Trade Cole Strange to a Team That Runs A lot of Outside Zone

[Ring 6]

Struggling trying to remember who we signed. We brought in tackles in Moses and Campbell. We brought in a center in Bradbury to take over for Andrews.

As far as I know, we're going into the season with 4 guards. Onwenu, Sow, Robinson and Strange. While the new coaches seem to have elevated Sow in their estimations, they've downgraded Strange. This tells me that Strange is easily in the best position to grab that left guard spot.

Where are you getting that the new coach staff downgraded Strange elevated Sow? And that conflicts with your conclusion, which I agree with Strange is 100% the starting LG

 

[p8ryts]

My understanding is that the BB JMCD offense likes having a more athletic left guard. (think Mankins and Thuney) and a stouter right guard ( Onwenu, Mason). Strange was drafted at the time when BB was looking to run more zone. 69 has not proven himself in a gap heavy scheme. He does have a nice ability to get to the second level, but he needs to be more stout in pass pro and gap. Now that we have an insanely athletic center who can get down field and pull, maybe its better to have a big gap mauler at LG? Will JMCD run a decent amount of zone?

I posted a thread about possible trades. I think most people assume that Strange has literally zero trade value.

We have an insanely athletic center?

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I happen to agree with most everything you posted here. I see the issue being is that maybe Strange is no longer the guy to get to the 2nd level, given his injury. and he has never been the size/strength player that excels in pass pro/bully ball.
Bradbury is that 2nd level type OC, and he is a cerebral OC. might Wilson be that athletic, 2nd level LG that McD has favored in the past

Bradbury was released by the Vikings because he is too small and got tossed around during pass blocking. Strange has never been the size/strength but you like Bradbury?

 

[Pape]

Struggling trying to remember who we signed. We brought in tackles in Moses and Campbell. We brought in a center in Bradbury to take over for Andrews.

As far as I know, we're going into the season with 4 guards. Onwenu, Sow, Robinson and Strange. While the new coaches seem to have elevated Sow in their estimations, they've downgraded Strange. This tells me that Strange is easily in the best position to grab that left guard spot.

There were 7 additions to the line this year... as a refresher, they are:
signed: Garrett Bradbury, Morgan Moses, Wes Schweitzer (now on the reserve/retired list)
drafted: Will Campbell (1st) , Jared Wilson (3rd), Marcus Bryant (7th), Jack Conley (udfa)

edit: added 9, not 7 as @DaBruinz pointed out - Bringing back Yasir Durant & signing udfa Mekhi Butler

I like Cole Strange... when he has played, I think he's been the best guy out there for us (ymmv)... if Strange69 is the best fit for the LG position, he should play... ain't no if, ands or buts about it... we are not good enough to be trading away potential starters...

Strange has played in 13 of the last 34 games... because of that, of his injury history, I think other teams will shy away from trading for him... hard to justify spending draft picks on iffy players... ymmv on that opinion

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

McVay literally laughed out loud when BB picked him.

Strange has had one foot on a banana peel ever since. There is no way that the Rams would give anything for him. I suppose Higbee, but he is 31 and missed 14 games last season. Nothing plus nothing = nothing.

McVay? BB spanked McVay in the SB. You don't watch SBs? LOL

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

My understanding is that the BB JMCD offense likes having a more athletic left guard. (think Mankins and Thuney) and a stouter right guard ( Onwenu, Mason). Strange was drafted at the time when BB was looking to run more zone. 69 has not proven himself in a gap heavy scheme. He does have a nice ability to get to the second level, but he needs to be more stout in pass pro and gap. Now that we have an insanely athletic center who can get down field and pull, maybe its better to have a big gap mauler at LG? Will JMCD run a decent amount of zone?

I posted a thread about possible trades. I think most people assume that Strange has literally zero trade value.

Bradbury was released because he is weak in pass blocking. Bradbury is not stout. Insanely athletic would include being very strong. Insanely athletic guys don't get released, they get traded. The Vikings signed Kelly to release Bradbury and after being released for sucking now Bradbury is insanely athletic?

