A Closer Look at the Vikings Interior O-Line Competition

The Vikings have experienced some turnover from last year at the interior offensive line positions. Gone are Ezra Cleveland, who was traded in the middle of last season, Austin Schlottmann who opted to sign a minimal deal with the Giants, and Chris Reed who was not extended after his contract expired and remains a free agent.

New additions include veteran Dan Feeney and rookie 7th round pick Michael Jurgens. Both Feeney and Jurgens have experience at center and guard.

Additionally, the Vikings extended Blake Brandel and most recently Dalton Risner. They also signed Henry Byrd, who was on and off the practice squad last season, and Tyrese Robinson who was also on the practice squad last season. Both are guards. The Vikings also signed UDFAs Spencer Rolland, Doug Nester, and Jeremy Flax. They were tackles in college but could get a try-out inside. Similarly, 6th round pick Walter Rouse- who also played tackle- could get some experimental reps at guard, although I believe he’ll likely remain at tackle.

So how is all of this going to play out? Let’s take a deeper look at the competition and moving pieces.

Salary Cap Constraints

Before getting into the competitions, it’s important to keep in mind that as long as the Vikings have both Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw on the roster, they’ll likely be working with bargain contract players, whether rookie contracts or low-end veterans, on the interior line. The reason is O’Neill is already a big cap hit at $23 million this year, and Darrisaw will be a $16 million cap hit next year, and well north of $20 million thereafter. So, that doesn’t leave a lot of cap space for the rest of the group.

That means getting good performance from the Blake Brandels, Dalton Risners, and Garrett Bradburys of the NFL will be an on-going challenge for the Vikings coaching staff, and Chris Kuper in particular. Maintaining a healthy competition at these spots, to both challenge the starters and develop the backups, should be the goal of every off-season.

Center

All signs point to Garrett Bradbury returning as the starting center for the Vikings this season, and that appears to have been the Vikings plan from the outset this year.

Bradbury may not be dominant at center, but he’s been decent that last two seasons. He’s the best run blocker among the Vikings interior linemen and had his best season in terms of allowed pressures (22) and overall pass block efficiency at 97.7%. Those are average numbers among starting centers, but with just a few less pressures he’d be among the top ten starters.

Bradbury didn’t have his best season as a run blocker last year, but not a big decline either, so that is an area for improvement, particularly as the Vikings may want to lean into the run game a bit more given the quarterback situation. According to SIS, Bradbury had 9 blown blocks in pass protection last season, and 12 blown run blocks.

Bradbury is a contractual lock to make the roster, with a dead cap hit $2 million higher than his salary cap hit this year.

With the departure of Austin Schlottmann, the Vikings will look to Dan Feeney to be the primary backup at center. Feeney appears to be getting the second-team reps so far this off-season.

Feeney hasn’t played much the past three seasons, having been a backup center in Chicago last season and the two previous seasons with the Jets. Most of Feeney’s reps since 2020 have come at center, with a relative few at each guard spot. He started his career with the Chargers at left guard, where he played for three seasons before switching to center his last season there. He never graded well as a starter according to PFF, and after his rookie contract with the Chargers he was not extended and has been a backup ever since. Still, he could be serviceable as a backup center- as Austin Schlottmann was last season.

Feeney is pretty likely to make the roster contractually, given it’s only a $400k cap savings if he’s cut and he’s only a $1.8 million salary cap hit.

Beyond Feeney, the Vikings are probably looking to develop Michael Jurgens into at least a capable backup at center. Jurgens played three seasons at center at Wake Forest (he was there for six seasons total) before switching to left guard last season- and where he graded the best according to PFF allowing just seven pressures all season.

Jurgens could develop into a backup IOL, like Schlottmann and Feeney, unless he takes hold at a position is able to challenge for a starting job. That’s unlikely this season, but if he gets stronger he could contend for the primary backup job as early as next season if he makes the roster.

Jurgens is probably on the bubble in terms of making the roster, with only $100K deadcap if he’s cut.

Left Guard

Blake Brandel was extended earlier this off-season on a 3-year deal and given the first-team reps at left guard, despite having a total of 52 pre-season reps at the position since he was drafted by the Vikings in 2020, and the return of the starting left guard last season, Dalton Risner.

