Cole and/or Bradbury

There was much controversy throughout the week leading up to the Minnesota Vikings’ 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers. It centered (no pun intended) around Mason Cole and Garrett Bradbury. Cole filled in admirably with Bradbury on COVID reserve. It was only natural for the Vikings beat to ask about Cole possibly staying in the lineup, considering Bradbury’s unfavorable reputation.

After a week shrouded in secrecy, Cole trotted out against Green Bay with Bradbury active and on the bench. The coaches would have you believe that this was a temporary measure as Bradbury continues to recover from a respiratory illness. But what if it isn’t? If Cole truly is the Vikings’ center now, some things about the offense will change. Over the week, we’ll find out if Bradbury re-takes first-team practice reps or if Cole has conquered the starting job. But for now, let’s look at what the offense becomes with Cole in the lineup.

A power-based run game may not be worse; it’s just different. Against Green Bay, the Vikings started 15 of their series with runs. Fourteen of them converted into a first down or touchdown. They have been more consistent than explosive. If that consistency can continue — and if it’s worth a drop-off in other categories of offensive line play — remains to be seen. There’s just as good of a chance that the run game falls off as more teams have tape on the newfangled approach.

Cole probably isn’t the answer if the idea behind changing centers is to limit the amount of ground ceded in pass protection. For me, that’s not the goal anyway. Maybe swapping to a gap-based rushing system has some momentum. But is it worth a decline in the two most important jobs a center has (snapping and calling protections)? Perhaps you could draw up a statistical argument either way, but not without adding the context of Mike Zimmer’s simultaneous directive of aggression. In any case, we might get more of a sample if the Vikings choose to stick with Cole. Or, they were telling the truth all along, and Bradbury will return against San Francisco. Time will tell.

@griffrobmike Do you think the Vikings will give Mason Cole another start or give it back to Garrett Bradbury?

Let’s think this through together. Bradbury’s biggest strength is his athleticism, quickness and reach blocking, right? The one area where he struggles is anchoring against powerful defensive tackles. In the middle, the 49ers have DJ Jones, who is 320 points, and Arik Armstead. Would it make sense to use the quicker guy against Armstead? Possibly. Bradbury did play some guard in college, so you could see them galaxy braining their way into some logic that he might be a better fit at guard. After all, they tried to make TJ Clemmings and Willie Beavers guards. In reality, the answer is that they should have looked for a veteran free agent guard in free agency rather than hoping Wyatt Davis would start right away.

@dlbogosian who is likely to start at Center / play more at Center? do coaches feel like cole or bradbury is a long term solution?

For this week, your guess is as good as mine. Klint Kubiak indicated one of them might play guard. Could that be a last-ditch kind of thing to see if Bradbury is better at guard? Since the two players are similar in terms of strengths and weaknesses, the determining factor for who gets the nod at center might be how much Kirk Cousins trusts them to make the right calls at the line of scrimmage. We can’t really know that unless somebody says it out loud. In terms of long-term solutions, neither appears to be that. The fact that they went with Cole, a guy whose last team traded him away for nothing, tells you what you need to know.