 

[Wozzy]

Bradbury was released because he is weak in pass blocking. Bradbury is not stout. Insanely athletic would include being very strong. Insanely athletic guys don't get released, they get traded. The Vikings signed Kelly to release Bradbury and after being released for sucking now Bradbury is insanely athletic?

Since Kevin O’Connell arrived in Minnesota that line, which was largely made up of athletic studs, went from one of the best blocking, and specifically pass blocking units in the NFL to one of the worst.

Their scheme is West Coast Shanahan style and just like Kyle, Kevin has trouble keeping his QB’s upright when it matters most. Their QB’s take too many unnecessary hits.

The Vikings let Bradbury go because he will be 30 years old this season and they had a younger option. The guy is a strong athletic stud… always has been.

 

[sb1]

That's because they considered Strange a 4th round talent, not even remotely close to a 1st round guy. Strange is still one of BB's worst reaches in a history rife with reach picks.

When you keep consistently doing that, you end up bottoming out the talent, which is what happened near the end of the BB era. They couldn't compete because BB the GM had sabotaged BB the coach with bad grocery shopping over the years.

I don't think we even get a 4th round pick back for Strange. At this point would anyone offer anything of value for Strange in a trade? Probably only one of their own castoff draft failures is the most we could hope for.

Agreed with most of that but it’s not that he was a 4th round talent it’s more the fact he was a guard..and the Patriots drafted him in the first round. Unless he’s someone very special there are better things to do with your first pick of the draft and you can find good guards 1 or 2 rounds later.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Since Kevin O’Connell arrived in Minnesota that line, which was largely made up of athletic studs, went from one of the best blocking, and specifically pass blocking units in the NFL to one of the worst.

Their scheme is West Coast Shanahan style and just like Kyle, Kevin has trouble keeping his QB’s upright when it matters most. Their QB’s take too many unnecessary hits.

The Vikings let Bradbury go because he will be 30 years old this season and they had a younger option. The guy is a strong athletic stud… always has been.

The Minnesota Vikings have signed former Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly to a two-year, $18 million deal. This move aims to bolster their offensive line with a seasoned veteran.

Kelly is 31, Bradbury is 30. Kelly is literally older than Bradbury and you say he is a younger option. You are totally lost.

They signed Kelly as their center because they already had a great center? Paid $18M because Bradbury is a strong athletic stud? Insanely athletic?

The Patriots signed Bradbury for $3.8M guaranteed because he is an amazing stud? - hint $3.8M is JAG money. A month after signing a "strong athletic stud", "insanely athletic", the Pats draft the top center in the 3rd round. Why did the Pats draft the top center? Because Bradbury is so athletic the Pats want Wilson to sit on the bench for 4 years?

Bradbury is OK. Not absurdly athletic or a stud. He is a JAG filling a hole until Wilson is ready. The love for Bradbury is absurd. Wozzy, you are completely lost on this one.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

You can argue all day about the Strange draft pick(29 btw- almost the 2nd rd), but he's OK when he's healthy.
He struggled a bit when he was a rookie, but that leg whip was REAL, that wasn't ********, it was bad, and then he tried to come back too early, and that showed.
I think he'll be fine, but we'll see.

 

[Water Boy]

We have an insanely athletic center?

 

[Pape]

Agreed with most of that but it’s not that he was a 4th round talent it’s more the fact he was a guard..and the Patriots drafted him in the first round. Unless he’s someone very special there are better things to do with your first pick of the draft and you can find good guards 1 or 2 rounds later.

fwiw, Logan Mankins wasn't projected to be a first round pick either, and he turned out to be a beast... Cole Strange has not turned out to be a Logan Mankins type player, but the reach didn't really bother me at the time...

I think a lot of people reacted badly to the pick because of the McVays reaction, basing their sense of value on someone elses opinion... Has he been a break out player? no, but he has been a good player, showing some true grit playing through some tough injuries, before they piled up and sidelined him last year...

