Why didn’t the Vikings sign a free-agent guard this offseason?
By Adam Patrick
The Minnesota Vikings interior offensive line will look familiar in 2020.
Back in the middle of March, the Minnesota Vikings made the somewhat surprising decision to release starting right guard Josh Kline.
It wasn’t like Kline performed at an All-Pro level in 2019. But his starting spot at least appeared to be safer than the guy who was the Vikings starting left guard last season, Pat Elflein.
However, Minnesota is currently conducting this year’s training camp with the mentality that Elflein will remain their starter at left guard. For some reason, the Vikings think this is a good idea.
Why didn’t the Minnesota Vikings add a veteran guard this year?
Even if Minnesota decided to sign someone to just improve the depth of their interior offensive line, it still would have been a better decision than what they ended up doing, which was basically nothing at all.
The guys over at Bleeding Purple recently tried to figure out why the Vikings didn’t make any significant moves in free agency this year to add a veteran guard.
Some might say Minnesota not having a ton of cap space this offseason is why they didn’t pursue a free-agent offensive guard. However, guards in the NFL haven’t been known to be one of the priciest position groups, so money shouldn’t have been an issue.
Looking for proof? Over 20 free-agent offensive guards signed a contract this year and not a single one of them will have a cap hit of over $6 million in 2020 and only two will have a cap hit over $4 million.
Knowing this makes the Vikings’ decision to not pursue a guard in free agency this year even more of a head-scratcher.
Some might say that Elflein was still a better option for Minnesota than the interior offensive linemen who were free agents this offseason. If anyone watched the Vikings left guard last season for more than a handful of snaps, they would immediately realize that just about any interior blocker could have performed better than he did in 2019.
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Elflein was decent during his rookie season with Minnesota back in 2017. But since then, he hasn’t been the same and his performance has trended backward. Despite this, the Vikings appear to be giving him another chance to be a starter and it’s something the team could regret when they look back on the 2020 season.