Could The Vikings Manage With Cornelius Edison? [PFF]

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Aug 25, 2018
Minnesota Vikings center Cornelius Edison (67) walks to the the field during the teams training camp at TCO Performance Center in Eagan on Tuesday, Aug 7, 2018. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

When circumstances shake out that a practice squad player from the previous year is looking at starting the next year, it’s either really good or really bad. In the Vikings’ case, it’s far less than ideal if they had to start Portland State’s Cornelius Edison in place of up-and-coming Pat Elflein.

Elflein remains on the PUP list for ankle and shoulder injuries. If he’s not activated by week 1, he’ll be forced to sit out the first six weeks of the season at least. In that time, Cornelius Edison would be the starting center.

Can the Vikings accept that? Should they be desperate to find someone on post-cut waivers or a trade, or is Edison good enough to manage?

Statistically, Edison’s story becomes pretty clear pretty fast. In the run game, his PFF grade is consistently unacceptable. Denver was his worst outing (35.9), followed by not-much-better 50.3 and 54.9 in the two home games. But in pass blocking, Edison’s a completely different lineman.

His grades are bordering on elite game after game, with an 84.0 overall and no single game dipping below a 75. This is roughly how the last two years of preseason play in Chicago and Atlanta went as well – rough run blocking, but extremely clean pass blocking.

That’s good enough for a 99.3 in pass blocking efficiency, which is the best non-perfect center in the preseason.

Over the last three games, Edison has only been credited with one pressure on Friday night against Seattle. It’s here.

While this rep isn’t the best, it’s far from egregious. Based on his entire body of work this month, the Vikings should have no trouble putting their faith in 67’s pass protection. If you’re worried about the health of Kirk Cousins, it doesn’t have to come from Edison.

His fundamentals here aren’t perfect, but they’re close. He’s been able to keep DL in front of him against a bevy of moves over the course of 3 preseason games.

So pressure stats, PFF grades and tape tell us that he’s a sound pass blocker. The grades tell us he’s a bad run blocker, does the tape agree?

Even a brief glance reveals a catastrophic problem that’s likely what has kept him off of active rosters since going undrafted in 2016.

Whether it’s a run or a screen pass, Cornelius Edison has a massive issue finding his blocks in the open field. Once he’s hit the right man, he can more or less get that guy sealed off. But you can frequently find him taking a bad angle, looking around to find his block, and realizing it’s too late.

Edison played left guard at Portland State in addition to center. If Elflein does come back, Edison could be a better option than Tom Compton, Aviante Collins or moving a right-side player like Remmers or Isidora. But the team will be hesitant to do that if Edison can’t figure out how to be a second-level blocker.

Take a play like this, a staple in a zone scheme like the one the Vikings use. Whether Edison is at center of left guard, he’ll be expected to release off his double team and hit either the middle or strong side linebacker. If he misses, the play gets ruined like in the tweet above. The Vikings would simply have to avoid calling plays with a releasing center or left guard, and that hamstrings the run game significantly.

It depends on if the Vikings would rather have a player who can’t execute the right assignment or a player that can do the right thing, but simply not that well. Personally, I’d take Edison simply because I find pass blocking more important, but NFL teams, Vikings included, value the run much higher.

Thanks for reading!

You can follow me @LukeBraunNFL on Twitter, or follow @PurplePTSD or @vikingterritory for more Vikings content!

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