Matthew's already stated he wants a DT in the first round which makes sense given a) this team doesn't pass rush well there (at all),b) other teams do and as we’ve seen first-hand that can be lethal, c) the value of the DT position, and d) they can produce as rookies. And e) Corners in the first round, as we all know, are way less predictable than linemen (on either side of the ball). So an alphabet of excellent reasons to go that route--and hell, it's my favorite position in football so I'm a fan of the idea, but let's play devil's advocate and look at IOL in the draft with a little more nuance.
One can cherry pick O-line draft options using PFF rankings, aka one guy, Trevor Sikkema (because if you want to base it all on one guy then you could also say that Mike Renner, Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson all think the Vikings should take Donovan Jackson at Guard in the first round [but that's cherry picking and clearly I'm on record as being against that]) and ignore that many good DTs are found after the first round (as Will Ragatz pointed out the other night Milton Williams, Osi Odighigisuwa, and Alim McNeil all were drafted in the 70s. Also Kobie Turner was 90th, and Nnambi Madubuike was 71st! Osi is one of the 3 players Coller would most like to see the Vikings sign, which would be fantastic). It would be great to see a Grant, Harmon, Nolen in Purple, but DT is considered one of the deepest positions in this draft class (Consensus Board has 12 in the top 100), if not the deepest so let's take another look at the IOL possibilities.
No one is more down on the IOL in this draft than the aforementioned Sikkema (why not use the Consensus Board?), and PFF puts guys who could be Guards or Centers strictly as OTs so when you expand it a bit the list does improve. Given most OL picks outside of the top 60 provide little in their rookie seasons so let's list those guys on the Consensus Board. They include not only Tyler Booker at 27, but Armand Membou 36, Jonah Savaiinaea 39, Donovan Jackson 40, Wyatt Milum 49, and Marcus Mdbow 50. Ratledge is 73 on the Consensus Board. Not awesome, but doing the math...carry the one... 6 is better than 2 guys mentioned. 7 if we include Ratledge. Hopefully the Vikings do solve the O-line problem in free agency and we can debate which DT we like best in the draft or gasp(!), Revel vs Morrison at CB, but the point of all this is that the O-line opportunity in the draft is more nuanced--IMO--than this article presented.
Replying to myself, a sure sign of dementia, but just adding OTs that likely "kick inside" to quote Sikkema who in podcast on the Senior Bowl yesterday said what I wrote last week. Yesterday he mentioned Zabel (who after watching at first day of Senior Bowl he now thinks is Top 50, and is likely Center number 1), Savaiinaea (who I had), Mbow (who I had), Will Campbell (Renner says this too, that Campbell could be Guard 1), and even Gophers' Aireotae Ersery, who he thinks will be better at Guard. So that's 3 more. BTW Renner (or Kyle Crabb?) thinks Banks may be better at Guard, too. So 4 more. So that comes to 11 IOL players in the top 60ish range.
If you ever run out of article ideas, I'd love to know the differences between run and pass blocking, so as a result why some guys are better at one type over the other. Also, explained like I'm a five year old.
1. There is no circumstance under which Brandel would be confused for THE 64, but it would have been nice to see him play an entire season beside Darrisaw, because there is a clear before/after.
2. The PFF grades tell us how well a player did what he was asked to do. They do that well. Given the high variance of rosters/offences/roles/responsibilities, they aren't a reliable tool for comparing players. Trey Smith seems to be objectively excellent, but no-one actually knows how he'd look without Mahomes, Humphrey, Thuney and Reid. $25MM+ is a lot to invest with that level of risk--and the risk only goes up with the other guys on the list.
3. O'Neill can have salary turned into bonus, but that would be more of what everyone justifiably hated about Spielman, and what KAM did with Cousins, Hunter, and Davenport. OTs can age beautifully, but good roster building would have O'Neill's cap hits gently decline as he enters his 30s, not spike and create dead cap liabilities.
4. The Eagles have a great OL, and the Rams DL outplayed it by a significant margin. The unheralded Rams OL held their own, on the road and with weather, against a strong Iggles front.
Improving the interior OL needs to happen, but beware of shiny objects in UFA, and this is the ultimate team game because everything is so connected.
Definitely going to need to do the bulk of the work in FA. I think the Chiefs resign Smith, unfortunately. They don’t have much cap space now but looks like they can create a quite a bit through restructuring Mahomes if they want to. At that point, you probably go Dalman and one of the guards Matthew mentioned. Think Will Fries is also available and played really well before getting injured. Might be a cheaper add. Maybe do an older guy for one year if you’re really serious about it. Otherwise, I’d let Risner and somebody else not named Ingram or Brandel fight it out for the last spot.
I'd be very happy with your idea of Dalman with a Jenkins or other good to very good Guard. Even Kelly at Center would be good, as in a significant upgrade over Bradbury. Risner, for his salary, was solid, and showed the flexibility to play RG or LG and gives you some flexibility in the Guard you sign and also in draft options. I look at last year when Kwesi signed Greenard and Van Ginkel for kinda/aroundish the same as Hunter got for going to Houston so almost a 2 for 1 deal. If they go that route again--and are anywhere near as fortunate as last year's results-- with a very good Center and a very good Guard rather than one blockbuster Guard in Smith...sweet.
