If the Vikings want to improve the offensive line, there is one thing standing in the way
The Minnesota Vikings offensive line is a contentious topic for the fanbase. After a decade of struggles, especially on the interior, patience with the group is growing increasingly thin. The biggest gripes among fans are with center Garrett Bradbury and right guard Ed Ingram. They have combined for 30 pressures (Ingram with 17 and Bradbury […]
The Minnesota Vikings offensive line is a contentious topic for the fanbase. After a decade of struggles, especially on the interior, patience with the group is growing increasingly thin.
The biggest gripes among fans are with center Garrett Bradbury and right guard Ed Ingram. They have combined for 30 pressures (Ingram with 17 and Bradbury with 13) per Pro Football Focus but it's not quite as simple as looking at just pressure numbers
With the trade deadline looming, the Vikings might choose to be buyers. One of the positions could be the interior of the offensive line but there is an issue with that approach.
Offensive line talent is scarce
It's easy to identify a weakness on a football team and figure out how to best go about fixing it. Once you make those determinations, you can go about trying to fix said issues.
When you look at trying to make those improvements, there is one issue in trying to make a move happen: there has to be someone worth trading for and the other team has to be willing to trade them
When it comes to the offensive line, there is a real issue: a lack of talent.
When you look across the league, there is a severe lack of high-end talent on the offensive side of the football in the trenches. Teams are having issues with finding high-end athletes who are strong enough to be consistent as a blocker. It's one reason why the guard market got significantly more expensive with free agents getting $20 million per year.
Who is even a potential target at the deadline? Not a single name comes to mind that would be a sizable upgrade over what the Vikings have, plus you have to consider the draft capital that would have to be sent to the new team.
Even if the Vikings wanted to find an upgrade, they could come into an issue of finding a player worthy of trading for.
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