Bleacher Report’s Recommendation for the 2021 Vikings
Bleacher Report detailed “the best move every NFL team can make” in a leaguewide analysis on Sunday.
For the Vikings, their instruction is to upgrade the trenches. To non-Minnesotans, this directive might be newsworthy. For natives to the team, this is elementary. The only reasons that the 2020 Vikings finished the season with a depressing 7-9 record (and it’s a big only) are the offensive and defensive lines. The offensive line notwithstanding, Minnesota scored the fifth-most points in the NFL during the pandemic season. Imagine the offense’s potential with average or normal offensive line output.
In the Bleacher Report examination, writer Chris Roling notes on the Vikings trenches:
“Sounds vague, sure. But like plenty of other teams, the offensive line is a major problem for the Minnesota Vikings. Guard Dru Samia put up a 33.1 PFF grade last year, and Dakota Dozier finished with a 44.6, with those guys flanking 2019 first-round pick Garrett Bradbury. As a result, the Vikings stumbled to 7-9, and the Kirk Cousins-led offense couldn’t carry games. The front office only has $10 million to work with for now, but the biggest interior linemen, including Joe Thuney, should be at the top of the wishlist. Anything less makes the two-year, $66 million investment in Cousins seem like a waste of time, especially while NFC North teams like Green Bay surge.”
Pass Protection
In a normative turn of the events for a Mike Zimmer edition of the Minnesota Vikings, the pass-protecting aspect of the offensive line was awful. It’s the same movie every year. The run-blocking gets overshadowed by the dirty deeds of the pass-blocking performance. Before, during, and after a Vikings season, onlookers of the team usually state something to the effect of “the offensive line sucks.”
That’s true on the pass protection. But a combination of Dalvin Cook’s agility and an average-to-good rush-blocking output gets overlooked. Most of the players that the Vikings employ on the offensive line are better run-blockers than pass-protectors. At some point, the emphasis on drafting rookies or acquiring free-agent personnel choices should moderate to pass protection instead of run-blocking. Or, at the very least, find men that do both aptly.
The Vikings pass protection ranked fourth-worst in the NFL per Pro Football Focus in 2020. So, Bleacher Report is correct.
Pass Rush
This one is an “easier” task. Per PFF in 2020, Minnesota was the worst pass-rushing squad in the NFL. It doesn’t get any more nauseating than that. A team that prided itself on the pass rush as recently as 2019, took a voyage to the sewer, if only for one season.
Danielle Hunter missed the entire season. So did nose tackle, Michael Pierce. Upstart defensive end from 2019, Ifeadi Odenigbo, saw double-teams from opponents – something no Vikings loyalists foresaw in the summer of 2020.
The “fix” for the pass rush should be halfway there by doing absolutely nothing during free agency. A healthy Hunter and Pierce will orchestrate a return to harmony for the defensive line. Hell, general manager even called Hunter and Pierce his “big free-agent signings” of 2021, and the free-agent signing period has not yet started. He is operating under the pretense that Hunter and Pierce will feel like free agents because they were missing-in-action during 2020.
Then, sights are set on the rest of free agency and the draft. If the Vikings invest in a more terroristic pass rusher than Stephen Weatherly, D.J. Wonnum, or Ifeadi Odenigbo, well, the defensive line is instantly transformed.
Oh, and Spielman needs a pass-rushing 3-technique defensive tackle, too.
Reliance on a Return to Health
The situation to monitor is how comfortable Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer consider the current state of defensive-line affairs. Do they want to sit back and wait for Hunter to heal and Pierce to fully commit to 2021? Is that the solution? If so, it is probably “enough” to drag the defense out of the basement. But drafting a sexy DE or DT prospect in the 1st Round of the draft changes the prognosis. The Vikings can go from lousy to lucrative if they allot attention to RDE and 3DT.
For the offensive line, the Vikings need two guards that are not sinfully bad. With Riley Reiff’s release, 2020 rookie Ezra Cleveland will probably slide to the left tackle spot. That makes the shopping list simple. Sign two guards – or sign one and draft the other in the 2021 NFL Draft.
In any event, yes – build the damn trenches.