Turning over a new Reiff
So what do we do with Riley Reiff? There's been a lot of talk about restructuring him and moving him inside to guard. Sure would be nice to upgrade two positions by drafting a left tackle. Reiff certainly wouldn't be the first tackle to kick inside, but I have to wonder how open to that he would be, not to mention the pay cut, considering he's still pretty young (31) and he probably just had the best year of his career.
I tend to think the Vikings will approach him about it, he'll refuse and they'll release him, requiring us to upgrade both positions on the left side. But we'll have more money ($8.8M) to do it. That will get you a good left guard, even a Joe Thuney, but probably not a very good left tackle, leaving you with a glaring hole going into the draft. Something teams never like to do because it makes them very predictable.
This offseason promises to be the most drama-filled we've seen in a decade. Cool Breeze definitely gonna earn his paycheck this year.
“A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't." - Tom Waits
Here's my sleeper right tackle....
In his 2 FBS games graded 87.8 by PFF as a pass blocker. In his 1st preseason game, pass pro grade was 77.8. In his first regular season game (against Khalil Mack) graded higher than any lineman on the Vikings, and (I think I read) achieved the 3rd highest grade of any Viking lineman all season. I know you'd like to give a kid from (whatever the hell Elon is) another year, but we may already have our 2020 right tackle...and if not, our RTOTF.
@"Geoff Nichols" said: If the 2019 draft proved anything, they value O-line positions evenly. Some teams would never pass of an OT for an interior O-lineman. .It might also indicate that our GM tends to get a bit "locked in" at a position for round 1. In 2011 he was picking a QB no matter how many went ahead of us, and in 2016 nothing was stopping us from taking a WR first - was he dead set on taking Interior OL in 2019? It was definitely a need last spring but maybe you shift the plan if a LT slides to you. And I know you prescribe leaving O'Neill at RT but the Vikings seem to scheme a lot of "add one player and move another to fix 2 positions" ideas intended to improve the OL. I think they see Udoh as a late-round gem and unless they think he can play LT I think O'Neill will be moved to clear the way for Oli.
@"Jor-El" said:@"Geoff Nichols" said: If the 2019 draft proved anything, they value O-line positions evenly. Some teams would never pass of an OT for an interior O-lineman. . It might also indicate that our GM tends to get a bit "locked in" at a position for round 1. In 2011 he was picking a QB no matter how many went ahead of us, and in 2016 nothing was stopping us from taking a WR first - was he dead set on taking Interior OL in 2019? It was definitely a need last spring but maybe you shift the plan if a LT slides to you. And I know you prescribe leaving O'Neill at RT but the Vikings seem to scheme a lot of "add one player and move another to fix 2 positions" ideas intended to improve the OL. I think they see Udoh as a late-round gem and unless they think he can play LT I think O'Neill will be moved to clear the way for Oli.Even in a worst case scenario, wherein we don't add anyone at all in free agency or the draft, the line has some low-key promise....
LT- O'Neill, Hill
LG- Reiff, Samia, Elf
C- Bradbury, Elf
RG-Kline, Samia
RT - Odoh, Collins
@"Jor-El" said:@"Geoff Nichols" said: If the 2019 draft proved anything, they value O-line positions evenly. Some teams would never pass of an OT for an interior O-lineman. . It might also indicate that our GM tends to get a bit "locked in" at a position for round 1. In 2011 he was picking a QB no matter how many went ahead of us, and in 2016 nothing was stopping us from taking a WR first - was he dead set on taking Interior OL in 2019? It was definitely a need last spring but maybe you shift the plan if a LT slides to you. And I know you prescribe leaving O'Neill at RT but the Vikings seem to scheme a lot of "add one player and move another to fix 2 positions" ideas intended to improve the OL. I think they see Udoh as a late-round gem and unless they think he can play LT I think O'Neill will be moved to clear the way for Oli.
That could be the case when it comes to Udoh. I think they probably slot him into Rashod Hill's role as a swing tackle until we see more. But the FO has more film on him than us. If they are extremely confident in Udoh (which they may be) it could make MN a player in the guard market since they could dump Reiff. I probably wouldn't foresee going after Scherff or Thuney, but someone like McGovern or Glasgow would make some sense. Then you play around with O'Neill / Hill / Udoh to see which combination you like best. I'll say this about Hill, they liked him enough in 2018 to walk into TC with him as the starting RT.Circling back to being "locked in" while drafting. I think a lot of teams are like that. You want to fill your largest needs early when you still have the pick of the litter. In the Vikings case they didn't choose the right players at the positions they were targeting. Using hindsight in 2011 they should have chosen Dalton over Ponder and in 2016 Michael Thomas over Treadwell. The narrative changes if they swap the players.
@"MaroonBells" said:@"Jor-El" said:@"Geoff Nichols" said: If the 2019 draft proved anything, they value O-line positions evenly. Some teams would never pass of an OT for an interior O-lineman. . It might also indicate that our GM tends to get a bit "locked in" at a position for round 1. In 2011 he was picking a QB no matter how many went ahead of us, and in 2016 nothing was stopping us from taking a WR first - was he dead set on taking Interior OL in 2019? It was definitely a need last spring but maybe you shift the plan if a LT slides to you. And I know you prescribe leaving O'Neill at RT but the Vikings seem to scheme a lot of "add one player and move another to fix 2 positions" ideas intended to improve the OL. I think they see Udoh as a late-round gem and unless they think he can play LT I think O'Neill will be moved to clear the way for Oli.Even in a worst case scenario, wherein we don't add anyone at all in free agency or the draft, the line has some low-key promise....
LT- O'Neill, Hill
LG- Reiff, Samia, Elf
C- Bradbury, Elf
RG-Kline, Samia
RT - Odoh, Collins
It is times better than they've had in the past. At a minimum they can at least focus on starting the best 5 lineman vs. the only 5 starting quality guys we have. Yes, that is Mike Remmers playing guard (a position he's never played).
what is the story with Collins? his first year he looked like a candidate for LT of the future, then they moved him inside to OG prior to 2018 and he was looking pretty good at LG before getting hurt, he comes back this year at OT and is playing behind Reiff and Hill, do they still think they have something in this kid or has his injury history made him to much of a liability to count on as a candidate to compete for a starting roll?
I don't think you mess with O'Neill at RT after thinking about it some. If you draft a true RT and the move to LT doesn't work for O'Neill... Then we truly are not in any better position than we started. I think you look for LT's only and leave well enough alone at RT.
Short answer... I now agree with Geoff lol
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