What took so long?
In late July the Minnesota Vikings hosted veteran guard Dalton Risner for a visit to TCO Performance Center. The four-year starter with the Denver Broncos seemed at the time like a reasonable acquisition considering the Vikings’ two starting guards both ranked in the top five in pressures allowed (per PFF) in 2022. In a pass-first offense, who better to add than a guard who has graded in the top 20 in pass blocking at his position for three straight seasons.
At that early juncture in training camp, it felt like the move that the previous regime never bothered to make. During the Kirk Cousins era, the former decision makers did things like switching Mike Remmers and Oli Udoh’s positions and running out players who had been career backups like Tom Compton and Dakota Dozier. Risner, he’s a legit starting guard.
Entering a year with high expectations for the offense, bringing in a veteran rather than hoping and praying for the “next step” from either starting guard appeared more proactive than what we have been used to seeing. Forget being handed a position because of draft status, this team is trying to throw for 5,000 yards and get back to the playoffs. Get that guard.
After Risner’s visit, we turned on Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport notifications and waited for the announcement. And waited…and waited…and waited.
Right before the opener the Vikings restructured Brian O’Neill’s contract to create extra cap space. Risner time? Still nothing.
Following two weeks of poor interior offensive line play that looked just like the last five years of poor interior offensive line play the Vikings were finally able to bring in the veteran on Monday.
Former Viking Ben Leber captured fans’ feelings in two words: “Thank god.”
It isn’t clear why he wasn’t in purple earlier. Was it the rules about contracts not being guaranteed if a player signs after Week 1? Did the Vikings not offer enough initially or not offer him the starting job? Did he have other interest and wasn’t sure where he wanted to go?
Without question Risner is an improvement. His pass blocking is above average and his experience will be valuable to a line that seems to struggle to communicate and work together. (So much for the benefits of returning all five linemen). But where is he going to play?
The assumption would be right guard. Ed Ingram’s tenure has not gone as planned. The Vikings hoped they could draft him in the second round, have him learn on the job in Year 1 and then develop into a solid starter. Through two weeks he ranks 40th of 54 guards by PFF in pass blocking and 45th overall. No guard has allowed more QB hits.
Risner has only played left guard during his career though. All 3,773 snaps. Ezra Cleveland has only three pressures allowed but has struggled with run blocking through two weeks and graded poorly in pass blocking last season. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said in early August that they discussed positional versatility with Risner on his visit.
What about center? Garrett Bradbury has been out since early in Week 1 with a back issue that also plagued him last season. Risner played center in college but that was back in 2015 during his freshman year at K-State. A football lifetime ago he graded extremely well in his lone year at center giving up only eight pressures on 429 pass blocking snaps. Would he be comfortable playing there if needed? Would he be familiar enough with the protection schemes to command the offense if Bradbury was out for a longer period of time. Austin Schlottmann has filled in admirably, ranking 23rd of 34 centers in overall PFF grade, but isn’t a long-term solution.
Speaking of which, did the Vikings write down the playbook on a napkin and stuff it in his backpack before he left TCO Performance Center six weeks ago? Because they need him right now. The Vikings should be looking at their game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday like the season is on the line. Teams rarely reach the postseason after starting 0-3. While the Chargers do not have a good defense they have enough talent on the D-line to cause problems if the O-line is sputtering.
Though expecting Risner to save the season only a few days after joining the squad seems like a big ask. It’s true that TJ Hockenson arrived on a Tuesday last season and had a tremendous debut on a Sunday afternoon but that isn’t the norm. How much of an upgrade will he be right away? And we at least have to say out loud once before the Risner era begins: Is there a reason he wasn’t on a team already? It’s pretty unusual for a player coming off his rookie deal to be sitting at home watching House Hunters in early September when his numbers are solid.
Whatever the reason, it’s a risk worth taking for the Vikings. There is a difference between being patient with developing players and being negligent in letting the offense get anchored down by incompetence up front. This team may be in a “competitive rebuild” phase but they can’t forget about the first part in the process of figuring out which young players can be part of the future.
Hey, maybe Risner can also be a short and long-term signing. He’s far from old at 28. The Vikings signed players like Byron Murphy and Marcus Davenport with the idea that they could help right now and possibly become staples. The same could apply for Risner.
That’s the best-case scenario. There are lots of questions to be answered before we get there. The one thing we do know is that the answer to “is he an upgrade?” is pretty clearly yes.
