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The Often Overbearing, But Otherwise Ordinary Offensive Line


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On June 2, 2018 at 2:27 AM, SteelKing728 said:

I hope we get this figured out soon. Offensive Line cohesion is maybe one of the most important things for any football unit for any team. 

 

Might be one of those things that doesn't get sorted out until the end of the preseason. My guess is they are just waiting on either Hill, Isidora or O'Neil to really emerge early on and Remmers just slides into a spot.

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Nick Easton is still hoping to sign a long-term extension with the Vikings: https://www.twincities.com/2018/05/31/vikings-de-danielle-hunter-stronger-quicker-and-a-year-away-from-payday/

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EASTON SEEKS EXTENSION

Guard Nick Easton was given a one-year tender of $2.9 million in March when he was a restricted free agent. The Pioneer Press reported then that Easton wanted a long-term extension before the start of the season, and he said that remains the case.

“I would love to be here long term,” Easton said.

I like the idea of signing Easton to a ~4 year deal without a lot of guaranteed money — something like the extension Sendejo got. Probably that would be worth $3-4M AAV

He isn’t great right now but he does a few things well (run block on the move, screens) that fit in with the scheme, and I think there’s potential for future improvement that would eventually make the deal look like a bargain. Easton seemed to work well with Elflein — maintaining that continuity in the IOL would be nice, and I can imagine them both developing into better players within a year or two.

Easton’s turning 26 soon, just reaching the age that Sendejo and Thielen were when they became starters (Sendejo in 2013, Thielen in 2016). John Sullivan at Easton’s stage was a low rated PFF player too (28th highest graded C at age 24 in 2009, 26th at age 25 in 2010), but got considerably better in his 3rd year as a starter at age 26 (3rd highest graded C in 2011).

If the Vikings were looking to build the best possible OL for this year, I think they should’ve tried to upgrade Easton this year (to say nothing of RG). But if they’re aiming to develop a few players into strong starters over the next couple of years (Elflein, O’Neill, hopefully Gossett or Isidora), Easton could fit that timeline very well. 

I can imagine a very solid Vikings OL in 2019 or 2020 that looks like this:

Reiff / Easton / Elflein / Gossett / O’Neill

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12 hours ago, vikingsrule said:

Might be one of those things that doesn't get sorted out until the end of the preseason. My guess is they are just waiting on either Hill, Isidora or O'Neil to really emerge early on and Remmers just slides into a spot.

While it may not get finalized until Week 3, I still believe that the only position that is really in flux is the RT spot.  I still believe, unless proven otherwise in preseason games, that it'll be Reiff-Easton-Elflein-Remmers-Hill (just as it was towards the end of last season).  The only reasonable difference would be if O'Neill beats Hill at RT.  It seems that people are constantly down on Easton, but what I saw last season is that the offensive line is a mess without him...so that must mean something.  

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I age

14 hours ago, disaacs said:

While it may not get finalized until Week 3, I still believe that the only position that is really in flux is the RT spot.  I still believe, unless proven otherwise in preseason games, that it'll be Reiff-Easton-Elflein-Remmers-Hill (just as it was towards the end of last season).  The only reasonable difference would be if O'Neill beats Hill at RT.  It seems that people are constantly down on Easton, but what I saw last season is that the offensive line is a mess without him...so that must mean something.  

I agree with that, and I expect Hill to win that competition.

Maybe our line won't be outstanding this year but it should be solid. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/11/2018 at 12:38 PM, VikeManDan said:

Any interest? I believe some were fans of his last year.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/05/11/report-patriots-cutting-antonio-garcia/

*Assuming he is cleared by Vikes doctors.

I always will have interest on him, I had a slight crush, but with his health issues and can’t get on the field I doubt he will end up playing much of anything anymore.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Quote

 

At PFF, we’ve put out our NFL preseason offensive line rankings for a handful of years now and they are never controversial and everyone always nods in agreement while reading. That won’t change this year as I’ve once again been put in charge of assembling the indisputable order of all 32 offensive lines in the NFL for the upcoming season. 

28. MINNESOTA VIKINGS

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP:

Left Tackle: Riley Reiff, 48.6 overall grade
Left Guard: Nick Easton, 41.5
Center: Pat Elflein, 43.2
Right Guard: Mike Remmers, 69.6
Right Tackle: Rashod Hill, 43.6

2017 season-end rank: 22nd (-6)

 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-nfl-offensive-line-rankings-all-32-teams-units-entering-2018

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8 minutes ago, Cearbhall said:

I hope they do better than that but the ranking looks fair. If I was running the team a lot more resources would have been put into improving this situation.

I can understand, but one of the things I don't like is that the offensive line is one of those positions where the whole is often greater than the sum of its' parts, so grades of individual players don't necessarily tell you the whole story.  

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2 hours ago, disaacs said:

I can understand, but one of the things I don't like is that the offensive line is one of those positions where the whole is often greater than the sum of its' parts, so grades of individual players don't necessarily tell you the whole story.  

That is true but any way you slice it the Vikings have a pretty bad offensive line.

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22 minutes ago, marshpit23 said:

Definitely the weakest group on the team, but are they ‘bad’ or just ‘average’? 

I might ask your question a different way.  What playoff teams from last season had worse offensive line play than the Vikings?  They might be average in the sense of the whole league, but they are the weakest link, by a good margin, on an otherwise talented team.  My opinion is that the 2018 Vikings will go as far as the offensive line will take them.

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10 minutes ago, Virginia Viking said:

I might ask your question a different way.  What playoff teams from last season had worse offensive line play than the Vikings?  They might be average in the sense of the whole league, but they are the weakest link, by a good margin, on an otherwise talented team.  My opinion is that the 2018 Vikings will go as far as the offensive line will take them.

Agreed. They are he weakest link; therefore, will have the greatest impact on our success as a team.

I’m not sure if there was a team with a worse offensive line. It’s really hard for me to compare stats with other teams, players, and/or units. There are so many variables. Some could say our OL was bailed out by Keenum; others could say having Dalvin for a full year could’ve improved our OL stats. Additionally, we have a new QB this year (another variable). Will Kirk’s pre-snap reads and timing improve the overall success of the OL, or was Keenum’s scrammbling ability more ‘OL friendly’? 

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