Vikings Sophomore Faces Uphill Battle for Playing Time
Last year’s rookie class experienced a disappointing debut season. Pass rusher Dallas Turner had some impact, but it was limited because Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard had Pro Bowl seasons, and fellow reserve Patrick Jones had a decent year, too. J.J. McCarthy, of course, missed 2024 with a knee injury.
Vikings Sophomore Faces Uphill Battle for Playing Time
The day three selection featured only one consistent contributor: kicker Will Reichard. Levi Drake Rodriguez, Michael Jurgens, and Walter Rouse were buried on the depth chart.
The latter, Mr. Rouse, was connected to a position change earlier this offseason because the tackle spots are locked down for years with Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill not going anywhere and impossible to unseat.
KSTP’s Darren Wolfson joined SKOR North a few weeks ago and dropped the nugget.
“I’m told, his camp feels like there’s more of a pathway to playing time at some point at guard vs tackle. Don’t sleep on the possibility of him playing guard, getting guard reps, working more so at the guard position, not the tackle position,” Wolfson said.
Entering Minnesota’s starting lineup at guard hasn’t been too hard over the last decade. Many tackles, guards, and even centers have done it. Some of them were late-rounders just like Rouse, including last year’s starter, Blake Brandel. Rouse and Brandel were both sixth-round tackles, but neither can be happy about Minnesota’s offseason actions.
At first, the Vikings acquired right guard Will Fries, who is expected to handle that position for years to come. Then, on Thursday, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah acquired Ohio State’s left guard Donovan Jackson, and first-round guards aren’t in the building to just watch from the sidelines. He’s the second guard who’s expected to be the long-term solution.
Suddenly, it’s a long shot for Rouse to ever see the field. At tackle, the Vikings still employ the two Pro Bowl-caliber players and added Justin Skule in free agency to be the main backup. Brandel could, of course, also be an emergency tackle after years of experience in that spot.
At guard, it’s Fries, Jackson, and Brandel. There’s no room for Rouse even to enter a competition in training camp.
Rouse arrived with the 177th pick last year. That pick was the compensation for the trade that sent Ezra Cleveland to Jacksonville. The tackle was a four-year starter at Stanford before transferring to Oklahoma for one season. At age 23, with five years of experience at left tackle, he was one of the most experienced players in the draft.
In the 2023 season, Rouse only allowed six QB pressures, ranking him second among tackles in FBS football with at least 250 pass-blocking snaps, behind only fifth-overall pick Joe Alt. His PFF pass-block efficiency ranked him at the top of FBS football, as Alt didn’t log as many snaps as Rouse.
In last year’s preseason, he earned a solid PFF grade of 69.4, playing left tackle, right guard, and right tackle. He allowed four pressures in 88 pass-blocking snaps.
He’s now the fourth tackle and would be the fourth (at best) guard on the depth chart.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.
Vikings Complete the Set
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