Prospect No. 4
Landon Burton - C (Louisiana)
The interior of Minnesota's offensive line is an absolute mess once again. Garrett Bradbury was injured early in the opener, and Ed Ingram was torn apart throughout the game. If the Vikings want to address that issue once again in the draft, I'm not sure anyone would blame them.
Louisiana's Landon Burton had a strong week despite a loss to Old Dominion. Burton, a redshirt junior, was named to PFF's team of the week as the top center in college football. The NFL Draft may not be in his plans just yet with an extra year of eligibility beyond 2023, but Burton has started his season in a strong way.
Interior offensive linemen have such a weird scale in terms of the draft. Some argue that using a high pick on an interior guy is a waste of a pick, while others may argue that pressure up the middle is more difficult for a quarterback than pressure off the edge. With Kirk Cousins, it is clear that interior pressure is a major concern and limiting factor to his game.
Minnesota has not had luck with high draft picks turning into valuable interior linemen, so they could very well wait and take a swing on a player later in the draft to see what they can develop and use those high-value selections on more impact players.
It's early, and there will be more challenging games to watch for Burton, but he is firmly on the radar as a player to monitor for 2024 and perhaps 2025.