Why is the NFL’s worst offensive lineman still starting for the Vikings?

The Minnesota Vikings need to bench Dru Samia.

Heading into the 2020 season, there was a bit of hype that was beginning to build up around Dru Samia and the possibility of him becoming the new starting right guard for the Minnesota Vikings.

However, Samia wasn’t able to beat out Pat Elflein for the job in training camp and that hype started to decrease. Some were confused why the young, up-and-coming offensive lineman couldn’t beat out someone like Elflein, a guy who was coming off of a terrible performance at left guard in 2019.

But then Elflein suffered an injury shortly after the Vikings’ Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers and Samia was given his first opportunity to prove to the team that he was worthy of being a starting offensive lineman in the NFL. Unfortunately, he has failed tremendously in his efforts to prove his worth during his time out on the field this year.

The Minnesota Vikings have a big problem at right guard

Awful would be a nice word to describe how Samia has played in his four starts at right guard for Minnesota this season.

Heading into last week’s matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, Pro Football Focus had the Vikings right guard with the worst grade out of 763 players in the NFL this year. Whether people agree with PFF grades or not, 763rd out of 763 is just bad no matter how someone attempts to spin it.

That was Samia’s grade before Minnesota’s game against the Seahawks and things didn’t get any better for him in Seattle. Not only did he valet opposing defenders to pummel Kirk Cousins, but he was also flagged for holding three times.

It’s now reached the point where the Vikings have given Samia too many chances to redeem himself. It’s incredibly difficult to believe that there isn’t a single offensive lineman on Minnesota’s roster or practice squad right now that couldn’t perform better than Samia at right guard.

Brett Jones, Ezra Cleveland, and Kyle Hinton all deserve a shot to take over as the Vikings starting right guard and there is no logical reason why they haven’t been given the opportunity.

Whatever happens, Minnesota just needs to do something because continuing to start Samia is not going to help the team in any way.