4 Vikings players the team shouldn’t give up on yet

Dru Samia – OG

There’s no way to sugarcoat it; Dru Samia was awful in his debut for the Vikings. Fans were ecstatic when he came in to replace Pat Elfelin, who was awful once again in his role as a starting guard for the Vikings. Many fans figured things couldn’t get worse.  They were wrong. Samia was okay in run blocking, but his pass protection was atrocious.

Samia looked lost and unsure of his assignments. He also lacked the strength to hold up against bull rushes and was basically a free pass to the quarterback for the man he was supposed to be blocking. Despite his struggles, the Vikings continued to roll Samia out there week after week until he got hurt and couldn’t suit up. That injury was a blessing in disguise for the Vikings and Samia. While the experience he lost will hurt his progression, perhaps saving his confidence was more important and will turn out to be more beneficial down the road.

The Vikings shouldn’t give up on Samia just yet. They should definitely address the guard position in the draft and in free agency and bring in more competition. Samia should be given just as fair a shot of earning a starting spot as anyone. He will benefit from another offseason, his experience last year, and a full preseason. If he can beat out the young guys by improving his strength and technique, then he deserves another shot to start. If he continues to struggle, he could be a cut candidate and will go down as one of the bigger Vikings’ draft busts in recent memory.