Brandel started two games at right guard last season, and played briefly in a third, but was mediocre overall. He gave up 13 pressures on 181 pass blocking snaps in 2022 at left tackle, which led to his move inside. Nevertheless, the Vikings must see improvement in Brandel, and a more promising future, to ink him to a 3-year deal and give him first-team reps over the incumbent starter last season.

But the Vikings were able to extend Dalton Risner just before minicamp, and Kevin O’Connell mentioned on the Rich Eisen show that he was brought in to challenge both Brandel and right guard Ed Ingram as starters.

This leads to a new wrinkle in the off-season competition, as it was previously assumed that Risner would compete only at left guard with Brandel.

Kevin O’Connell has repeated the annual coaching refrain that they will play their best five linemen this season. And his offering that Risner will compete at both spots suggests that Ed Ingram’s starting job as a second-round pick is no longer secure.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if Risner beat out Brandel at left guard- Risner has only played left guard since turning pro in 2019- that Brandel would move to right guard and challenge Ingram for that starting spot.

Still, Brandel could win that starting job and force Risner to switch side and compete with Ingram.

Brandel is a contractual lock to make the roster this year, with a $1.9 million salary cap hit and $4.8 million dead cap hit. Risner isn’t, however, with a $2.3 million salary cap hit and a $1.1 million dead cap hit.

Beyond Brandel and Risner, Henry Byrd will compete at guard. He has a 9.80 RAS score and PFF grades over 80 in both run and pass blocking at left guard in preseason action last year. He started for three seasons at left tackle at Princeton. He’s an intriguing depth player with upside. It will interesting to see if he can make a run at a roster spot this summer.

Right Guard

Ed Ingram returns for his third season. He is the starter so far this off-season at right guard, but he may no longer be assured of retaining that starting job as a second-round pick, given he’s been the worst performing guard over the past two seasons.

Ingram improved from giving up 58 pressures his rookie season to 42 last year, albeit on about 200 fewer pass blocking reps, and gave up six fewer sacks, leading to a slight uptick in his pass blocking efficiency. He had a total of 18 blown blocks in pass protection last season, according to SIS, and 9 as a run blocker. Still, his 42 pressures allowed was the third highest among starting guards.

Ingram was also no better than average as a run blocker last season among starting guards, although he was markedly better in gap scheme runs than zone runs, ranking 8th in that category according to PFF.

But overall, Ingram was the weak link among the interior line last season, so with Risner back and the Vikings making a significant investment in Brandel, Ingram will need to show improvement to keep his starting job.

Ingram is not a contractual roster lock at this point, given his $1.6 million salary cap hit and $800K dead cap hit.

Beyond Ingram, Tyrese Robinson should compete for a backup role at guard, along with UDFA Jeremy Flax, who played right tackle at Kentucky last season and is listed at 6’5” 343 pounds. Not very athletic, however, with a RAS of just 3.08 at guard.

Bottom Line

The Vikings signing the unproven Blake Brandel to a three-year extension was one of the biggest surprises among offensive linemen for the Vikings this offseason and would seem to indicate the Vikings see potential in him at guard.

The Vikings also may not have been confident in re-signing Dalton Risner, who was doubtlessly expecting to sign a better offer than the one he did with the Vikings. That may have led to the Vikings locking up Brandel in the event Risner signed elsewhere.

But the market for Risner’s services as a mid-tier guard was not a good one, for whatever reason, and the Vikings one-year offer for $2.3 million including incentives was not a strong commitment to him either. But that’s not to say he isn’t one of the best five offensive linemen on the roster.

Risner was the best pass blocker between himself, Ingram and Brandel last season, but the worst run blocker- but still only 8 blown run blocks last season according to SIS. But given the Vikings pass twice as often as they run, pass blocking is the more important category in any case.

That gets us to Ingram and Brandel.

Ingram will need to show improvement in order to keep his job from either Brandel or Risner. He may do so. But the Vikings have also shown a commitment to Brandel and with the return of last year’s starter at left guard in Risner, the competition could be more intense this season than in the previous two.

And when all is said and done, it may be Risner, Bradbury and Brandel that end up as the starters along the Vikings interior line. That may or may not happen by week one, but it makes sense to keep Risner at left guard rather than having him switch to right guard in training camp and having Brandel and Ingram battle it out at right guard.

Stay tuned.

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