2023 Offensive Line Discussion

20. GARRETT BRADBURY, MINNESOTA VIKINGS
He hasn’t lived up to his billing as a first-round pick back in 2019, but Bradbury is coming off a career year that saw him earn a 67.5 PFF grade. His 63.8 PFF pass-blocking grade was the first season where it wasn’t lower than 45.0, improving by far the biggest flaw in his game.

While Ingram served as the Skoldiers’ punching bag for their frustrations with Minnesota’s sieve of an interior offensive line, Cleveland’s struggles were arguably more infuriating due to his multi-year tenure as a starter up front for the Vikings. But dissecting Cleveland’s weaknesses is a topic for another day, as there’s still some semblance of hope for Ingram to make a Year 2 jump. (Yes, I saw you violently spit out your gulp of water out after reading that.)

As a true freshman in 2017, Ingram was LSU’s starting right guard from Week 2 on. He held up quite admirably against college football’s best, allowing just 14 pressures on 297 pass-blocking snaps. That included a perfect zero pressures allowed on 37 pass blocking opportunities against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. After being suspended for the entire 2018 season, Ingram was reinstated in 2019 and served as LSU’s backup left guard. Despite only starting two games for one of the best offenses in college football history, Ingram played meaningful snaps throughout the year, including a combined 57 pass-blocking opportunities in LSU’s college football playoff games against Oklahoma and Clemson. He allowed just one pressure in those 57 snaps. And he allowed just one pressure in the 18 pass-blocking snaps during the instant-classic 46-41 shootout against the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.

Point being, Ingram has demonstrated that he’s more than capable when going up against the best of the best in the SEC on Saturdays. And Ingram is no stranger to playing well for an offense that throws the ball at an extremely high rate, like the Vikings did last season with the third-most pass attempts in the league. LSU’s historic 2019 offense ranked eighth out of all 65 Power Five schools with 37.8 pass attempts per game. However, despite the philosophical similarities between the 2019 LSU Tigers and 2022 Minnesota Vikings offenses, Ingram fell flat on his face as a rookie in the NFL.

This might be terrifying to hear, but if Kevin O’Connell‘s offense is going to make a jump in Year 2, there has to be a direct correlation with Ingram’s play. This is especially true if Cleveland’s struggles continue in his fourth (and final?) season as a Viking.

Aside from Ingram, Denver’s Dalton Risner was the last guard selected in the second round of the draft who proceeded to start every regular-season game as a rookie in 2019. Unlike Ingram, Risner was immediately a true impact player. Risner allowed just 22 pressures on 548 pass-blocking snaps, which ranked 12th-best out of 42 guards who played 500-plus pass-blocking snaps.

The expectation shouldn’t be for Ingram to become the second coming of Risner. But the fact that Ingram was just the second Day 2 rookie over the past four years to start every single game at guard should demonstrate how rare the ask was for Ingram last season.

So what does success look like for Ingram in 2023? Does he have to make a Christian Darrisaw-esque leap and turn into a Pro Bowler in Year 2? It certainly wouldn’t hurt. However, that’s just not realistic. Considering how low the bar is for Minnesota’s interior offensive line, it’s more than fair to expect Ingram to surpass both Cleveland and center Garrett Bradbury as the strongest pass blocker on the interior. Despite missing the final five regular-season games, Bradbury allowed the sixth-most pressures (24) out of 24 centers that played 495-plus pass-blocking snaps last year. The five centers who allowed more pressures than Bradbury last year missed a combined one game. Bradbury’s 4.8% pressure rate allowed was fourth-worst out of these 24 qualifying centers.

Considering that centers aren’t necessarily tasked with the same pass-blocking responsibilities as their guard counterparts, it’s worth noting that guards have much more on their plate when it comes to pass protection. I’m not saying that Ingram has to allow fewer pressures than Bradbury next season in order to meet expectations. However, as long as Ingram ranks better than Bradbury and Cleveland in pressures and pressure rate allowed in comparison to the other qualifying players throughout the league at their respective positions, he can wear the crown as the best interior O-lineman in Minnesota. (Which just so happens to be called The 2023 Common Man Dan Cole Award for the best of the lousiest.)

All kidding aside, there’s still hope for Ingram. Over a two-week stretch last season — and against some of the best defensive lines in the NFL — he allowed just two pressures on 82 combined pass-blocking snaps versus the New England Patriots and New York Jets. Admittedly, at the time I might’ve jumped the gun when I asked if Ingram was turning a corner. But after being baptized by fire as a rookie last year, he can only go up from here. And his pedigree as a reliable pass blocker in the SEC gives reason to believe that he’s capable of making a noticeable jump in Year 2.