Matthew, love the articles and the podcasts. I appreciate your hard work and my subscription has been worth every penny. What made me log in to send you my appreciation was the Reusse podcast. Great stories, many that I never heard before, and I was laughing along with you. Especially liked Burnsies “clinic”. Lol. Thanks again.
Thank you so much! Really appreciate your support... loved doing that pod with Reusse. I'm going to be doing similar "5 Vikings" podcasts all summer with lots of interesting guests.
Matthew, if both Rieff and Hill said they would come back to start at LT at the same low price who would you pick?
Do you see enough in Ezras frame to add bulk and hold up against the mon-stars at RG? Or would moving to LG be better for him vs the twists and stunts in our division?
I would take Reiff at the same price but there's no way Reiff comes at a low price. If he goes to the free agent market he's probably making $10-$15M a year from someone. Hill, on the other hand, could probably be kept at under $5M. Ezra isn't small so he should be able to add to his frame. It's really about technique and whether he can figure out how to handle those stunts and twists and bull rushes. Whether it's LG or RG, teams will attack him if he's weak in a particular area like that
Another great article, Matthew, clearly capturing the dysfunction that is the Vikings' approach to the offensive line.
I know it's unlikely, but I really hope Reiff is back. A very good player at a critical position and sounds like a class act. Plus, as you and Jeremiah Sirles pointed out on a recent podcast, if he's gone the Vikings are two steps away from a decent O-line instead of just one. Spielman-Zimmer aren't Astaire-Rogers when it comes to the one-step, let alone the two-step.
Okay, I'm an admitted draft nut and every year I try to pick how many prospects are fits for the Vikings schemes. And that's when you say "best player available" is BS because it's really "best player available for the scheme you run" and the list gets narrow in a hurry. All these big, strong, fat, but slow guys that can't move laterally from Alabama and Notre Dame and lots of other top schools don't work. When I read through all kinds of draft sites and experts, from The Athletic's Dane Brugler to the incredible The Draft Network, it really looks like fits for the Vikings drop off dramatically after the first 40 picks or so. Lots and lots of "maulers", "road graders" and "phone booth" players (aka strong, fat, but slow guys), but very few agile guys, especially at the GUARD position. As you well know, Matthew, the GUARD position has given us some trouble.
There are several short, or maybe even more shameful, "short armed" Tackle prospects that have the potential to move inside to the GUARD position, which was mentioned about Ezra Cleveland a number of times last year. It's a small number, including Rashawn Slater, Jalen Mayfield, and Alijah Vera-Tucker. Slater gets compared to Isaiah Wynn a lot, Mayfield sounds like a stronger version of O'Neill or Cleveland, and Vera-Tucker I got nothin. Acclaimed RG Wyatt Davis is seriously the only pure GUARD I read about that is a fit for the Vikings as he sounds like a fit in any scheme, but beyond that it sounds like a bunch of strong plodders who are great moving forward, but not laterally. Straight ahead guys are not good fits for Kubiak's run scheme, which was mentioned about a certain GUARD the Vikings took from Oklahoma a couple years ago.
This a long way--a very long way--of saying that if they can't improve the GUARD position in free agency then I hope they move back late in the first, grab Mayfield, Vera-Tucker, or Davis, then in the second or third grab one of the penetrating 3Ts like Dixon, Tufele, Onwuzurike, or McNeil. Because while 3T is weak in this draft, there are arguably a number of better player fits from 40-75 for the Vikings than there are interior O-line solutions. At least, I'd really like to ask a PFF or other expert that question. The same can be said for DEs like Phillips, Tryon, Jones II, Basham, and Weaver.
As I've learned from your podcasts, the lines are only as good as their weakest link. So while WRs and CBs and QBs are more important positions, on this team it's the 3T and GUARD position dragging everything down.
Thanks for the great articles and podcasts, Matthew, and thanks for reading my novellas.
Thanks so much for the kind words and the feedback Rob. I think you make a good point about improving guard in free agency. The one thing I'd say about the scheme fit is that I think that's part of what got them here, isn't it? Trying too hard to only focus on guys that are scheme fits for the run game and missing the key point about protecting Cousins. I'm with you on trading back... you're right on guard and 3T dragging them down. One thing about that is that if they just get to average from very bad, it would be a huge upgrade. Thanks again for all the support!
I wish that we could get some idea of potential from Blake Brandel, Kyle Hinton or Oli Udoh. Seems like they protect these guys, but never give them a chance to play (besides Udoh against Mack last year, which was generally a positive review).
