6 free-agent interior offensive linemen the Vikings could sign in 2020
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Vikings don’t have a lot of money to do it, but they need to find a way to upgrade the interior of their offensive line this offseason.
The 2019 season for the Minnesota Vikings can be classified as good but not great. In a way, the season was a success as Minnesota transitioned to a run-based offense, giving Kirk Cousins the ability to be more efficient and explosive with their passing attack. The bad came when the Vikings tried to give Cousins more time to throw.
Perhaps that might be an exaggeration considering Minnesota’s offensive line gave Cousins the most time to attempt a pass in the NFL last season at 2.83 seconds per dropback. However, it was the interior of the Vikings’ offensive line that proved to be the weakest link, costing the team down the stretch in big games against the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers.
Overall, the group wasn’t awful as Josh Kline proved to be a decent pickup at right guard. But Pat Elflein‘s transition to left guard didn’t work out so well and Garrett Bradbury needed a little more time to develop as the team’s starting center.
The bad news? The Vikings may not have much money to do anything about it considering their expected salary cap situation this year.
Everson Griffen‘s decision to opt-out of his contract got Minnesota back under the salary cap. But they still currently don’t have much money to spend on free agents and retain some of their own such as Anthony Harris.
So what can the Vikings do in free agency this year? They can try to add a guard who could push Elflein and fellow incumbent Dru Samia while also providing depth at the center and right guard positions.
Let’s look at six free agents who could be a fit on the inside of Minnesota’s offensive line and go over what they might offer the team moving forward.