Over the past decade, the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive line has been a major issue. From starting the likes of Dakota Dozier at guard for an extended period of time to issues at left tackle before the selection of Christian Darrisaw, it’s scarred fans for a long time.
Once they got Darrisaw in the fold, the Vikings had two tackles that could win one-on-one matchups consistently. That left the interior as the only weakness that fans have been clamoring to be fixed for the last 10+ years.
The interior is “fine” but they look much worse when you have great tackles. However, one stat absolves them somewhat.
Is Sam Darnold the cause of the Vikings OL issues?
The offensive line has this perception that they aren’t very good across the fanbase. The complaints you hear about Ed Ingram and Garrett Bradbury have been vast and consistent, but are they really a major issue?
Ingram’s PFF grade is currently the 61st ranked guard of 70 that qualifies with a Pro Football Focus grade of 52.7 and Bradbury is the 16th ranked center of 35 that qualifies with a 66.1 grade. Those grades aren’t overall horrible but it’s definitely something that could be improved. What is more interesting is the pressure numbers.
Through five games, the Vikings have allowed 53 pressures through five games with 30 of them being credited to Ingram (17) and Bradbury (13). Is it as simple as they have just allowed a ton of pressure or is there more to it?
One of the interesting things about offensive line play is there are multiple ways to quantify their success or failures. There are a lot of metrics to help us understand offensive line play better.
Next Gen Stats from nfl.com is a great tool with a lot of interesting data. The Vikings rank top five in two categories:
Sam Darnold’s time to throw: 2nd (3.14 seconds) Sam Darnold’s percent of dropbacks under pressure: 5th (37.7%)
Those are both big numbers. Darnold has had a lot of time to throw the football and has been given some very clean pockets. Is Darnold holding onto the football the real issue? I think it’s a big factor as to why.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell is an aggressive playcaller who likes to attack the intermediate level of the field. The interception he threw when he targeted Jordan Addison was on an 18-yard dig route on third and 15.
When you throw the ball down the field like that, you need to be able to protect down the field. Through five games, Darnold ranks fifth in 9.4 yards air yards/attempt. O’Connell loves to attack down the field Darnold is more than willing. How is he able to attack down the field? Clean, sustained pockets.
The other metric that we have at our disposal is ESPN’s pass-block win rate. It’s not a perfect metric, as it only measures players blocking for 2.5 seconds or longer. The Vikings as a team do so 63% of the time, good for ninth in the NFL. It’s not a perfect metric, but it does show that the Vikings are doing a good job in sustaining blocks for a long period of time.
So, where is the disconnect? How come the grades from PFF are so different? This is where the most important factor comes into play: the eye test. No matter what metrics you want to use, nothing will beat what your eyes tell you.
What do my eyes say? You won’t have perfection from the offensive line but the tackles are great and the interior will give you solid play, especially for the money you give them. It’s also important to note that O’Connell is asking them to perform at a very high level
Would we like to have better players on the interior? Sure, but where are you removing resources to improve an already good unit? The Vikings offensive line is good and it’s time to admit it.