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If all the world’s best NFL draft analysts had been given $100 to bet on the Minnesota Vikings’ pick at No. 30, the overwhelming money would have been on an offensive lineman.
Instead they surprised experts by grabbing University of Central Florida cornerback Mike Hughes and waiting until Day 2 to address the hole on the right side of the O-line left by Joe Berger’s retirement. But Day 2 didn’t go as expected. Linemen, especially guards, flew off the board early — a result Vikings’ GM Rick Spielman said he couldn’t remember seeing before.
When the dust settled, the Vikings picked a high-ceiling tackle with little-to-no shot of starting right away. Combined with a weak free agent market for linemen, overall the Vikings came away from the 2018 offseason down one starter.
Now it appears that veteran tackle Mike Remmers will move inside to right guard and Rashod Hill will be pushed into the spotlight at one of the league’s most challenging positions.
USA Football offensive/defensive line analyst Brandon Thorn watched back Week 17 and liked a lot of what he saw from Remmers as a run blocker.
“In the run game [Remmers] is going to be good right away,” Thorn said in a Purple Podcast appearance. “He stepped in Week 17 against excellent competition and was pretty good, so I don’t have a lot of concerns there.”
Thorn says Remmers’ skillset and mentality are both fit for guard.
“Aside from having that strength and being competitively tough, he’s a very chippy, scrappy kind of guy,” Thorn said. “Him and Hicks get into it and they have a lot of stalemates. So to have that attitude and also that mentality and the strength and then the leverage, pad level and hand placement to get into Hicks and stalemate him multiple times, I know that’s what they liked on his tape watching him with the Panthers before they signed him. That’s how he won as a player. That’s where he makes his money, in the run game. Then also mental processing, for sure. He just constantly makes the right decisions and diagnoses things quickly.”
The Vikings’ starting right guard will be in for a tough set of matchups this year. He will play Hicks twice, Green Bay’s Mike Daniels twice, some combination of Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald with the Rams, Fletcher Cox in Philadelphia and DeForest Buckner in the opener against San Francisco.
Despite the hard road ahead, Thorn notes that Remmers’ intelligence should allow him to make adjustments as he gets more reps inside.
Rashod Hill is a different story...
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2018/0...line-hold/
If things stay the way they are, Thorn has trouble seeing the Vikings’ offensive line as above average in 2018.
“I think it’s going to be a little bit below what you had last year. Last year I thought the offensive line was in the top half of the NFL, somewhere in the 10-15 range. you’re probably going to be a little bit outside of that, closer to 20 or early 20s. I definitely don’t see a good offensive line right now,” Thorn said. “The two guards are solid at best, they can do the different things well. I expect [Nick] Easton to get better, Remmers to get better, so it could be pretty good there, but right tackle, I’d consider that a pretty big hole right now.
“When you play teams like the Eagles, Seahawks, teams like that, I don’t feel great about the offensive line, to be honest…Hill, that one worries me. There’s too much that I’m unsure of on that right side.”
Well yeah, if you look at week 17 only like this guy did, Hill looked inconsistent. He faded last year after starting out well. Its why he's lost weight, for more endurance. Easton fractured his ankle in the 1st quarter of the Week 16 game and didn't even play in week 17. Zimmer's response after the week 16 game was 'we'll have to juggle some things around' concerning the offensive line. So its probably one of the worst weeks of the season to judge the Viking's offensive line in all fairness.
I'm not trying to make excuses here, but let's be real about it anyway. Minnesota's offensive line was much improved last year overall from the year prior for the majority of the season. They are by no means a top 10 unit, I get that. And I'm still concerned this unit could be the Achilles Heel of the team.
If the Vikings falter this year it will be due the OL. It's the team's biggest weakness. But Super Bowls have been won with league average OL play. The writer neglects to mention that the Vikings won that Chicago game 23-10 behind 111 yards and 2 TDs by Murray. For all their weakness on the OL, at the end of the day, they were the better team. That's what good teams do. No teams are perfect, but good ones attenuate weakness by being the better team on the field everywhere else. I suspect that will be the case a lot this year.
I have hope that Remmers will prove to be at least as good as Berger was in the run game. And Hill will be better than Remmers was in pass pro. And the fact that their strengths and weaknesses are opposite sort of mitigates that problem to a degree. No, they don't have the Cowboys line, but the Cowboys didn't even make the playoffs.
I don't know if i was convinced the offensive line was improved last year or if Case made them better. The team rushing improved but we didn't have all our eggs in one basket. I think Case played under duress often and his elusiveness was key to avoiding the sack. The running game was stronger because we had much better options. Murray was signed to be the starter. Then a rookie fell in our laps. We lost him but still had the original plan A in place. That was a huge improvement over 2016.
This years Oline group does not give me confidence. I do agree with the writer. We lost a starter and didn't replace him. We hope a young guy steps up. If they could have talked Berger into one more year it would be easier to have felt good about how the draft played out. Now sadly the Oline takes a even bigger hit with the passing of Tony. I feel very good about the team this year. Less good about this unit. We all know what happens when this unit breaks down. This unit didn't just get bad week 17. It was bandaided together all season. The bandaides were beginning to get torn off by the end. Can anybody convince me this years unit is different? Please.
