Why Does the Vikings’ Coaching Staff Have So Much Confidence In Blake Brandel?

A year ago, the Minnesota Vikings were trying to replace an important piece of their offense. They had just released Dalvin Cook, and the coaching staff believed that Alexander Mattison would be a suitable solution as their starting running back.

Minnesota put Mattison on their banner on Twitter, and Mattison started doing media interviews to hype up his role. Kevin O’Connell said during OTAs that it was good to see Mattison in the three-down role he had always been capable of. Still, fans remained skeptical of a former backup following a Vikings legend's footsteps.

The hype was too good to be true. Mattison became the 13th player since the AFL-NFL merger and the first since Melvin Gordon in 2015 to fail to score a rushing touchdown with a minimum of 180 attempts.

One year later, the Vikings are in a similar situation with Blake Brandel. Brandel isn’t likely to hit up a podcast or have fans falling over themselves to select him in their fantasy drafts. However, Minnesota's coaching staff is adamant about Brandel’s ability to become their starting guard, leading Vikings fans to ask, Are you sure about that?

One thing that Brandel has going for him is a lack of competition at left guard. Dalton Risner was a serviceable solution for Minnesota last year. However, he’s still a free agent with no sign of a return to Minnesota. With Ed Ingram starting on the right side, Brandel was their best internal option on the left, and they signed him to a three-year, $9 million extension this spring.

The decision invites questions when comparing Brandel to Risner using their Pro Football Reference stats.

Risner was a better pass-blocker, posting the highest pass-blocking grade (67.4) of any guard on the Vikings last season. He only allowed 30 pressures on 457 pass-blocking snaps. While Brandel had a better run-blocking grade (63.8), he allowed eight pressures on 111 pass-blocking snaps in three games and had a higher pressure rate (7.2%) than Risner (6.5%).

An optimist would look at Brandel’s numbers and cite a small sample size. A pessimist would highlight Brandel's path to the starting left guard position.

Brandel started his career as a left tackle at Oregon State and filled in for Christian Darrisaw during his rookie season in 2022. He moved to right guard to fill in for Ingram during a three-game trial in 2023. The Vikings now hope he’s more of a natural fit at left guard.

Vikings fans have seen this game of musical chairs before. One of the more infamous decisions of the Mike Zimmer era was when they told right tackle Oli Udoh he was switching to guard on the eve of training camp in 2021. The Vikings have also made left guards go to the right side and vice versa more than someone playing franchise mode in Madden.

To their credit, some offensive linemen can play all three interior roles. Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips’ comments suggest that Brandel’s development has improved to the point where he’s ready for a starting job.

“I’m really excited about Blake,” Phillips said during OTAs. “I feel like he gets bigger every time I see him. He’s just a massive man on the inside. But he’s in great shape. He’s always been very coachable. You talk about technique, fundamentals, footwork, hand placement, all of the things that are critical for the O-line – one false step for an O-lineman could be a catastrophe – it’s been very encouraging so far with him stepping into that starting spot on the left.”

Phillips’ comments could illuminate why the Vikings chose Brandel over Risner. A fan can look at Risner’s impact on the offensive line and deem him a critical component. However, a coaching staff looks at smaller things like techniques and fundamentals when deciding who is the best option to stick to in the starting lineup.

It resembles Minnesota's decision with Garrett Bradbury when O’Connell arrived in 2022. Many Vikings fans were ready to give up on Bradbury after a disappointing first four seasons in Minnesota. However, O’Connell praised his center during that year’s NFL Scouting Combine.

“I see a guy [with] really, really good movement skills,” O’Connell said at the time. “Obviously, a guy that was drafted high for a reason.… He did a lot of really good things in college, and it’s just been a matter of finding the right fit for him and the right system and what you are asking him to do, snap in and snap out, that gives him the best possible chance for success.”

A few weeks later, the Vikings signed Bradbury to a three-year contract, and he’s been the starter ever since. Some would say that the signing has been a failure. Bradbury ranked 11th and 20th in PFF grade in the two years since O’Connell took over. However, it also shows that Minnesota is looking at more than what the common fan sees.

There were also a few similarities between Brandel and Bradbury entering free agency. When Bradbury hit the market in 2022, there weren’t a lot of free-agent options that were an actual upgrade.

But this spring, Robert Hunt, Kevin Dotson, and Kevin Zeitler were available but were all out of Minnesota’s price range as they sift through $57.3 million in dead money for the 2024 season. For the price range, the team may have seen Brandel as a cost-effective upgrade over Risner, and that’s why Brandel is in the starting lineup.

Brandel’s contract also suggests this is a short-term experiment. If he fails, the Vikings could turn to seventh-round rookie Michael Jurgens or go hard after a top-tier guard in next year’s free-agent market.

It’s a similar situation the Vikings saw with Mattison. They signed Brandel to a two-year deal they could get out of while plugging him in the starter’s role for a season. When it didn’t work out last time, the team moved on and pounced when the Green Bay Packers released Aaron Jones.

But if Brandel pans out, Minnesota has a 27-year-old guard who can be a cheap solution for the next three seasons. It’s a risk that may be worth taking, one that could see the Vikings find out if Brandel can play guard.