Pretty Quietly, The Vikings Added 1 More Newcomer for Center Competition
Right now, the Vikings are rallying around Blake Brandel, Michael Jurgens, and Gavin Gerhardt at center. Much skepticism exists for whether that trio will create at least a single strong starter.
Does anything change if another center option gets tossed into the mix?
Recently, The Athletic offered a piece detailing an individual best UDFA fit per team. Scrolling down to the Vikings means seeing a young center uplifted by author Nick Baumgardner: “A three-time All-Ivy League left tackle, [Delby] Lemieux (6-5, 309) is a terrific athlete who moved inside to work at center for scouts during the pre-draft process. He has short arms (31 3/8 inches), but he’s a great athlete and a very intelligent lineman.”
The Vikings Add a New Center to Competition
On the team website, there’s only a single center (Gerhardt, the 7th-Round selection) on the roster, at least if the criteria involves looking for a “C” being attached to names on the roster list. Such simplicity doesn’t fully capture what’s taking place.
In Brandel, the Vikings are employing a 5-in-1 player who can shuffle all over the place. His journey has involved going from college OT, to backup OT in the NFL, to backup/starting OG, and now to the favorite to being the C1 in Week 1. Likewise, Jurgens possesses versatility, but his is more bland than Brandel since he’s constrained to the interior of the o-line.
The online component of things lists Brandel as a “G” and Jurgens as a “G.”
Keep looking through the list of players and Delby Lemieux will show up. His position is a vague, unsatisfying “OL” tag. But while the team website is careful not to shoehorn him into a position, the draft analysis community hasn’t been.
Draft scout Lance Zierlein offers an assessment on the NFL website: “Lemieux is very athletic and will have no issues as a pulling center or in getting to his landmarks on outside zone. He’s low-cut and can fit up blocks with leverage but needs to add more bulk. His pass protection is a concern — even inside. He will need to improve his footwork and patience in order to protect at a functional level as a pro.”
Writing for Bleacher Report, Brandon Thorn — an online authority on the offensive line — describes the young fella accordingly: “Lemieux is a 6’4″, 295-pound center prospect who entered the Dartmouth program as an unranked recruit in the 2022 class. The team captain started 27 career games at left tackle, with appearances at right tackle during his freshman campaign. He became an unanimous Ivy league All-American in 2025 and First-Team selection in 2024. Lemieux accepted an invite to the 2026 Senior Bowl.”
Check out what Thor Nystrom had to say on social media: “Strong UDFA showing from the Vikings. Gonna call two shots: My boy Delby Lemieux upsets Jurgens and R7 pick Gerhart to win the C2 job, and Thorson upsets Johnny Hekker — forcing KOC to give his friend the Godfather goodbye — for the punting gig.”
Stepping back from those assessments means being able to see a lot that’s worth praising.
A touch small, Mr. Lemieux is a smart player who boasts very good athleticism; his 9.33 RAS Score is elite. Operating at center in a scheme like Minnesota’s means needing those two things: brains and movement abilities. Likewise, the detail about being a captain is worth remembering, as well, since being a center means needing to be a leader. Rounding out the optimism is that Lemieux must be a worker. Very few go from being an Ivy League lineman who wasn’t ranked going into college to an offseason NFL roster. Clearly, Lemieux isn’t allergic to work.
Now, that doesn’t mean that Lemieux is going to be the Week 1 starter at center. What’s worth noting is simply that the Vikings have brought him to town to compete. Check out how the center competition looks with the undrafted young lad in the mix:
- C1: Blake Brandel
- C2: Michael Jurgens
- C3: Gavin Gerhardt
- C4: Delby Lemieux
Combined, these four are meant to produce a single competent starter. Not elite, perhaps, but somebody capable of keeping the quarterback from getting body-slammed on a routine basis.
Otherwise, the turn will be toward someone from free agency. Or, perhaps, there’s a turn to the trade market. Some have even considered the possibility of Garrett Bradbury. A few weeks ago, that notion would appear foolish, but then the Bears scooped up Logan Jones — a very promising young center in the 2026 NFL Draft. What does that mean for the former 1st-Round selection?
In Delby Lemieux, the Vikings have signed a lineman who comes in at 6’5″ and weighs 305 pounds. He’ll get going with rookie minicamp at the end of the week.
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