Vikings offensive line receives top-10 unit ranking ahead of 2023 NFL season
By Adam Weinrib
The Minnesota Vikings have reloaded this offseason, adding top pick Jordan Addison to a wide receiver corps that likely won't miss Adam Thielen to a catastropic degree. Alexander Mattison will have high expectations heaped upon his shoulders, too, as Dalvin Cook continues to search for a team to fulfill his financial desires.
In order for the Vikings' wideouts to get enough time to matriculate down the field and for Mattison to seek and destroy the holes that materialize after enough hard work, the team's offensive line will have to be sterling.
According to 33rd Team's preseason rankings, Vikings fans should feel quite confident in that proclamation.
While not quite in the "elite" tier populated by the Eagles, Lions and Browns (the, uh, BROWNS?!), the Vikings rank a more-than-respectable eighth, and fifth in the NFC. The Dallas Cowboys, who currently outrank them, might slide down the list if Zack Martin's looming holdout threatens their campaign.
How'd Minnesota earn the honor, while just missing the tippy-top tier? Ross Tucker believes the flaws of their "just OK" interior group (Dalton Risner could help there) are masked by two exceptional tackles in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill. Imagine even a slight improvement from the rest of the OL, if those two continue to progress?
Vikings Offensive Line Ranked 8th in NFL by Ross Tucker/33rd Team
Luckily, with O'Neill's fifth year approaching, the Vikings have him locked down long-term already; his contract stretches through 2026, and doesn't make him a UFA until the age of 32.
If the Vikings want to carve through the NFC playoffs and make their intended leap this year, they'll need Kirk Cousins to follow the path that their offensive line and elite playmakers blaze. If you think it feels nice to be named top 10 now, just wait until the dust settles on the postseason. Minnesota's OL will either have a pretty solid thesis statement to describe their greatness, or they'll be back to the drawing board, looking to remake their interior.