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The Athletic evaluates top offensive line prospects
The status of the Vikings offensive line is seemingly always a relevant offseason topic, and it's no different around Minnesota in 2021.
And with the 2021 NFL Draft a little more than three weeks away, Arif Hasan of The Athletic recently looked some potential players up front who could land in Purple with the 14th overall pick.
Hasan featured nine different offensive linemen in his piece, but we'll only focus on three of them here.
Hasan began with Northwestern's Rashawn Slater, who is generally regarded as the draft's second-best tackle behind Oregon's Penei Sewell. Some experts have Slater moving to guard in the pros.
Hasan wrote:
We don't know if the Vikings see Slater as a guard or a tackle, but he has been discussed in draft circles as a contender to play either position. (Given the fact that Ezra Cleveland was discussed exclusively as a tackle by draft analysts but played guard for the Vikings, there may not be too much meaningful discussion to be had here.) He put together the best performance any tackle could manage against Chase Young in 2019 (Slater opted out of the 2020 season), has remarkable on-field athleticism, plays with a lot of intelligence and has quick hands.
He doesn't, though, have the size or length to convince every team he should play tackle and has some power issues when going up against bull rushers. For the most part, he sounds exactly like the kind of player the Vikings have picked over the past several years, though he has more technical skill and a better track record of college success.
Slater made 37 straight starts at tackle (including 26 on the right side in 2017 and 2018) before switching to the left side for 11 starts in 2019.
Hasan also highlighted Alijah-Vera Tucker out of Southern California, who played both guard and tackle for the Trojans.
Vera-Tucker played tackle his last year at USC and could be thought of as a player capable of both tackle and guard, but like Slater, he doesn't have the height and arm length of a traditional tackle. He played well at tackle for the Trojans, but his movement profile does fit an NFL guard a bit better, making his switch back to the interior more likely than Slater's. Footspeed is typically the way tackles are expected to make up for a lack of length, and his average on-field work there points to more work at guard. He met the Vikings athletic standards at both positions and should be a system fit regardless, but he will likely see his best years in the NFL on the inside.
Vera-Tucker played in 31 career games in college, making 19 starts in his final two seasons.
Hasan also wrote about center Quinn Meinerz, who hails from Wisconsin-Whitewater (Division III) and also seems to have position flexibility.
Hasan wrote:
Unrecruited by Division I programs out of high school, Meinerz moved himself up draft boards throughout his final season for Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater and seemingly hasn't stopped. With a dominant showing in the Senior Bowl, his first experience against this level of competition, followed by a fantastic pro day that aligns with his athletic skill set, Meinerz showed that he can overpower big nose tackles and demonstrate the quick feet necessary to take on quick 3-techniques. His size should allow him to play guard as well as center, though it has hurt his agility a bit. He needs to be more technically consistent, but his natural ability should allow teams to feel comfortable taking him on Day 2.
Meinerz did not play in 2020 as all of Wisconsin-Whitewater's games were canceled due to COVID-19.
For a deeper look at the current state of the Vikings offensive line, check out the Monday Morning Mailbag.