There’s no two ways about it: Backup offensive tackle Oli Udoh struggled mightily against the Tennessee Titans’ backup defensive front in last weekend’s 24-16 preseason loss. The often criticized and easily ridiculed Udoh surrendered two sacks and looked downright awful in doing so. And this was coming off a preseason opener at Seattle where Udoh allowed two pressures on only 22 pass blocking snaps. Not exactly the start to the 2023 campaign that the fifth-year offensive lineman was hoping for.
After two consecutive duds in the preseason, the boo birds that were ever-present for Udoh throughout the 2021 campaign have returned — and in a big way. Folks have started questioning whether or not Udoh even has a spot on the 53-man roster following last week’s debacle.
When it comes to the preseason vitriol surrounding Udoh, allow me to quote Minnesota’s favorite quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, after his Green Bay Packers limped out the gates to a 1-2 start in the 2016 season.
“R-E-L-A-X. Relax.”
With all due respect to the many talented players fighting tooth and nail to earn a roster spot, who actually gives a damn about the preseason? Don’t get me wrong, it would obviously be much more desirable to have Minnesota’s backup right tackle playing at a noticeably higher level with the regular season only two weeks away. Does the preseason serve a purpose for unproven guys who have yet to earn their opportunity when the games mean something? No question.
But that’s just it. Last we saw of Udoh, he took full advantage of the opportunity that was presented to him when right tackle Brian O’Neill was lost for the season following a Week 17 Achilles injury at Green Bay. In two starts to close out 2022 — including the Wild Card playoff game against the New York Giants — Udoh was nothing short of fantastic.
On a combined 70 pass-blocking opportunities across those two starts, he allowed just two pressures (an elite rate of 2.9%) and didn’t give up a sack nor a quarterback hit. And for those of you who still lend credence to Pro Football Focus’s grading system (hey, more power to ya), Udoh graded out as the eighth-best tackle across the NFL during Wild Card weekend at 79.2. For context, 2022 Pro Bowl left tackle Christian Darrisaw graded out at 79.1 in the Wild Card game against the Giants.
Not to twist the knife on the heartbreaking loss that abruptly ended Minnesota’s dream season last January, but even Kevin O’Connell underestimated the type of performance that Udoh was putting on display in the playoffs. Udoh was holding up all day against New York’s nightmarish front, led by Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, and 2022 No. 5-overall draft pick Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Yet on the final offensive play of the season — yes, that dreadful fourth-and-eight — O’Connell called for Hockenson to provide help for Udoh with a chip release. Notice in the clip below how defensive coordinator Wink Martindale overloads his front to the strong side and then calls a stunt for Thibodeaux and Williams. Then watch how Udoh picks it up with relative ease and completely stonewalls Williams.
So forgive me when I say that the Udoh pitchfork brigade needs to ease up and stop being prisoners of the moment in mid-to-late August when the games mean absolutely nothing. Is Udoh ready to be a full-time starter at right tackle? Absolutely not. Can the Vikings count on Udoh if Darrisaw or O’Neill is forced to miss time? He’s already proven that — and then some. Could it be that Udoh became guilty by association in the court of public Skolider opinion after Tennessee’s defensive front completely embarrassed Minnesota’s interior offensive line last week in joint practices? Possibly. Or maybe Udoh just laid back-to-back stinkers in exhibition games. Nothing more, nothing less.
Point is, the Vikings are in no position whatsoever to just discard any of their existing big uglies that have already proven that they can contribute to winning in real games. And one would think that Udoh’s domination when the lights were at their brightest during last year’s postseason would have earned him the benefit of the doubt. But here we are having to talk folks off the ledge in August.
Having said that, there is genuine reason for concern about Udoh’s preseason struggles. If these shortcomings continue if the Vikings thrust Udoh into a spot start or two at tackle when the regular season begins, that becomes an entirely different conversation. But let’s cross that bridge when we get there, because Udoh is still the same player who went above and beyond when the Vikings needed him most last January — even if he currently looks like a shell of the version that we saw in the playoffs.
