Ever since he was selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of North Carolina State, Garrett Bradbury has been the starting center for the Minnesota Vikings.
But after the Vikings signed former Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly earlier this week, it seemed like the writing was on the wall for an eventual Bradbury departure, and now that appears to be what is going to happen.
According to NFL Media's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport on Thursday, Minnesota will reportedly release Bradbury if they are unable to find a trade partner for him in the near future.
Inability to consistently protect the QB is to blame for the Minnesota Vikings moving on from Garrett Bradbury
During the majority of his tenure with the Vikings, Bradbury has typically been a solid run-blocker, and that was good when the offense centered more around running the ball when Mike Zimmer was the team's head coach.
But under current head coach Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota's offense is more pass-centric, which means they need reliable pass-blockers in front of their starting quarterback. Pass blocking is something that Bradbury has struggled with throughout his entire NFL career, and it seems like it's going to be what ultimately leads to his departure with the Vikings.
According to data from PFF, no center in the league allowed more pressures during the 2024 regular season than the 37 Bradbury gave up, and his PFF pass-blocking grade ranked 38th out of 41 qualifying centers.
In his place, Minnesota has signed Kelly, who, during the 2024 campaign, only allowed 11 pressures and had a PFF pass-blocking grade that ranked fifth out of 41 qualifying NFL centers.
That's quite the improvement, and after years of giving Bradbury multiple chances to fix his pass-blocking skills, the Vikings clearly felt they were left with no other choice than to move on from their former first-round pick.