Vikings should be interested in starting guard who just became available

Brian Winters was cut on Sunday and the Minnesota Vikings should consider signing him.

This has been an offseason full of changes for the Minnesota Vikings. When it comes to the Vikings offensive line, however, it’s going to be much of the same during this year’s training camp.

Currently, Minnesota doesn’t know who will be opening up the 2020 season as their five starting offensive linemen. For a team like the Vikings that seems to constantly have this issue, one would think they would be able to fix it after so many attempts.

But that would probably be too easy and so Minnesota will begin this year’s training camp with one of their top priorities being their latest attempt to figure out which five guys will do the best at keeping Kirk Cousins’ face off the turf.

Minnesota Vikings should have interest in recently released starting right guard

After the Vikings made the decision to release Josh Kline earlier this offseason, they currently need to find someone new to be their starting right guard in 2020. Minnesota has a few options on their roster right now to potentially fill the opening in Dru Samia and Dakota Dozier, but there is someone outside of their locker room they should be considering as well.

On Sunday, the New York Jets decided to release veteran offensive guard Brian Winters and free up some cap space. Winters spent all of his seven seasons in the NFL with the Jets and he served as their starting right guard for most of his tenure in New York.

Winters has dealt with some injuries recently and that is something for the Vikings to look into before signing him. And while he wasn’t an All-Pro offensive lineman for the Jets, he did have a few solid seasons during his time with them.

Prior to joining Minnesota’s coaching staff as the team’s offensive line coach, Rick Dennison held the same position with New York in 2018. Dennison should be very familiar with Winters and he should be able to help the Vikings figure out if the recently released blocker is worth bringing in.

At this point, signing the former Jets offensive guard is something Minnesota should at least look into. The Vikings still don’t know who is going to be their starting right guard in 2020 and not only does Winters have tons of starting experience, but he has recently worked with Dennison so he’s familiar with the blocking schemes run by Minnesota’s offense.