PFF’s Recommendation for a Vikings Roster Tweak
Dustin Baker
|
Here’s a little bit of an oddity for the 2023 Minnesota Vikings: the club has only four offensive guards.
During the lead-up to a 90-man summer roster, an NFL team generally has more than that. For example, the Chicago Bears have six. So do the Detroit Lions.
PFF’s Recommendation for a Vikings Roster Tweak
And because the OG room has only four men — Ezra Cleveland, Ed Ingram, Chris Reed, and Alan Ali — Pro Football Focus advanced the theory that the Vikings should add one more guard. His name is Oday Aboushi, a journeyman who entered the league in the 5th Round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
Aboushi, 31, last played for the Los Angeles Rams. He joined the club right after Kevin O’Connell departed Los Angeles with a Super Bowl ring to become the Vikings head coach. Aboushi played in 13 Rams games last year, starting 4 and tabulating 339 offensive snaps. In 10 NFL seasons, he’s participated in 85 games with 51 starts. Here’s the PFF tale of the tape:
- 2013: DNP
- 2014: 71.7
- 2015: 53.6
- 2016: 66.6
- 2017: 52.6
- 2018: 63.7
- 2019: 57.7
- 2020: 66.6
- 2021: 68.2
- 2022: 65.2
Mentioning a ‘last offseason move’ each team should make, PFF’s Brad Spielberger wrote about Aboushi and the Vikings, “Minnesota was able to secure one of the top wide receivers in the 2023 NFL Draft even after standing pat at No. 23 overall, bringing aboard USC product Jordan Addison, who could be the No. 2 wide receiver on the depth chart as early as Week 1. Question marks remain in their secondary and on the interior of the defensive line, but not due to a lack of recent draft picks and free-agent additions, so they probably just need to let things play out on a new-look defense.”
“Aboushi has been reliable depth at either guard spot everywhere he goes, most recently with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s former team in the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. Aboushi has three straight seasons earning grades above 65.0, with grades of at least 60.0 as a pass blocker and a run blocker each year,” Spielberger concluded.
The Vikings now have around $11 million in cap space after trading Za’Darius Smith, a 6th-Round pick, and a 7th-Round pick to the Cleveland Browns for two 5th-Rounders. And if general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wishes to enhance guard depth, Aboushi indeed makes sense.
Aboushi has Palestinian roots and was born in Brooklyn. He’s played for eight NFL teams in 10 years.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.