Quote: @suncoastvike said:
I don't know if i was convinced the offensive line was improved last year or if Case made them better. The team rushing improved but we didn't have all our eggs in one basket. I think Case played under duress often and his elusiveness was key to avoiding the sack. The running game was stronger because we had much better options. Murray was signed to be the starter. Then a rookie fell in our laps. We lost him but still had the original plan A in place. That was a huge improvement over 2016.
This years Oline group does not give me confidence. I do agree with the writer. We lost a starter and didn't replace him. We hope a young guy steps up. If they could have talked Berger into one more year it would be easier to have felt good about how the draft played out. Now sadly the Oline takes a even bigger hit with the passing of Tony. I feel very good about the team this year. Less good about this unit. We all know what happens when this unit breaks down. This unit didn't just get bad week 17. It was bandaided together all season. The bandaides were beginning to get torn off by the end. Can anybody convince me this years unit is different? Please.
A fair amount of the duress that CK faced last year were a result of CK not being willing or able to take what the D was giving him. There were certainly times where he wasnt given adequate protection, but he wasn't using the entire field and often missed the recievers that were open early. If Cousins gets through his progressions quicker it will make the OL look much better....not to mention selling the PA better will slow the pass rush.
Quote: @suncoastvike said:
Now sadly the Oline takes a even bigger hit with the passing of Tony. I feel very good about the team this year. Less good about this unit. We all know what happens when this unit breaks down. This unit didn't just get bad week 17. It was bandaided together all season. The bandaides were beginning to get torn off by the end. Can anybody convince me this years unit is different? Please.
Bingo...
Quote: @purplefaithful said:
@ suncoastvike said:
Now sadly the Oline takes a even bigger hit with the passing of Tony. I feel very good about the team this year. Less good about this unit. We all know what happens when this unit breaks down. This unit didn't just get bad week 17. It was bandaided together all season. The bandaides were beginning to get torn off by the end. Can anybody convince me this years unit is different? Please.
Bingo...
I am encouraged by the outstanding speed and quick feet of Collins, Morgan, and O'Neill. On sweeps, and end runs they are going to be devastating when Cook has the ball. If pass pro sucks, DeFilipo will go straight to RPO just like The Eagles did for Foles and which Cousins can run just fine. If teams adjust to defend RPO, the drop back game gets more viable. There is more than one way to cover deficiencies. Oline Play across The league was turrible last year. And Rashod Hill's weakness is more in run blocking anyway. I do not see this unit overly struggling with pass pro, and if they CAN hold up? Cousins is gonna have A Career Year.
Feel better?
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
@ suncoastvike said:
I don't know if i was convinced the offensive line was improved last year or if Case made them better. The team rushing improved but we didn't have all our eggs in one basket. I think Case played under duress often and his elusiveness was key to avoiding the sack. The running game was stronger because we had much better options. Murray was signed to be the starter. Then a rookie fell in our laps. We lost him but still had the original plan A in place. That was a huge improvement over 2016.
This years Oline group does not give me confidence. I do agree with the writer. We lost a starter and didn't replace him. We hope a young guy steps up. If they could have talked Berger into one more year it would be easier to have felt good about how the draft played out. Now sadly the Oline takes a even bigger hit with the passing of Tony. I feel very good about the team this year. Less good about this unit. We all know what happens when this unit breaks down. This unit didn't just get bad week 17. It was bandaided together all season. The bandaides were beginning to get torn off by the end. Can anybody convince me this years unit is different? Please.
A fair amount of the duress that CK faced last year were a result of CK not being willing or able to take what the D was giving him. There were certainly times where he wasnt given adequate protection, but he wasn't using the entire field and often missed the recievers that were open early. If Cousins gets through his progressions quicker it will make the OL look much better....not to mention selling the PA better will slow the pass rush.
Yep thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for. Aside from downplaying Case's accomplishments. I agree his game had limitations. He made up for alot of it with toughness and high energy. It's not like he was a turnover machine holding us back. I'll say the team did keep us in most games for Case to make enough plays. I really had fun watching him last year though. He was an overachiever. Maybe a once in a career season. But it wasn't all horseshoes. He busted his @ss. Now it's up to Kirk to make me forget that spark plug.
Quote: @kahsmick said:
@ purplefaithful said:
@ suncoastvike said:
Now sadly the Oline takes a even bigger hit with the passing of Tony. I feel very good about the team this year. Less good about this unit. We all know what happens when this unit breaks down. This unit didn't just get bad week 17. It was bandaided together all season. The bandaides were beginning to get torn off by the end. Can anybody convince me this years unit is different? Please.
Bingo...
I am encouraged by the outstanding speed and quick feet of Collins, Morgan, and O'Neill. On sweeps, and end runs they are going to be devastating when Cook has the ball. If pass pro sucks, DeFilipo will go straight to RPO just like The Eagles did for Foles and which Cousins can run just fine. If teams adjust to defend RPO, the drop back game gets more viable. There is more than one way to cover deficiencies. Oline Play across The league was turrible last year. And Rashod Hill's weakness is more in run blocking anyway. I do not see this unit overly struggling with pass pro, and if they CAN hold up? Cousins is gonna have A Career Year.
Feel better?
Yeah, that's good stuff there. I'm a easy sell though. Still I'll take it. Let's see where it takes us.
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