5 Vikings players who could take a step backward in 2020

Garrett Bradbury – C

Garrett Bradbury‘s rookie season with the Vikings was a roller coaster ride. He had games where he looked worthy of being a 2019 first-round pick and others where it looked like he maybe shouldn’t have been drafted at all.

He was clearly better run blocking than he was pass blocking and he consistently struggled when trying to fend off big, powerful nose tackles who lined up over him.

The general consensus was that Bradbury just needs to hit the weight room this offseason and add muscle to help shore up his pass blocking. Hopefully, Bradbury did just that, and there’s no reason to assume he wouldn’t do anything he can to become a better player.

The big concern and the reason why he could regress in year two is because his offensive line could be worse.

Last season he had Pat Eflein playing next to him on his left and Josh Kline on his right. Kline was a stud most of the season and considered by some to be the team’s second-best offensive lineman. Elflein was an issue all season long, and teams routinely sent guys right over him on their path to destroying Kirk Cousins or stuffing Dalvin Cook in the backfield.

The way it stands right now, Elflein is in contention to start again on the left side, while unproven Dru Samia is the favorite to earn the right guard job. Samia did show a little in the season finale against the Chicago Bears last year, but he is inexperienced and there was likely a reason why he was inactive for 15 games last season.

If Elflein plays the way he did last year and Samia isn’t ready to be a starter, Bradbury could feel like he needs to help them both out and he could lose focus on what his priorities are. This could be a recipe for disaster and if all goes south, Bradbury could start hearing the word bust be floated around when he’s getting talked about in the media.