Popular Sports Site Links Minnesota Vikings to One of NFL’s Best Guards
The Minnesota Vikings may be undefeated right now, but there will come a time when they have glaring needs again. One particular sore spot, really ever since Steve Hutchinson left in 2012, has been along the offensive interior, specifically the guard position.
It may seem bleak now, with Ed Ingram ranking 66th among 75 guards per PFF, but there was a time when the Vikings had it worse. Remember Dakota Dozier?
Anyway, life doesn’t have to continue being this scary. The Vikings could get a better guard. Right now, the most obvious replacement is Dalton Risner once he’s back up to full speed, but what about outside solutions? There’s one who could hop aboard the Vikings’ ship via free agency this offseason.
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BR suggest Minnesota Vikings should sign Trey Smith in 2025
Even after signing Justin Jefferson to a record-breaking contract extension and paying Christian Darrisaw $104M, your Minnesota Vikings are still in tip-top shape when it comes to the salary cap this offseason.
If the offseason started today, and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn’t sign any of Minnesota’s pending free agents (not realistic), then the Vikings would have roughly $76 million in cap space, per OTC. That’s a lot of cheddar.
It’s enough cheese for the Vikings to go out and literally sign any player they wanted in free agency. Knowing what we know about the Vikings’ guard situation (Ed Ingram bad, Dalton Risner free agent), it only makes sense to comb the open market for an upgrade.
Recently, Bleacher Report provided a bit of a Vikings offseason primer, where they select one obvious target Minnesota’s front office should go after. To no surprise, they selected a guard, Trey Smith, of the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Guard is a trouble spot on Minnesota’s roster right now, as Risner is expected to replace Ed Ingram when the former comes off injured reserve. However, Risner is a free agent in the offseason, meaning the position will be one of the organization’s biggest offseason needs.
Bleacher Report on why signing Trey Smith makes sense
Smith will arguably be the best guard available on the open market as he’s been an excellent player during his four-year career. Through five games in 2024, the 25-year-old earned an 84.5 run-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus and had only surrendered 10 pressures with no sacks.”
As mentioned, Smith is one of the best guards in the NFL. The two-time Super Bowl winner enters Week 7 as the sixth-highest grade in the league, per Pro Football Focus. Yet, he does tend to grade just above average as a pass protector, so there are some blemishes in his game.
The Chiefs’ right guard has allowed zero sacks but nine hurries (and ten pressures) this season. Considering Ingram has allowed three sacks and 13 hurries (and 17 pressures), that’s still a big upgrade. PFF would agree, as Ingram has a putrid pass-block grade of 29.4, whereas Smith’s is at 62.6.
If the Vikings want to take one massive step toward improving their run blocking while still providing better protection as J.J. McCarthy makes his NFL debut in 2025, then signing someone like Smith would be a perfect fit this offseason.
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