2021 Offensive Line Discussion

Having already made one successful upgrade on the offensive line this season, it’s worth wondering if the Minnesota Vikings are due for another.

With more than one weak link on the line, there are a couple possibilities on the table.

Thrust into action the last two weeks for Garrett Bradbury (COVID-19 list), Mason Cole filled in nicely enough to merit consideration from the coaching staff to remain part of the unit’s starting five.

Asked if there would still be a place for Cole on the offensive line, head coach Mike Zimmer replied, “We’ve had that conversation, we’ll just have to see this week in practice. Bradbury hasn’t been here in two weeks, or I think he’s missed two weeks now. We’re just going to have to sort it out this week. But Mason’s done a really nice job. He’s done a terrific job. We’ll just try to figure this out. It’s better than having no options.”

A case could be made for Cole to remain in Bradbury’s spot. For one, Bradbury may have to regain a certain level of fitness following his illness, but regardless of Bradbury’s conditioning, his struggles for the first seven games may be enough to necessitate a move. For a third straight season, Bradbury finds himself with the lowest pass-blocking grade of any starting NFL center, per Pro Football Focus.

At the same time, Oli Udoh’s grip on the right guard spot may also be loosening after another penalty-laden performance at Los Angeles. Udoh ranks 48th of 59 in pass-blocking and 27th in run-blocking. Also damaging are Udoh’s 11 penalties, which tie for second amongst all NFL players.

The trade for Cole back in March was widely panned due to his lackluster pass-blocking numbers in Arizona, but he’s thus far performed well in the Vikings’ outside zone. Cole graded as the No. 4 center in the NFL through 112 preseason snaps (albeit against second-teamers), was used successfully as an extra lineman in Week 6 at Carolina and grades as the NFL’s No. 8 center during his two-week stint as starter.

Asked in training camp the difference between Minnesota’s scheme and Arizona’s, Cole said it was “very different.”

“Kind of the exact opposite,” he told Purple Insider at the time. “Kind of good to have a run-heavy offense. … I think I just feel like a lot of the outside zone stuff we do in this pro style offense is really good for me.”

Cole allowed four pressures in the previous two games with zero penalties committed. His overall pass-blocking grade of 54.4 is not out of this world, but it’s still better than five out of seven Bradbury outings this season.

“He was really the same guy he’s been since the day he got here, and I’m sure since before I met him when he was with Arizona,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said Wednesday. “Mentally, it’s not too much for him. He understands the run game, protection game. He can handle it. He’s played a lot of football in this league, and it showed in the last two weeks with how he’s played and the way he’s prepared and handled what’s been thrown at him.”

Replacing Bradbury makes sense because of Cole’s comfort at center, but it also comes with the stigma of benching a former first-round pick who, at the very least, is decent as a run-blocker and is helpful before the snap. Meanwhile at right guard, Udoh is less entrenched as a first-year starter and carries fewer expectations as a former sixth-round pick, and his sharp tail-off following a nice three-game start has correlated with a decline in the unit’s overall pass protection. Since Week 4, Udoh has allowed the fourth-most pressures in the NFL.

The main question is whether Cole would be as effective switching to guard. The Vikings ostensibly liked Cole as a guard when they traded for him but wound up keeping him at center throughout the offseason. The fourth-year pro has only 149 career snaps at left guard and 47 at right guard compared to two full years as a starting center.

“I’ve started two games at guard in my career, the rest at center, but I feel pretty confident at any of those three interior spots,” Cole said Monday. “So whenever there’s an opportunity, if they want to put me in, I feel like I can be successful. And I feel like that’s why I was brought here, to just help this team in whatever way possible -- whatever situation that is and whenever they need me.”

The bigger-picture concern for the Vikings has to be: How is this happening again?

Minnesota found itself in a similar pickle a season ago with poor center and guard play. They rode things out with Bradbury and then-left guard Dakota Dozier, while they fiddled with the right guard spot until second-round pick Ezra Cleveland was deemed ready.

There’s plenty to pick apart with Cleveland’s performance this season, along with Bradbury’s lack of improvement, but the Vikings also counted on third-round rookie Wyatt Davis being this year’s trump card if they needed to make a mid-season move. Indications are that Davis isn’t prepared yet for a starting role, which leaves the Vikings somewhat high and somewhat dry.seems weak. 

Cole’s surprise emergence to help salvage things in the final half of the season.