MINNEAPOLIS -- We're continuing our position-by-position look at the Minnesota Vikings' roster this morning, with a look at the prospects of a bounceback season for the Vikings' offensive line.
OFFENSIVE LINE
2015 free agents: Joe Berger, Vlad Ducasse, Mike Harris (restricted)
The good: Let's see: John Sullivan had another solid year at center. Berger stepped in at right guard and was serviceable in the second half of the season. And by the end of the year, Matt Kalil looked like he had (mostly) emerged from his early-season funk.
The bad: Overall, not much went well here. The Vikings lost their vaunted right side of the line -- Brandon Fusco and Phil Loadholt -- to torn pectoral muscles, and the left side of their line -- Kalil and Charlie Johnson -- just looked lost for parts of the year, with confusion on blitz pickups happening all too often. Things came to a head for Kalil in Week 12, when he was flagged for three penalties against the Packers and got into a brief altercation with a heckler outside TCF Bank Stadium. Johnson's play didn't receive as much scrutiny, but he struggled just as much as Kalil, if not more, in pass protection. Loadholt also wasn't having one of his better years before he got hurt.
The money -- 2015 salary-cap numbers: Loadholt ($6.75 million), Kalil ($6.29 million), Sullivan ($5.75 million), Fusco ($3.49 million), Johnson ($2.5 million), David Yankey ($561,725), Antonio Richardson ($513,333), Austin Wentworth ($510,000), Carter Bykowski ($510,000). In a veteran group with several players well beyond their rookie deals, the Vikings could look to save money by releasing Johnson, who isn't due any guaranteed money in 2015 and will be 31 in May. He is probably the most expendable player in the group, especially if Yankey bulks up enough to challenge for the left guard job in 2015. If they don't draft a guard, the Vikings could always let things play out at the position before making a decision on Johnson. The other looming issue here is Kalil's fifth-year option; the Vikings have to decide on it in May, and they would owe him the transition tag amount for left tackles in 2016, which should be over $10 million. It's only guaranteed for injury in 2015, and if Kalil returns to his Pro Bowl play as a rookie, he could be worth it. But considering he got off to a slow start this year after offseason knee surgery -- and he plays one of the more injury-prone positions in the game -- the option carries some risk.
Draft priority: Medium/high. The Vikings don't head into this year's draft with a gaping hole on the order of what they had at quarterback last year, but on a roster with plenty of smaller areas of concern, this one stands out. The Vikings need better line play in 2015, and while it's probably rash to suggest they should take another left tackle at No. 11, a guard like Iowa's Brandon Scherff could be a sensible pick in the first round.