I think we saw from Samia that the young guy who doesn't play isn't always the answer. We also saw that Week 17 results were not really something to lean on. I'll admit to being fooled by Armon Watts and Alex Hollins
Matthew, love the articles and the podcasts. I appreciate your hard work and my subscription has been worth every penny. What made me log in to send you my appreciation was the Reusse podcast. Great stories, many that I never heard before, and I was laughing along with you. Especially liked Burnsies “clinic”. Lol. Thanks again.
Thank you so much! Really appreciate your support... loved doing that pod with Reusse. I'm going to be doing similar "5 Vikings" podcasts all summer with lots of interesting guests.
Matthew, if both Rieff and Hill said they would come back to start at LT at the same low price who would you pick?
Do you see enough in Ezras frame to add bulk and hold up against the mon-stars at RG? Or would moving to LG be better for him vs the twists and stunts in our division?
I would take Reiff at the same price but there's no way Reiff comes at a low price. If he goes to the free agent market he's probably making $10-$15M a year from someone. Hill, on the other hand, could probably be kept at under $5M. Ezra isn't small so he should be able to add to his frame. It's really about technique and whether he can figure out how to handle those stunts and twists and bull rushes. Whether it's LG or RG, teams will attack him if he's weak in a particular area like that
Another great article, Matthew, clearly capturing the dysfunction that is the Vikings' approach to the offensive line.
I know it's unlikely, but I really hope Reiff is back. A very good player at a critical position and sounds like a class act. Plus, as you and Jeremiah Sirles pointed out on a recent podcast, if he's gone the Vikings are two steps away from a decent O-line instead of just one. Spielman-Zimmer aren't Astaire-Rogers when it comes to the one-step, let alone the two-step.
Okay, I'm an admitted draft nut and every year I try to pick how many prospects are fits for the Vikings schemes. And that's when you say "best player available" is BS because it's really "best player available for the scheme you run" and the list gets narrow in a hurry. All these big, strong, fat, but slow guys that can't move laterally from Alabama and Notre Dame and lots of other top schools don't work. When I read through all kinds of draft sites and experts, from The Athletic's Dane Brugler to the incredible The Draft Network, it really looks like fits for the Vikings drop off dramatically after the first 40 picks or so. Lots and lots of "maulers", "road graders" and "phone booth" players (aka strong, fat, but slow guys), but very few agile guys, especially at the GUARD position. As you well know, Matthew, the GUARD position has given us some trouble.
There are several short, or maybe even more shameful, "short armed" Tackle prospects that have the potential to move inside to the GUARD position, which was mentioned about Ezra Cleveland a number of times last year. It's a small number, including Rashawn Slater, Jalen Mayfield, and Alijah Vera-Tucker. Slater gets compared to Isaiah Wynn a lot, Mayfield sounds like a stronger version of O'Neill or Cleveland, and Vera-Tucker I got nothin. Acclaimed RG Wyatt Davis is seriously the only pure GUARD I read about that is a fit for the Vikings as he sounds like a fit in any scheme, but beyond that it sounds like a bunch of strong plodders who are great moving forward, but not laterally. Straight ahead guys are not good fits for Kubiak's run scheme, which was mentioned about a certain GUARD the Vikings took from Oklahoma a couple years ago.
This a long way--a very long way--of saying that if they can't improve the GUARD position in free agency then I hope they move back late in the first, grab Mayfield, Vera-Tucker, or Davis, then in the second or third grab one of the penetrating 3Ts like Dixon, Tufele, Onwuzurike, or McNeil. Because while 3T is weak in this draft, there are arguably a number of better player fits from 40-75 for the Vikings than there are interior O-line solutions. At least, I'd really like to ask a PFF or other expert that question. The same can be said for DEs like Phillips, Tryon, Jones II, Basham, and Weaver.
As I've learned from your podcasts, the lines are only as good as their weakest link. So while WRs and CBs and QBs are more important positions, on this team it's the 3T and GUARD position dragging everything down.
Thanks for the great articles and podcasts, Matthew, and thanks for reading my novellas.
Thanks so much for the kind words and the feedback Rob. I think you make a good point about improving guard in free agency. The one thing I'd say about the scheme fit is that I think that's part of what got them here, isn't it? Trying too hard to only focus on guys that are scheme fits for the run game and missing the key point about protecting Cousins. I'm with you on trading back... you're right on guard and 3T dragging them down. One thing about that is that if they just get to average from very bad, it would be a huge upgrade. Thanks again for all the support!
I wish that we could get some idea of potential from Blake Brandel, Kyle Hinton or Oli Udoh. Seems like they protect these guys, but never give them a chance to play (besides Udoh against Mack last year, which was generally a positive review).
I think we saw from Samia that the young guy who doesn't play isn't always the answer. We also saw that Week 17 results were not really something to lean on. I'll admit to being fooled by Armon Watts and Alex Hollins