Elf appeared to be a bit flabby last year. That's no surprise given the injuries and surgeries he needed to recover from. I can't imagine the Vikings wanting to move on from him at this point in time. If he comes back in shape and stronger, he should be much better. Especially if he can get better players on each side of him.
Quote: @"medaille" said:
The article was suggesting to move on from Elflein not move
him to G.
The article is a hackpiece written by some fantasy guy who
just looked at PFF grades and didn’t know why the grades are what they are. I also disagree with the premise that we
should be bringing in FA defenders and drafting OLine. That might be the right path, but we have to consider
if stacking multiple rookies on the OLine is what makes the most sense.
Yup. Wisest move would be to move on without reading this author. Someone that just regurgitates already known tidbits but often exposes their lack of knowledge with a misplaced comment like this. Moving on from a 3rd year guy that had a very good rookie year and struggled to find his strength after multiple late offseason surgeries.
Quote: @"MaroonBells" said:
I think you misunderstood what the writer was saying. I don't think he was saying the Vikings should move on from Elflein, only that we should move on from Elflein "at center." He was a good center at OSU, but he was an even better guard.
He wasn't just a good center at OSU... he won the Rimington Trophy which is given to the best center in ALL of college football. Just wanted to point that out, Maroon. :-D
Also would add that I considered him the offensive MVP in 2017. Our offense really struggled in the game he missed.
Quote: @"Wetlander" said:
@"MaroonBells" said:
I think you misunderstood what the writer was saying. I don't think he was saying the Vikings should move on from Elflein, only that we should move on from Elflein "at center." He was a good center at OSU, but he was an even better guard.
He wasn't just a good center at OSU... he won the Rimington Trophy which is given to the best center in ALL of college football. Just wanted to point that out, Maroon. :-D
You're not pointing out anything I didn't already know. But he did grade better as a guard and also stated that he thought he was a better guard than center and preferred playing there. I'm not saying he NEEDS to be moved. He was a pretty good center as a rookie. Just that we don't know that health is the reason he played so god awful this year. Maybe it was. I suspect a lot of it was related to him meshing with Flip's flop of an offense.
I just know that the key to an effective ZBS is the pivot, and there are some good zone pivots in this draft and Elflein CAN play guard if it makes sense to move him. A team would be foolish for not exploring its flex points before heading into player acquisition season. We'll see what happens....
Quote: @"MaroonBells" said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
The short answer is no, they probably should leave him at center. Its a more natural position given his skill set. The longer answer is more of a maybe. You don't want to limit yourself this off-season on what talent you bring in. If you can bring in a high level C/LG and it pushes Elflein to RG you have to at least consider it.
It's a nice bit of flexiblity. The best zone IOL in the draft is Bradbury. If they like him enough to draft him at 18, I could easily see them moving Elf to RG.
I don't think the Vikings would feel comfortable playing Bradbury next to Elflein. It's nothing against Bradbury who I think is a good center, but you would be playing to both players weaknesses. Elf is at his best pass protecting against power (at least in 2017 he was) and when he can create the first seam out of the backfield. At RG you'd be asking him to pass protect against more speed and be asking him get out further to achieve his reach blocks. He could do it, but it wouldn't match his skill set as much. In my opinion if you are going to move Elf to RG you better make sure you have a strong anchor at C since you probably aren't going to run as much outside zone but be more of a power man group.
Quote: @"Geoff Nichols" said:
@"MaroonBells" said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
The short answer is no, they probably should leave him at center. Its a more natural position given his skill set. The longer answer is more of a maybe. You don't want to limit yourself this off-season on what talent you bring in. If you can bring in a high level C/LG and it pushes Elflein to RG you have to at least consider it.
It's a nice bit of flexiblity. The best zone IOL in the draft is Bradbury. If they like him enough to draft him at 18, I could easily see them moving Elf to RG.
I don't think the Vikings would feel comfortable playing Bradbury next to Elflein. It's nothing against Bradbury who I think is a good center, but you would be playing to both players weaknesses. Elf is at his best pass protecting against power (at least in 2017 he was) and when he can create the first seam out of the backfield. At RG you'd be asking him to pass protect against more speed and be asking him get out further to achieve his reach blocks. He could do it, but it wouldn't match his skill set as much. In my opinion if you are going to move Elf to RG you better make sure you have a strong anchor at C since you probably aren't going to run as much outside zone but be more of a power man group.
Well, in my opinion, Bradbury is the ideal outside zone center. And in a zone it all starts with the center. But at the end of the day (drink), the biggest unknown is what Kubiak and Dennison are going to want. I'm curious to find out.
Quote: @"MaroonBells" said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
@"MaroonBells" said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
The short answer is no, they probably should leave him at center. Its a more natural position given his skill set. The longer answer is more of a maybe. You don't want to limit yourself this off-season on what talent you bring in. If you can bring in a high level C/LG and it pushes Elflein to RG you have to at least consider it.
It's a nice bit of flexiblity. The best zone IOL in the draft is Bradbury. If they like him enough to draft him at 18, I could easily see them moving Elf to RG.
I don't think the Vikings would feel comfortable playing Bradbury next to Elflein. It's nothing against Bradbury who I think is a good center, but you would be playing to both players weaknesses. Elf is at his best pass protecting against power (at least in 2017 he was) and when he can create the first seam out of the backfield. At RG you'd be asking him to pass protect against more speed and be asking him get out further to achieve his reach blocks. He could do it, but it wouldn't match his skill set as much. In my opinion if you are going to move Elf to RG you better make sure you have a strong anchor at C since you probably aren't going to run as much outside zone but be more of a power man group.
Well, in my opinion, Bradbury is the ideal outside zone center. And in a zone it all starts with the center. But at the end of the day (drink), the biggest unknown is what Kubiak and Dennison are going to want. I'm curious to find out.
There is no denying he is the perfect fit in an outside zone scheme. But we all know the sad fact you need 5 O-lineman that work well together. I'm really curious about the scheme too. If you look into what we know know I figure they're going to run outside zone predominantly. But Dennison is known for putting some power concepts into his game plans as well to keep teams off balance. So you would be drafting for your predominant scheme I'd presume.
That would be just stupid. He is still in his rookie contract and his replacement unless a rookie would cost more. I think his troubles last year were a combination of not getting back to 100% after the injury and he had 2 aweful guards playing along side him. Get a couple decent guards and a left tackle and the OL will be serviceable and better than last season.
Quote: @"Purple Haze" said:
That would be just stupid. He is still in his rookie contract and his replacement unless a rookie would cost more. I think his troubles last year were a combination of not getting back to 100% after the injury and he had 2 aweful guards playing along side him. Get a couple decent guards and a left tackle and the OL will be serviceable and better than last season.
If we have to replace 3 of 5 starters, the OL ought to be better than "serviceable" - unless we're just going to plug in some Tom Compton-level replacements.
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