5 weakest starters on the Minnesota Vikings 2020 roster

Dru Samia/Dakota Dozier – RG

It’s not just the Vikings left guard spot that has a weak starter, the right is side is also riddled with question marks. At this point, it’s hard to say for sure who is going to end up starting in Week 1 as Minnesota’s right guard. But it looks to be a competition primarily between Dakota Dozier and Dru Samia.

The issue with these two is that neither has much starting experience and either of them could definitely struggle in a full-time role during the upcoming season.

Dozier has notched 11 starts since 2014, but he’s never had more than four in a single season. In the games he started for the Vikings last year, he struggled anchoring in pass protection and Kirk Cousins was running for his life.

Samia has a nice big frame and he moves well, but he ran with the third team for most of the 2019 season. He finally got on the field in Minnesota’s regular-season finale against the Chicago Bears. But that game was meaningless and it’s hard to take away too many positives from it without knowing the true effort the Bears’ defenders were playing with.

No matter if it is Samia or Dozier who winds up starting at right guard for the Vikings in 2020, it will be seen as a weakness.

Dozier has been a backup for the majority of his career for a reason and Samia is an unproven commodity. This notion won’t change until the starter can prove for a long stretch, that they are capable of being a quality NFL blocker.