2020 OL

JOSH KLINE
Josh Kline was a free agent signing for the Vikings in 2019 and immediately started at right guard. He played extremely well and was able to open up holes for Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison in the run game and did well anchoring against the pass rush. Despite his solid play, the Vikings cut him this offseason to save a paltry $1 million dollars. Despite his solid season in purple, Kline has yet to sign on with another team.

Why is Kline still available? The answer to this is probably for two reasons: He suffered multiple concussions a season ago, which cost him a few games, and he’s 30. While he’s still got a few years left in him, the combination of his age and concussion history is enough for teams to look at other options.

Will Kline play in 2020? Probably. Josh Kline was too good a season ago to not play this year. He was the Vikings’ second-best offensive lineman and should get a chance with some team. There’s even the possibility that Kline returns to the Vikings this season if their youth movement at guard doesn’t work out. Kline could also choose not to play this year and turn down an offer from a team. Players have been more mindful of their long-term health, and the fact he suffered numerous concussions a season ago could be enough for him to decide to be done playing in the league.

23. MINNESOTA VIKINGS

A new offensive system and play-action-heavy approach helped the Vikings move up to 19th in our final rankings last season, and they return fourth-fifths of last year’s unit.

Left tackle Riley Reiff has been a mid-tier option since coming over from the Detroit Lions; he’s had many solid games in his three years with the Vikings, but he has also had some duds, including a poor 31.6 pass-blocking grade against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round last year. On the plus side, Reiff is a solid zone blocker, and he had the 20th highest percentage of positively graded run blocks among 82 qualifying tackles last year.

Right tackle Brian O’Neill was right there behind Reiff and ranked 22nd in positively graded blocks — he’s another athletic zone blocker who fits well in Minnesota’s system. O’Neill has also been solid in pass protection in his two years in the league, with his 68.6 pass-blocking grade ranking in the top half of the league.

This offseason, the Vikings also used a second-round pick on tackle Ezra Cleveland out of Boise State. Cleveland profiles similarly to Reiff and O’Neill as a good zone blocker with mid-level expectations as a pass-blocker.

On the interior, left guard Pat Elflein has struggled no matter where he’s played on the line, and his 57.4 overall grade ranks just 105th out of 130 qualifying interior offensive linemen over the last three years. At right guard, Dakota Dozier is slated for the first extended starting action after his career — he’s failed to play more than 361 snaps in any of his five seasons — and he graded at just 51.5 across both guard positions and a little bit of center last season for the Vikings. Center Garrett Bradbury has the perfect skill set for Minnesota’s outside zone scheme, and he flashed it last season, though he struggled mightily in pass protection on his way to a 38.7 pass-blocking grade that ranked last among centers.

The Vikings have a good zone-blocking line that gave their running backs the third-highest percentage of positively graded blocks per rush last season, but there are holes in pass protection that can be exploited, especially in must-pass situations against good defensive lines.

WHY DON’T VIKINGS FANS LIKE PAT ELFLEIN?

As the Vikings’ offensive line has clawed its way to up mediocrity over the past three seasons, Elflein has fallen from third-round savior of a line ravaged by injury to the unfortunate target of most fingers pointed at the offensive line’s shortcomings. Heck, we’ve already made him the poster boy for disappointment in a season that hasn’t even started yet.

Is it fair? The old adage about linemen going unnoticed unless they do something wrong is largely true, and perhaps the reason Elflein draws so much ire is that one of his greatest flaws is his struggle to anchor against larger defensive tackles — a flaw on stark display for even the most casual of fan as Elflein gets pushed back into Kirk Cousins’ lap.

Using Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades, the Vikings’ line made significant improvements in pass blocking during Elflein’s rookie season but has backslid in that area over the past two years. The team’s run-blocking grade has yet to match its 66.5 grade in 2016, though that mark ranked 30th in the league; last year Minnesota ranked 12th in the NFL despite a 63.3 team grade.

Elflein wasn’t even the lowest-graded Vikings starting lineman last season; that dubious honor falls on the rookie center Bradbury. And yet most Vikings fans are giddy with the prospect of Bradbury taking a big step forward in his sophomore NFL season, while they can’t wait to plug anyone with a pulse into Elflein’s left guard slot.

It must be noted that while PFF’s grades are a useful way to quantify performance that’s otherwise extremely difficult to measure on an objective scale, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

For example, Elflein received a brutal 9.5 pass-blocking grade in Minnesota’s playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Over 37 pass-blocking snaps in that game Elflein surrendered two sacks and was pushed back noticeably towards the quarterback on five other plays. Meanwhile, Brian O’Neill was also beaten badly for a pair of sacks yet registered a 39.4 PFF grade — hardly a good mark, but also not four times better than Elflein. Rewatching the line’s performance in that game makes it tough to understand how any Viking received an above-average grade in pass protection — which both Josh Kline (87.5) and Bradbury (58.0) received.

