Dalton Risner to visit with Vikings

My guess is that they feel they need to upgrade Ingram.  Cleveland was a LT in college and started at RG his rookie year, so could see him moving over.  Think it could be a solid move to strengthen the OL. 

Don't think adding him would hurt the OL 

I saw he was still available a month ago and assumed he must have an injury issue or an over valued sense of his worth.

I'm wondering if ONeill isn't as far along in his recovery as expected and it gives them the option to kick Cleveland out to RT if needed 

Hard to know yet, but our starting OGs are top 5 in allowing QB pressures (yuck). If it took the Netflix show "Quarterback" for the staff to realize Kirk was getting annihilated, that's pathetic. Risner's best strength is pass protection. Broncos let him go for a reason, seems like he got a bit worse each season. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't be an upgrade on this team. 

@"supafreak84" said: I'm wondering if ONeill isn't as far along in his recovery as expected and it gives them the option to kick Cleveland out to RT if needed 

Good pass protector, probably better than both our guards at that. Run blocking, not so much. Ingram, in fact, has a higher run blocking grade than Risner. 

Love to have him. He can't be too expensive at this point. But I have to say this makes me nervous. Ideally, we'd hear that Ed Ingram has been much improved in early camp practices. Does bringing Risner in signal that Ingram is continuing to make the same mistakes? 

There are a number of reasons for bringing him aboard.
https://vikingsterritory.com/2023/news/opinion/could-this-dalton

I think there’s zero percent chance that we would bring
Risner in as a replacement for Cleveland in 2024, as that would be so uncharacteristically
Kwesi.  The only things that makes sense
to me are 1)  Ingram still sucks.  They hoped he’d be improved but he hasn’t, so
here we are.  Risner doesn’t have a much
better PFF grade than Ingram does, but his pass blocking is much better highlighted
by his 1 sack allowed vs Ingrams 11 sacks allowed.  2)  Contingency
plan for O’Neill’s injury not healing fast enough.  3)  New
injury we haven’t heard about yet.

Looks like a guy who knows how to get the most of his talents, if he can pull this off I say bring him in  =)

@"JR44" said: Looks like a guy who knows how to get the most of his talents, if he can pull this off I say bring him in  =)

@"ThunderGod" said: There are a number of reasons for bringing him aboard. https://vikingsterritory.com/2023/news/opinion/could-this-dalton

Why would the Vikings sign an offensive guard, as they seem pretty well set in the trenches? Simple — improvement and depth. Left guard Ezra Cleveland’s contract expires at the end of the 2023 season. It is unclear if Minnesota is dying to have him back beyond a rookie deal. On the right side at guard, Ed Ingram fired up a topsy-turvy rookie season, succumbing to gaffes and poor performance early in the season before starting to right the ship down the stretch.
Adding Risner would prove the Vikings earnestness in improving the offensive line after years of mediocrity and, in some years, downright futility. 
Moreover, Risner is an offensive guard commodity that Vikings fans aren’t used to — he protects against the pass better than the run. For years, Vikings football has showcased the inverse. Perhaps the Vikings can, alas, end the Zimmerian mindset of run-over-pass offensive linemen in terms of skillset emphasis and enter a free-agent relationship with the ex-Bronco.

Adding Risner is kinda obvious...the Viking offense is going to be pass oriented...

@"ArizonaViking" said: Adding Risner is kinda obvious...the Viking offense is going to be pass oriented...

boom...

I think they want guys who excel at pass blocking. 

Slowly, they are dragging the offense out of the Zimmer smash mouth era. 

Last good guard was hutch. Bring him in ASAP!

@"kmillard" said: Last good guard was hutch. Bring him in ASAP!

It’s kind of interesting the PFF grades of all the guards
involved.  Both Cleveland and Ingram suck
at pass blocking but excel at run blocking but Dalton is equally as polarized
but in the opposite direction.  I mostly
find it interesting how Cleveland is 12 points better than Dalton overall
despite being so bad at pass protection.

Overall:
Dalton:  61.1

Cleveland:  73.5

Ingram:  57.1

Pass Blocking:

Dalton:  72.6

Cleveland:  54.1

Ingram:  42.6

Run Blocking:

Dalton:  53.4

Cleveland:  79.4

Ingram:  64.2

Didn't our OL Coach coach him up his rookie year?  His one year where he played on a high level. I would love to bring him in for past blocking.  He is considerably better than Cleveland on pass blocking. With Darrisaw+Risner on the left side, that could be a top 10 LEFT side of the line, maybe top 5 in pass blocking.

I would expect that Ingram takes a big step forward this year from where he was.  

Still concerned about Bradbury because nothing has changed about his size and strength

@"medaille" said:

@"kmillard" said: Last good guard was hutch. Bring him in ASAP!

I don't think it's settled that Risner is "good".  

It’s kind of interesting the PFF grades of all the guards
involved.  Both Cleveland and Ingram suck
at pass blocking but excel at run blocking but Dalton is equally as polarized
but in the opposite direction.  I mostly
find it interesting how Cleveland is 12 points better than Dalton overall
despite being so bad at pass protection.

Overall:
Dalton:  61.1

Cleveland:  73.5

Ingram:  57.1

 

Pass Blocking:

Dalton:  72.6

Cleveland:  54.1

Ingram:  42.6

 

Run Blocking:

Dalton:  53.4

Cleveland:  79.4

Ingram:  64.2

The last time I saw a Viking Oline unit that was capable of getting to and winning a Superbowl was 2009.

14 years ago.

I don't see that changing in 2023.