What should the Minnesota Vikings do with Pat Elflein?

After a promising rookie season in 2017, the young offensive lineman’s performance has trended in the wrong direction for the Minnesota Vikings during the last two years.

Back in 2017, the Minnesota Vikings decided to use their third-round pick in the NFL Draft on former Ohio State offensive lineman Pat Elflein.

After a successful college career at Ohio State, Elflein found himself as the Vikings starting center during his rookie season. He performed well with Minnesota in 2017, starting 14 games, but there were still plenty of things for him to improve for the future.

Since his rookie season, Elflein has dealt with multiple injuries, he lost his job as the team’s starting center, and he saw his transition to left guard go about as poorly as possible.

As the Vikings starting left guard last year, the young blocker was arguably the worst piece of the team’s offensive line. In 15 games last season, Elflein gave up six sacks and was flagged for eight penalties.

Now entering the final year of his rookie contract, it’s possible Elflein could be entering his last season with Minnesota.

It wouldn’t be surprising at all if the Vikings went and selected a new left guard with one of their early-round picks in this year’s NFL Draft. They’re not expected to have a ton of money to spend, but Minnesota could also attempt to lure in a veteran free-agent left guard this offseason.

What the Vikings do during the next few weeks and during the draft should reveal a lot about their current feelings relating to Elflein. But even if Minnesota replaces him in the starting lineup, should they still keep him around for next season as depth?

Despite his poor play last year, Elflein could still be useful for the Vikings as a reserve in 2020. He knows the offense and he can line up at multiple positions on the offensive line. The problem might just have to do with how much he is expected to cost next season.

Elflein is due to have a cap hit of $2.38 million in 2020 and while that might not seem like a lot to keep him around, Minnesota could use this money elsewhere. The Vikings are going to be looking for a number of ways to create more cap space this offseason and parting ways with the young offensive lineman could be one of them.

Obviously, Minnesota releasing Elflein isn’t going to clear up that much money. But the Vikings paying a reserve offensive lineman more than $2 million next season doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either.