So why is Elflein singled out? Process of elimination. Despite the bad game against San Francisco, O’Neill is a rising star at right tackle. Kline was quietly solid and now is gone. Bradbury still has potential and a first-round pedigree after suffering through typical rookie growing pains. And Riley Reiff takes his share of heat at left tackle, but he too has been solid — and could be granted a fresh start at left guard if rookie Ezra Cleveland (carrying high-pick potential and the blessing of never having whiffed a block as a Viking… yet) takes over sooner rather than later at left tackle.

That leaves Elflein, three years removed from his rookie promise and prone to getting pushed back into the middle of Minnesota passing plays. Scapegoat found.

That’s the TL:DR version. For a deeper dive into what Elflein brings to the table, check out this Zone Coverage article from last month.

ELFLEIN’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE FANS’ GOOD GRACES

Despite the constantly moving target that is the penal code, possession remains nine-tenths of the law.

In any other training camp we might have front-row seats to an old school knock-down, drag-out battle royale at the position, lacking only Mean Gene Okerlund interviewing the combatants between sessions. But right now NFL teams will have at most two preseason games to evaluate how players fare in the crucible of competition — and that’s being optimistic.

So it will be that much more difficult for an unproven player like seventh-round pick Kyle Hinton to unseat Elflein. It will be that much more difficult for Cleveland to prove he can hold up as a Day 1 starter at left tackle, allowing the Vikings to kick Reiff inside. And it will be that much more difficult for inexperienced players to pick up the scheme and develop a level of comfort with their teammates.

So this year possession might be even more than nine-tenths of the law, though it was my understanding that there would be no math. And that means until someone takes it from him, left guard belongs to Elflein.

What could possibly go wrong?

In a worst-case scenario Elflein regresses even further than last season. The pocket continues to be blown up from the inside out, Cousins has no time to throw, and the Vikings are forced to go to the bullpen — or maybe even outside the current roster — to find a viable replacement.

Despite the general perception of Elflein’s performance, this is actually the least likely scenario in 2020. Even in a down year, Elflein ranked in the middle of the pack, 42nd out of 83 qualifying guards in overall PFF grade, and an impressive 18th in run blocking where his mobility is a natural fit for Gary Kubiak‘s beloved zone blocking system. Elflein’s pass-blocking grade, higher than just 10 other qualifying guards, was the anchor to his overall score.

But consider that 2019 was Elflein’s first as an NFL guard after two seasons at center. As the season progressed, improvement was apparent in his PFF grades, as four of his top five pass-protecting grades came in the Vikings’ final eight games (including playoffs). It wouldn’t be out of line to expect a continued uptick in his performance — not unlike that anticipated from Bradbury this season.

There’s also the continuity factor. Even without Kline, if Elflein keeps his gig the Vikings will return four of five offensive line starters for the first time in six years

Below are three of Bradbury’s best run blocks of the day against the Saints. Notice all three are moving laterally. On a Cook touchdown he dives to stop star linebacker Demario Davis from getting a hand on the running back. The following clip is Bradbury bursting to the second level to reach the linebacker and Clip 3 shows him bursting to reach a defensive tackle’s outside shoulder and turning him to give Cook space.



This is the part of Bradbury’s game that was most attractive to the Vikings in the draft. Since they run an outside zone scheme, the Vikings need to have a center who can execute those reach blocks and angle off the DT in order for the running back to hit the gap.

Bradbury graded by PFF as the 19th (of 30) best run blocker. He has an opportunity to be above average if he can shore up one particular area: Power run blocking.

We did not see him get dominated in the run game against the Saints but two weeks prior versus Green Bay, Kenny Clark blasted the Vikings’ rookie when they attempted to run up the middle. Using his raw strength and long arms, Clark got lower than Bradbury and walked him right back into the running back.



With an offense that will still rely on a robust running attack, Bradbury’s progress in run blocking could have a significant implications — that’s if they can get better guard play.

The interior offensive linemen work together in both drop-back passing and running, meaning that each player’s individual performance is somewhat dependent on the others. Whether it’s Dru Samia, Riley Reiff, Ezra Cleveland, Pat Elflein, Dakota Dozier or O-Lineman X at guard, they will need to be better than in 2019. Of course that comes under difficult circumstances with COVID-19 taking a large portion of the offseason and preseason games.

“Chemistry is everything with offensive line,” he said. “There's a lot of communication involved and when there's chemistry you can have that non-verbal communication where you guys know what's happening, you know the system.”

Bradbury has the talent to become a solid center and the opportunity to learn from the ways in which experience defensive tackles beat him in Year 1. His improvement will have a direct affect on whether the Vikings improve on their mediocre overall offensive play from 2019.