No, the Vikings need to keep Cleveland away from becoming the LT of future
Recently, the Pioneer Press’ Dane Mizutani, opined that the Minnesota Vikings need to decide sooner-than-later whether rookie right guard Ezra Cleveland is their left tackle of the future. While I agree. I believe that the Vikings need to decide that their left tackle of the future is a player not currently on their roster.
Why?
How much time do you have?
First, as I covered yesterday, the Vikings need to stop shuffling their players around and start investing in building the rest of their otherwise promising roster to overcome the short-comings that have plagued the Zimmer-lead Vikings since at least 2016.
Actually, I covered it twice yesterday.
Brian O’Neill says he’ll play LT if needed… – Vikings Territory
Yes, Ezra Cleveland actually played left tackle in college, but he also didn’t go against the best competition while playing at Boise State and there’s no guarantee his promising play at the least important/easiest position on the line will automatically transfer to the most important/difficult one(s).
The only drawback is the fact that NOT moving Cleveland means the Vikings may have to use a first-round pick on said left guard of the future, but there’s no reason to expect that to be this off-season.
Current left guard Riley Reiff is in the midst of his best season at the position and is still under contract through next season.
Riley Reiff Contract Breakdowns, Salary Cap Figures, Salaries, Bonuses | Spotrac
If the Vikings were to spend a higher pick on a left guard to replace the biggest liability on the line, Dakota Dozier, with someone like Ohio State’s Wyatt Davis they will have a much better plug-and-play probability much sooner.
Beyond that, the difference in terms of net improvement for the line would be MUCH higher going from someone like Dozier to someone like Davis than whomever you drafted over Reiff.
This Vikings offense and team is primed to win sooner than later and to do so they need to invest heavily in the line to finally take advantage of the rest of the talent therein. Moving Cleveland could actually down-grade two positions and at this point the one-step forward five steps back philosophy of line building clearly isn’t working.
Let’s hope that the team agrees, finally, as the core of this Vikings team/defense isn’t getting any younger.