Kirk Cousins was supposed to be the final piece of a Minnesota Vikings offense that has flirted with greatness for the past four seasons.
However, the offensive line has been the biggest bane to the unit’s success since Cousins arrived in 2018. In three of Cousins’ first four seasons in Minnesota, he’s ranked inside the top-five in pressures and top-six in hurries (the only year he wasn’t was 2019, the last time the Vikings made the playoffs).
But with the emergence of 2021 first-round pick Christian Darrisaw late last season and the development of other young prospects, the Vikings offensive line may return to being a serviceable unit.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) released its preseason offensive line rankings and Minnesota cracked a tier it hasn’t reached since its run to the 2017 NFC Championship Game.
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Vikings Rank Inside Top-20 O-Lines for the 1st Time in 5 Years
PFF lead draft analyst Mike Renner published his preseason offensive line rankings on June 13 and ranked the Vikings 19th in the league — the highest preseason ranking Minnesota has had since ranking 14th ahead of the 2017 season.
Renner placed the Vikings offensive line in the middle of the high-end potential tier of lines that ranked between 13th and 24th.
“This could sneakily be the best offensive line of quarterback Kirk Cousins‘ Vikings career,” Renner wrote. “Much of that, though, comes down to the development of the team’s 2021 first-round pick, Christian Darrisaw. Darrisaw earned a 71.9 overall grade on 652 snaps last season and got stronger as the campaign wore on.”
Over the final 8 weeks of the regular season, Christian Darrisaw earned an 85.4 run blocking grade
Highest among rookie Offensive Tackles‼️
Renner is right about Darrisaw, who received the team’s Rookie of the Year award last season. Darrisaw, selected 23rd in the 2021 draft, didn’t start at left tackle until Week 6 after missing the beginning of the season in his recovery back from groin surgery.
But once he got in, Darrisaw improved game-by-game, quickly ascending PFF’s tackle rankings.
“Darrisaw got off to a late start to his rookie year due to a preseason injury. He ended up playing in 11 games and posted a 71.8 PFF grade over that span, ranking 20th of 39 qualifying left tackles,” PFF’s Anthony Treash wrote at the regular season’s conclusion in January. “The first-round pick’s run-blocking stood out in particular — Darrisaw posted a 77.2 grade in that facet. Not only is that the sixth-best among left tackles for the 2021 season, but it’s also the fourth-best by a rookie at the position in the last decade. Needless to say, the future looks promising for the Virginia Tech product.”
Darrisaw is just the latest development of a young offensive line unit that is finding its way. Brian O’Neill is one of the league’s premier right tackles, while 2020 second-round pick in left guard Ezra Cleveland has shown consistently competent guard play, allowing just one sack last season despite inconsistency from the rest of the offensive interior.
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PFF Predicts Rookie to Help Vikings O-Line Take Next Step
GettyLSU guard Ed Ingram (center) was drafted by the Vikings in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Much like the past two year’s draft picks in Darrisaw and Cleveland have emerged as serviceable linemen, Renner predicted second-round guard Ed Ingram to be the catalyst of the team’s breakthrough as, at the very least, a middle-tier unit this season.
That largely comes due to poor guard play over the years from Dakota Dozier, Dru Samia, Oli Udoh, Pat Elflein, or Tom Compton — all veterans the Vikings tried to make do with on a shoestring budget.
But the new regime has followed through with Rick Spielman’s M.O. of building the offensive line through the draft, and Ingram may be the final piece to the puzzle on the offensive front.
Taking matters into his own hands last season, Cousins got the ball out quicker in 2021 and surrendered the fifth-fewest sacks (28) in 2021 after giving up the sixth-most (39) in 2020.
He may see extra time to make the next read or allow his receivers to develop their routes more in 2022.
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Vikings O-Line’s Encouraging Mark Offers Optimism for Kirk Cousins