 

[upstater1]

There were 7 additions to the line this year... as a refresher, they are:
signed: Garrett Bradbury, Morgan Moses, Wes Schweitzer (now on the reserve/retired list)
drafted: Will Campbell (1st) , Jared Wilson (3rd), Marcus Bryant (7th), Jack Conley (udfa)

I like Cole Strange... when he has played, I think he's been the best guy out there for us (ymmv)... if Strange69 is the best fit for the LG position, he should play... ain't no if, ands or buts about it... we are not good enough to be trading away potential starters...

Strange has played in 13 of the last 34 games... because of that, of his injury history, I think other teams will shy away from trading for him... hard to justify spending draft picks on iffy players... ymmv on that opinion

I meant to write downgraded Robinson. Not Strange.

From the list above, I don't see guard help for this coming season. And Wilson may just be young because initial reports are that... he is a rookie.

We needed tackle help and we got it, I hope it works out.

But it really looks like Strange versus Sow for LG and every time we've seen these players in action, it has been Strange who has looked better.

While I think Strange's trade value drops because he's coming back from a serious knee injury, I don't think Strange can be called on often injured player. The patella tendon injury that caused him to miss 20+ games was just a chance thing you see on the football field.

I remember watching him get leg whipped. It looked pretty gruesome, no one's knee would have withstood that, so it wasn't a pressure injury or even someone falling into his knee.

 

[upstater1]

Where are you getting that the new coach staff downgraded Strange elevated Sow? And that conflicts with your conclusion, which I agree with Strange is 100% the starting LG

I miswrote that. It was supposed to be downgraded Robinson. I read that somewhere.

 

[Pape]

We needed tackle help and we got it, I hope it works out.

 

[Pape]

The Minnesota Vikings have signed former Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly to a two-year, $18 million deal. This move aims to bolster their offensive line with a seasoned veteran.

Kelly is 31, Bradbury is 30. Kelly is literally older than Bradbury and you say he is a younger option. You are totally lost.

They signed Kelly as their center because they already had a great center? Paid $18M because Bradbury is a strong athletic stud? Insanely athletic?

The Patriots signed Bradbury for $3.8M guaranteed because he is an amazing stud? - hint $3.8M is JAG money. A month after signing a "strong athletic stud", "insanely athletic", the Pats draft the top center in the 3rd round. Why did the Pats draft the top center? Because Bradbury is so athletic the Pats want Wilson to sit on the bench for 4 years?

Bradbury is OK. Not absurdly athletic or a stud. He is a JAG filling a hole until Wilson is ready. The love for Bradbury is absurd. Wozzy, you are completely lost on this one.

we should have kept Jake Andrews... there was no reason to release him... he was playing on a cheap rookie deal...

Andrews / Bradbury / Brown / Wilson? competition for the the Center position would have been a good thing

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I thought you meant Garrett Bradbury, not Wilson.

 

[upstater1]

I thought you meant Garrett Bradbury, not Wilson.

I did too.

I am not expecting much from Wilson this season.

He's 21 yrs old (actually 22 as today is his birthday) and he has only had one year as a starter. He was a backup until this past year.

Not enough experience and he's on the young side -- it's asking a lot to ask a kid like him to step into an offense and diagnose the middle of the front 7.

People need to temper their expectations for the kid.

 

[Ring 6]

I miswrote that. It was supposed to be downgraded Robinson. I read that somewhere.

Gotcha. I wouldn’t put any stock into reading reports of players upgraded or downgraded this time of year, especially OL because they aren’t really doing anything that they can be evaluated much on any way.

 

[Ring 6]

I did too.

I am not expecting much from Wilson this season.

He's 21 yrs old (actually 22 as today is his birthday) and he has only had one year as a starter. He was a backup until this past year.

Not enough experience and he's on the young side -- it's asking a lot to ask a kid like him to step into an offense and diagnose the middle of the front 7.

People need to temper their expectations for the kid.

Many have done in it at that position. It may be the position that a rookie starts the most, including late round picks.
If we didn’t have an entrenched starter, I think he would stand a very good chance of starting week 1.