Heading into the 2023 season, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding this Minnesota Vikings team.
What will the defense look like under Brian Flores with many new players? Will Kirk Cousins hold up behind Minnesota’s offensive line? Can they even dream of replicating their 11-0 record in one-possession games this year, and if not, how will that impact their place in the standings?
Above all else, though, Vikings fans seem concerned with one position group: the offensive line. It’s a very familiar concern for fans, especially in recent years.
This past week, we at PurplePTSD put out a poll prompting fans to answer the question: Which position is the Vikings biggest weakness heading into the 2023 season? The majority of answers were for the offensive line, with that group getting just over 53% of the vote.
It is a fair concern based on what we’ve seen throughout training camp and preseason this summer. Right guard Ed Ingram was one of the worst pass-blocking offensive linemen in the entire NFL last season. In his only preseason game appearance against the Seattle Seahawks, those struggles popped up again. However, he did not play in the Vikings second preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, so the presumption is that he will remain the starter at that spot.
Meanwhile, backup guard/center Chris Reed is yet to practice during camp because of an offseason injury that landed him on NFI. There is no way to tell if he will be healthy enough to start the season, thus limiting Minnesota’s depth on the interior of their line.
Thankfully, the Vikings have supreme talent at offensive tackle in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill. However, both players missed time with injuries last season, and Blake Brandel also missed the conclusion of the season with an injury of his own.
The best-case scenario for Minnesota is that they have better injury luck this year. Right now, Vederian Lowe and Oli Udoh are slated to be the backup tackles with Brandel switching over to guard.
Udoh has had plenty of his own struggles throughout the preseason, though. Last week against the Titans, he allowed a pair of sacks and was penalized twice during the game. It was a performance that very likely put him on the roster bubble.
The Vikings need to be much better on the offensive line than they were in 2022. Cousins was hit a career-high 84 times during the course of the season, easily the most in the entire NFL. Heading into his age-35 season, this is a number that needs to be cut down if he is going to extend his career by a few more seasons.
Overall, the Vikings have the talent and continuity to improve. They’ve spent high quality draft picks on Ingram and center Garrett Bradbury, who had his best season of his career in 2022. It will all come down to execution for all five players to keep Cousins upright and open up running lanes for new starting RB Alexander Mattison.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.
