Vikings: 3 worst moves of the 2022 offseason
By John Buhler
Questionable decisions made this offseason could come back to haunt the Minnesota Vikings.
Though the Minnesota Vikings have every reason to believe they are a playoff contender this fall, the front office has already made a few head-scratching decisions that could prove very costly.
After failing to qualify for the postseason last year, Minnesota opted to go in a different direction organizationally. They let go of long-time head coach Mike Zimmer and former general manager Rick Spielman in favor of Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, respectively. With the NFC being down, Minnesota may make the playoffs anyway, but one bad decision could ruin their year.
Here are the three worst moves made by the Vikings’ brass during a most critical NFL offseason.
Minnesota Vikings: 3 worst moves made during the 2022 NFL offseason
3. The decisions surrounding Garrett Bradbury have been odd the entire time
It is so hard to have faith in an offensive line holding up when the starting center is seen as a liability. Minnesota thought it shored up that critical position in the trenches when the Vikings took Garrett Bradbury in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of North Carolina State. Too bad he has been one of the worst centers in the league over the last three years. Oh wait, there’s more…
Even if it made sense for the new Vikings’ front office to not extend an ineffective Bradbury a fifth-year option for 2023, they have not brought in any free agents to compete with him of note, nor did they add a center to push him from this year’s draft. For whatever reason, the Vikings are tempting fate by letting Bradbury remain their offensive line bottleneck. They are really pushing it.
There may be some belief from within that O’Connell will be able to put Bradbury in more advantageous situations with his scheme as an offensive-midned head coach. However, the Vikings are one bad injury to Kirk Cousins or Dalvin Cook from falling off a cliff this season. If the fulcrum of the Minnesota offensive line leaks like a sieve, then the Vikings will be having problems.
If Bradbury struggles, the Vikings might have to kick one of their many guards even further inside.