5 options who could start at guard for the Vikings in 2020
By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Vikings have had a black hole at guard for the past decade. But with an open competition at both starting spots, who could come out on top?
When it comes to the inability of the Minnesota Vikings to build a decent offensive line, the two spots that seem to be the issue are at left and right guard.
Over the past decade, the Vikings have used 12 different players as starters at these two spots and the results have been whoever is playing quarterback being forced to run for their lives.
More recently, Minnesota felt like they had things figured out heading into last season. By moving Pat Elflein back to his collegiate position of left guard and adding Josh Kline on the right side, the Vikings thought they had their solution. The result was a number of opposing pass rushers greeting Kirk Cousins shortly after the snap and Minnesota exiting the playoffs in the second round.
The Vikings didn’t do much to address the issue this past offseason, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be change. Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman recently said that the guard spots will be an open competition in training camp and the team would do well to find someone that could stick around at the position for a while.
So which linemen on the Vikings roster could slide into the guard spots for next season? Who would be an upgrade over what Minnesota had in 2019? And which players should be on alert as they look to nab a starting spot?