Cody Whitehair – G
It always sucks when a guy who is linked to the Vikings during the draft season ends up with a division rival. That happened with Cody Whitehair during the 2016 NFL Draft. What makes it worse, is that he’s also turned out to be really good.
Whitehair has started every game in his pro career so far. He can play center or guard, but he has settled in at guard recently.
He moves extremely well for a man so big and he has great upper and lower body strength. Whitehair is just a tough guy who does his job very well week in and week out.
Minnesota’s offensive line is much better than it was a season ago. Josh Kline has been great at right guard and he is doing an excellent job not only opening up wide lines for Dalvin Cook, but keeping Kirk Cousins upright as well.
However, Kline suffered a concussion during the Raiders game last Sunday and his status for this week’s game against the Bears is up in the air.
This is where having a guy like Whitehair on the roster would be nice. Dakota Dozier filled in admirably for Kline when he went out last week, but Whitehair would be a huge upgrade.
He’d also be an upgrade over Pat Elflein and if Whitehair was on the Vikings’ current roster, he’d probably be the team’s starting left guard. He’d do a much better job in pass protection than Elflein has this season and he would be just as strong in the run game.
Kline, if healthy, would keep his right guard spot and then Elflein would be the primary backup at both guard positions and center. That would make for some good talent upfront and some nice depth behind it.