Offensive line thread

[Carlos Danger]

We have the worst line I've seen since last year. How they did so little in the offseason to really address this boggles my mind.

They signed Boone and Smith, but when you're capped out it's kinda hard to improve. You can't have it all, and when you invest all your top picks on defense and offensive skill position players you shop the bargain bin for a line. Spielman deserves plenty of credit for having drafted so many top players, but he deserves to solid thrashing for completely ignoring the O-line.

You nailed it. Also, we were supposed to have Loadholt and Harris in the mix. But Speilman started to fall in love with late round picks for O-line and they all sucked:

2013: Jeff Baca and Travis Bond (both out of league)
2014: Dave Yankey - still clinging to Practice squad on Panthers
2015: Clemmings, Tyrus Thompson (out of league), Austin Shepard (out of league)
2016: Willie Beavers - would be out of the league except for all our injuries this year

That's seven draft picks. Of those seven, only Clemmings has a shot at being an NFL player IMO. And his ceiling is starting to look like a career back up. Terrible drafting for O-line the last four years. It's hard to over come that.

[bleedspeed]

How we signed Long.

http://www.dailynorseman.com/2016/10/22/13367486/mike-harris-takes-pay-cut

[thedoper]

I get that we were capped out but the mid level guys signed in the offseason just wasn't going to fix the issues. It seems like all of our guys have had some sort of major injury. Maybe we should just play Hill until the line gets a bit healthier. It's dangerous out there. I think it's a good point that they didn't wait till late rounds the last couple of years for O-line. It does seem like a few years of neglect though. This team is always so strange, they just never allow you to have confidence in them as a well rounded squad.

[Monster]

Harris getting hurt was something nobody really could have seen coming. That's a guy nobody really talk about but he was solid both as a RT and RG when he played a chunk of games there. Many thought he would not be back with the team because another team would give him a decent offer but he wanted back the Vikings got him relatively cheap and then he couldn't play. Imagine having him available at RT right now. The team just hasn't been able to put an Oline together and that's been a problem for a bunch of years. THey have had some tough luck with injuries taking out guys both young and old. At this point what can they do now? idk. Oline coaching can make a difference. Sparano needs to work some magic.

[Monster]

When thinking about whether the Vikings did enough to the oline last offseason think about this. The Vikings are basically without an entire 5 olineman worth of guys that were possible legit starting level options for the team this year. Kalil, Sully, Harris, Smith and Loadholt. Sure at least one of those guys wasn't expected to return to health but none of those guys available to the team right now? That's tough.

[bleedspeed]

I forgot about Mike Harris. I think we knew Kalil was banged up in preseason or at least had a good idea he was. I wonder if they look back if they would have liked to keep Sully. I still was hoping they would have gotten serious about drafting an OT.

Last year PFF had us ranked 21st. They projected us to be 14th this year. We are ranked 30th after 6th week. I felt like this has been a problem with this team since 2009.

[Monster]

I forgot about Mike Harris. I think we knew Kalil was banged up in preseason or at least had a good idea he was. I wonder if they look back if they would have liked to keep Sully. I still was hoping they would have gotten serious about drafting an OT.

Last year PFF had us ranked 21st. They projected us to be 14th this year. We are ranked 30th after 6th week. I felt like this has been a problem with this team since 2009.

It's been a problem for a while. One thing that often gets forgotten about those Denny Green teams was that Oline was amazing. There were a couple years they had 3 guys make the pro bowl. That's nuts. Since then especially the Tackle spot has been so so year to year. At the center spot the terrific tradition of top level center play has continued and the guard spots have been a revolving door and mixed bag.

Look at what Dallas has done with their line. People sort of didn't like some of their picks because they weren't that sexy guy or whatever. I haven't watched them this year but we know that line is terrific. I don't want to take away from what Dak and Elliot are doing but it sure helps when your oline is that damn good. Kalil was supposed to be a no-brainer and his rookie year it looked that way and then he was exposed a bit and had nagging injuries but at least played through them. Loadholt was a pretty good 2nd round pick but now his career is over.

The good news is the team can basically scrap anyone other than Boone that is making any kind of money and sign or draft new players. The problem is I am not sure how much money they have to put towards that and they don't have a first rounder. Obviously they are going to have to put some resources next offseason baring some terrific turnaround in the line this year.

[bleedspeed]

I always go back to Mark Rypien and the year he won the SuperBowl in the Dome. If you have time anyone could be good. Like you said the Dennis Green teams could throw anyone at QB and it seemed like with that line and group of WRs you couldn't go wrong. Fran is full of BS when he said their is not much a difference between best and worst lines in NFL. It is huge.

[Monster]

I always go back to Mark Rypien and the year he won the SuperBowl in the Dome. If you have time anyone could be good. Like you said the Dennis Green teams could throw anyone at QB and it seemed like with that line and group of WRs you couldn't go wrong. Fran is full of BS when he said their is not much a difference between best and worst lines in NFL. It is huge.

Fran...um yeah.

You can win without a top line but even the teams without a top line through much of the season seemed to figure it out at the right time. That year the Ravens won it all a few years ago that was part of the magic I think McKinnie was a big part of that run. You can't just plan on that type of thing happening though you have to at least put some significant resources at one of the Tackle spots. The interior of the line you may be able to find guys.

[bleedspeed]

I think Kalil is more about injury problems then ablity, but at this point you can't count on him being healthy. They have not been major and he soldiers on through them, but changes his effectiveness.