

That’s terrible news for Brandel. He was playing his way into a ERFA tender or a decent contract for someone in free agency. Not sure if the Vikings tender him now. 

I don't see why they wouldn't.  It's a common injury and doesn't necessarily indicate anything long-term.  Andrew Whitworth suffered a MCL tear at age 39 and won the Super Bowl the next year.

[vike daddy]

Vikings with Christian Darrisaw ON the field:

• 4.67 yards per rush
• 1.35 yards per rush before contact
• 21.3% of runs for 0 or negative yards

 

Vikings with Christian Darrisaw OFF the field:

• 2.88 yards per rush
• 0.71 yards per rush before contact
• 37.5% of runs for 0 or negative yards

vikings.com

 

[SteelKing728]

Not bad.

[Cearbhall]

If Darrisaw keeps up what he has been doing he is going to be a very rich man in a few years.  Overall, I have been very happy with the progress the offensive line this year.  There is still work to do, but bookends of O'Neill and Darrisaw give us the first pair of tackles on the line worth building around since maybe Steussie and Stringer (may he rest in peace). 

We can talk about the WR group and how it compares to groups from previous years, as we do in the that thread, but I see the offensive line as being far more consequential to the consistency of a strong offensive attack. The WRs look much better because of the line's play. 

This coming offseason will be the first in years that I won't feel like the O-line needs to be handled with hair on fire urgency.

[vikingsrule]

1 minute ago, Cearbhall said:

If Darrisaw keeps up what he has been doing he is going to be a very rich man in a few years.  Overall, I have been very happy with the progress the offensive line this year.  There is still work to do, but bookends of O'Neill and Darrisaw give us the first pair of tackles on the line worth building around since maybe Steussie and Stringer (may he rest in peace). 

We can talk about the WR group and how it compares to groups from previous years, as we do in the that thread, but I see the offensive line as being far more consequential to the consistency of a strong offensive attack. The WRs look much better because of the line's play. 

This coming offseason will be the first in years that I won't feel like the O-line needs to be handled with hair on fire urgency.

Only spot that may be a question mark is at Center. Paying Bradbury may not be easy and you can certainly argue that he may not be worth it finally playing well in a contract year. Letting him walk may help financially but how is that void filled? 
 

Think you have to keep rolling with Ingram at RG. 

[Cearbhall]

4 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

Only spot that may be a question mark is at Center. Paying Bradbury may not be easy and you can certainly argue that he may not be worth it finally playing well in a contract year. Letting him walk may help financially but how is that void filled? 
 

Think you have to keep rolling with Ingram at RG. 

While I am not at all sold on Ingram and still see him as a question mark, the team absolutely should keep rolling with him IMO. Spielman continually put his hope into guys with less rational reason for hope, which was maddening.  Ingram, while making several big mistakes, has also flashed quite a few good things too.  I wouldn't consider replacing him next year, but if he isn't showing decent improvement by the end of next year the team absolutely ought to be considering looking for an upgrade at that point.

You are right about center.  That is the biggest question mark.  Bradbury has looked decent this year, but given the rest of his career it would be hard to pay him anything near the top of the market.  It is very possible he can find more money with another team that I think the Vikings should be willing to pay.  The team does need someone to play the position though so hopefully they can work out something reasonable with Bradbury.

[wcblack34]

3 hours ago, vikingsrule said:

Only spot that may be a question mark is at Center. Paying Bradbury may not be easy and you can certainly argue that he may not be worth it finally playing well in a contract year. Letting him walk may help financially but how is that void filled? 
 

Think you have to keep rolling with Ingram at RG. 

Ingram has flashed enough for me to be happy with leaving RG alone. He'll have a whole off-season to get coached up. Hopefully he has the work ethic to make those improvements. 

I don't want to lose Bradbury, but I don't want to overpay for him either. The front office has to gamble on whether he's turned the corner or if this year has been a fluke. Since we don't have a lot of draft capital, I'd like to see him resigned. Just depends on the dollar amount. I think our draft picks need to be spent retooling the defense. 

[SemperFeist]

Bradbury needs to be resigned. I think you can see a major difference in the last two games with him not out there. And it’s definitely having and effect on Cleveland and Ingram. 

[swede700]

Agreed.  As long as he doesn't want an absurd amount of money, re-sign Bradbury.  While he's not elite, he is good enough to continue...he's not getting blown back nearly as frequently as he used to, especially now that he has both Cleveland and Ingram on either side of him to help against the big DTs.  

[JDBrocks]

I think the moral of the OL personnel story is that Speilman wasn't actually bad at evaluating talent. 4/5 of the OL were drafted by Speilman, and when the scheme and philosophy changed all of the sudden these guys are graded in the top 10 at their respective positions. Brandel as the backup LT looked really good too.

Keeping as many of these guys as possible should be a priority going forward. 

[swede700]

4 minutes ago, JDBrocks said:

I think the moral of the OL personnel story is that Speilman wasn't actually bad at evaluating talent. 4/5 of the OL were drafted by Speilman, and when the scheme and philosophy changed all of the sudden these guys are graded in the top 10 at their respective positions. Brandel as the backup LT looked really good too.

Keeping as many of these guys as possible should be a priority going forward. 

It changed for Spielman when he started investing higher picks in the OL.  He was trying to get cute by doing what the Packers did successfully in drafting lower round OL and developing them.  Well, that didn't work at all, because it's hard to duplicate.