Perhaps if KOC improves his screen and quick passing game the O line wouldn't need to hold their blocks so long for the routes to develop.
Matthew's already stated he wants a DT in the first round which makes sense given a) this team doesn't pass rush well there (at all),b) other teams do and as we’ve seen first-hand that can be lethal, c) the value of the DT position, and d) they can produce as rookies. And e) Corners in the first round, as we all know, are way less predictable than linemen (on either side of the ball). So an alphabet of excellent reasons to go that route--and hell, it's my favorite position in football so I'm a fan of the idea, but let's play devil's advocate and look at IOL in the draft with a little more nuance.
One can cherry pick O-line draft options using PFF rankings, aka one guy, Trevor Sikkema (because if you want to base it all on one guy then you could also say that Mike Renner, Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson all think the Vikings should take Donovan Jackson at Guard in the first round [but that's cherry picking and clearly I'm on record as being against that]) and ignore that many good DTs are found after the first round (as Will Ragatz pointed out the other night Milton Williams, Osi Odighigisuwa, and Alim McNeil all were drafted in the 70s. Also Kobie Turner was 90th, and Nnambi Madubuike was 71st! Osi is one of the 3 players Coller would most like to see the Vikings sign, which would be fantastic). It would be great to see a Grant, Harmon, Nolen in Purple, but DT is considered one of the deepest positions in this draft class (Consensus Board has 12 in the top 100), if not the deepest so let's take another look at the IOL possibilities.
No one is more down on the IOL in this draft than the aforementioned Sikkema (why not use the Consensus Board?), and PFF puts guys who could be Guards or Centers strictly as OTs so when you expand it a bit the list does improve. Given most OL picks outside of the top 60 provide little in their rookie seasons so let's list those guys on the Consensus Board. They include not only Tyler Booker at 27, but Armand Membou 36, Jonah Savaiinaea 39, Donovan Jackson 40, Wyatt Milum 49, and Marcus Mdbow 50. Ratledge is 73 on the Consensus Board. Not awesome, but doing the math...carry the one... 6 is better than 2 guys mentioned. 7 if we include Ratledge. Hopefully the Vikings do solve the O-line problem in free agency and we can debate which DT we like best in the draft or gasp(!), Revel vs Morrison at CB, but the point of all this is that the O-line opportunity in the draft is more nuanced--IMO--than this article presented.
Replying to myself, a sure sign of dementia, but just adding OTs that likely "kick inside" to quote Sikkema who in podcast on the Senior Bowl yesterday said what I wrote last week. Yesterday he mentioned Zabel (who after watching at first day of Senior Bowl he now thinks is Top 50, and is likely Center number 1), Savaiinaea (who I had), Mbow (who I had), Will Campbell (Renner says this too, that Campbell could be Guard 1), and even Gophers' Aireotae Ersery, who he thinks will be better at Guard. So that's 3 more. BTW Renner (or Kyle Crabb?) thinks Banks may be better at Guard, too. So 4 more. So that comes to 11 IOL players in the top 60ish range.
If you ever run out of article ideas, I'd love to know the differences between run and pass blocking, so as a result why some guys are better at one type over the other. Also, explained like I'm a five year old.
1. There is no circumstance under which Brandel would be confused for THE 64, but it would have been nice to see him play an entire season beside Darrisaw, because there is a clear before/after.
2. The PFF grades tell us how well a player did what he was asked to do. They do that well. Given the high variance of rosters/offences/roles/responsibilities, they aren't a reliable tool for comparing players. Trey Smith seems to be objectively excellent, but no-one actually knows how he'd look without Mahomes, Humphrey, Thuney and Reid. $25MM+ is a lot to invest with that level of risk--and the risk only goes up with the other guys on the list.
3. O'Neill can have salary turned into bonus, but that would be more of what everyone justifiably hated about Spielman, and what KAM did with Cousins, Hunter, and Davenport. OTs can age beautifully, but good roster building would have O'Neill's cap hits gently decline as he enters his 30s, not spike and create dead cap liabilities.
4. The Eagles have a great OL, and the Rams DL outplayed it by a significant margin. The unheralded Rams OL held their own, on the road and with weather, against a strong Iggles front.
Improving the interior OL needs to happen, but beware of shiny objects in UFA, and this is the ultimate team game because everything is so connected.
Definitely going to need to do the bulk of the work in FA. I think the Chiefs resign Smith, unfortunately. They don’t have much cap space now but looks like they can create a quite a bit through restructuring Mahomes if they want to. At that point, you probably go Dalman and one of the guards Matthew mentioned. Think Will Fries is also available and played really well before getting injured. Might be a cheaper add. Maybe do an older guy for one year if you’re really serious about it. Otherwise, I’d let Risner and somebody else not named Ingram or Brandel fight it out for the last spot.
I'd be very happy with your idea of Dalman with a Jenkins or other good to very good Guard. Even Kelly at Center would be good, as in a significant upgrade over Bradbury. Risner, for his salary, was solid, and showed the flexibility to play RG or LG and gives you some flexibility in the Guard you sign and also in draft options. I look at last year when Kwesi signed Greenard and Van Ginkel for kinda/aroundish the same as Hunter got for going to Houston so almost a 2 for 1 deal. If they go that route again--and are anywhere near as fortunate as last year's results-- with a very good Center and a very good Guard rather than one blockbuster Guard in Smith...sweet.