Minnesota Vikings have difficult decision ahead of them to maximize the offense after the bye week and beyond
It’s the question that many are asking.
The offensive line for the Minnesota Vikings has been the most difficult aspect of the team this season.
Over the course of the first five games, the Vikings have lost 13 games so far on offense due to injury, with the majority of them coming on the offensive line.
| LT Christian Darrisaw | 2 games |
| LG Donovan Jackson | 2 games |
| QB J.J. McCarthy | 3 games |
| C Ryan Kelly | 2 games |
| RT Brian O’Neill | 1 game |
| RB Aaron Jones | 3 games |
Center has been a revolving door for the first five weeks, and not because of their play. Kelly hasn’t just missed two full games, but missed the second half of two others. That has led to multiple other players getting starts at the position. With Kelly currently on injured reserve, who should the Vikings start: Michael Jurgens or Blake Brandel?
Minnesota Vikings have difficult choice for starting center
The next three games at minimum will have a backup at center, but who should get the nod? There are two very different paths to take.
The conventional path is to give the job to Jurgens. The Vikings made him the 230th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Wake Forest. They believed he could potentially be a starter, and Kelly’s contract structure makes it easy to move on with nearly $9 million in salary cap savings if Jurgens shows something.
He’s gotten extensive playing time in his first three games, logging 126 snaps, including his one start against the Cincinnati Bengals. Pro Football Focus didn’t grade him highly.
- Overall grade: 45.6
- Pass blocking grade: 58.0
- Run blocking grade: 58.4
In those games, Jurgens has only allowed five pressures on 81 pass blocking snaps, with four of them coming on 44 true pass sets. A 92% efficiency isn’t great, but this was his first NFL experience in the regular season.
The best part of Jurgens’ game is in the run game, which is par for the course with most young offensive linemen. He can generate some serious movement. There are still technique issues for Jurgens in pass protection, but he’s still growing in those areas.
On Sunday, the Vikings didn’t have Jurgens due to a hamstring injury, which means Brandel got his first snaps at center in his NFL or college career. They didn’t have much of a choice with the multitude of injuries, but a Brandel anchored offensive line with four backups helped lead the Vikings to a game-winning drive and comeback victory against the Cleveland Browns in London.
The game tape was relatively simple for Brandel. He wasn’t doing much in terms of changing protection calls at the line of scrimmage, but he did what a center needs to do: snap the ball safely. Every center exchange with the quarterback was clean, and when you have a new center, especially one where it’s not his natural position, the biggest concern is the snap. He calmed down those concerns on Sunday.
Pro Football Focus didn’t view Brandel’s first game at center as a success.
- Offensive grade: 41.0
- Pass blocking grade: 54.2
- Run blocking grade: 42.5
These grades don’t reflect the good game he had, especially in pass protection. He allowed just two pressures, with one resulting in a sack. Head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke highly of his first start.
“I thought Blake Brandel, for his first time playing center, the tape personified everything we think of Blake and have from a versatility standpoint,” said O’Connell. “But for him to step in and run the show the way he did, communicate, and play with physicality and technique was a real positive for Blake.”
With experience at all five positions on the offensive line, Brandel is quickly becoming one of the more valuable offensive linemen in the league. Once he engages with you, Brandel keeps it under control.
What is the right choice for the Vikings?
There is a good argument for both players. Jurgens is a career center who has experience with the nuances of the position, whereas Brandel has a lot of NFL experience that translates to center, but he doesn’t have experience with protection calls and communicating across the line.
One area where Brandel has over Jurgens is penalties. The only penalty he had as the starting center was a holding penalty. Jurgens has been credited with four penalties, and that’s been a major issue with this team so far this year, especially procedural ones.
The one point I continue to come back to is this: making Brandel your long-term center takes away his value as the versatile backup that you need. If you can avoid losing that element, that is preferred for the health of the offensive line. Jurgens should get the first crack at being the starter for that reason, and the Vikings believe he can be a starter in the league.
Now, if it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to Brandel as an option. Nothing is set in stone, but Jurgens should get the first look.