It appears that the Minnesota Vikings may have a serviceable offensive line for the first time in years. Kirk Cousins has limited mobility but has only taken three sacks this year. The running game ranks eighth in the NFL in yards per attempt. Per Pro Football Focus, four of the five linemen have offensive grades of 68.7 or higher.
But rookie Ed Ingram lags behind the rest of the pack on the offensive line. The second-round draft pick out of LSU beat out Jesse Davis and Chris Reed for the starting spot in camp. As a result, the Vikings traded Davis and opted to experiment with Reed at center. Ingram’s PFF grade is 56.2 through three games, the lowest among Minnesota’s offensive players.
Should this be a cause for concern? Or is Ingram just adjusting to the pro game? He isn’t far off from the rest of his fellow Vikings linemen when looking at his raw numbers instead of his PFF grades. He has allowed the most pressures (10) and quarterback hits (four) on the team, but left guard Ezra Cleveland is right behind him in each category. Cleveland has allowed nine pressures and three hits.
It’s also a much better output than what 2021 starting right guard Oli Udoh provided for the Vikings. Although Udoh graded out better than Ingram through the season’s first three weeks, he quickly became the weak link on an offensive line that was already below average. He allowed 34 hurries and 41 pressures over the final 14 games of the season. Worst of all, he was flagged 16 times during the 2021 season. Ingram has only drawn one penalty.
But the Vikings drafted Udoh as a tackle in 2019. After developing there over his first two seasons, they plugged him into the lineup as a right guard last season. That was somewhat unfair to the former sixth-round pick from Elon.
On the other hand, the Vikings drafted Ingram as a guard, and he has played only right guard since coming to Minnesota. That allows him to continue working on his craft instead of learning different techniques for new positions along the line.
We can better project Ingram’s immediate future by comparing him to guards taken in the first two rounds of the 2021 NFL draft. For example, the New York Jets traded up with the Vikings to select Alijah Vera-Tucker with the 14th pick of the draft. He has allowed 12 pressures over his first three games.
After grading out at 47.4 or less five times in his first 10 starts, Vera-Tucker stabilized in the final seven games of the year, never grading below a 58.7. He allowed only 15 pressures over the last seven games after yielding 27 through the first 10 games of the year. Through three weeks in 2022, he is the second-highest-graded Jet on the entire offense.
Of course, first-round picks are expected to be in the upper echelon of their teams. Three guards were drafted in the second round in 2021. The Philadelphia Eagles picked Landon Dickerson 37th overall. Coming off the bench in Week 2 of 2021, Dickerson allowed five pressures and a QB hit on only 20 pass-blocking reps. Even after that poor first impression, he would start the remainder of the season.
Dickerson allowed a total of 16 pressures, four QB hits, and a sack in his first four games. But like Vera-Tucker, he began to display the talent that made him a high draft pick. Dickerson only gave up 15 pressures, four QB hits, and a sack over his final 10 games. So far in 2022, he has allowed only two pressures and one QB hit.
Aaron Banks was the final guard selection in the first two rounds of last year’s draft, the 48th-overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers. Banks only played five offensive snaps in 2021. So far in 2022, though, he has taken all of the starting reps as San Francisco’s left guard. Banks has allowed only four pressures and no QB hits through three games, and his 77.0 offensive grade ranks second on the entire offense.
We don’t need to rely only on these player comparisons to project Ingram’s future success. Despite his modest 43.9 pass-blocking grade, he has shown the strength to hold his own in the passing game. Watch this clip where he blocks 6’6″, 340 lb. defensive tackle Jordan Davis out of the play entirely. Davis was the 13th-overall pick in this year’s draft.
His blocking in the running game shows that he has lateral quickness and, with his strength, helps him open up lanes even against the stout fronts of the Green Bay Packers and Eagles.
Still, he needs to play with better balance on occasion. Here, he lunges and lets Kenny Clark shed him quickly and beat him inside. Granted, Clark is one of the tougher interior defenders in the NFL. But the Packers are on the calendar twice a year, and there are strong, quick defenders across the NFL that Ingram will be routinely tasked with blocking.
Looking at other skilled young guards, plus the plays Ingram has already put on tape, the Vikings should be encouraged with his progress so far. Analytic websites may be down on him, but he isn’t the first guard to get off to a slow start. If he can continue to work on the fundamentals in his game, he can be a vital part of a strong, young offensive line in Minnesota.
