He's back

Wonder how much he signed for... is he back as a starter at LG or just depth? This makes me think one of two things, either Brandel hasn't been as sharp in OTAs or Feeney and the rest of our guard depth hasn't looked that great.

MAD GAINZ wrote:
Wonder how much he signed for...  is he back as a starter at LG or just depth?  This makes me think one of two things, either Brandel hasn't been as sharp in OTAs or Feeney and the rest of our guard depth hasn't looked that great.

Yeah, hard to know what to make of it. They seemed high on Brandel, even saying he'd "earned" the right to start at LG and paid him accordingly. Was that all a ruse to push Risner's asking price down? Could mean any number of things though. Is Brandel not looking good? Feeney? Ingram? The money Risner gets will say a lot. 

Either way, the better the depth, the better the team.

After seeing Brandel in game situations, I do not think there was anything they could have seen in OTA practices that would have changed their minds if they really felt he was the starter going into the season. It would seem odd and also worrisome if they waited this long to secure their starter at G, so would make more sense for it to be in a backup role.

No details on amount, but it sounds like the deal is incentive laden based on how many games he starts. It could just be "hey, I know you're set to start Brandel, but let me at least compete at one of the guard positions. Put my money in incentives. If I don't win, you get off cheap. Worst case scenario is you get way better depth than you had yesterday."

At the very least this probably boots Feeney off the team, which is not a terrible thing.

Pro Football Focus assigned Risner a mid-pack grade at guard (46th) last season, but ESPN’s pass block win rate metric slotted him ninth. Risner, who played for just more than $2.5MM last season, ran his start count to 73 in 2023. It will be interesting to see the numbers here, and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport indicates a 53-man roster bonus and per-game roster bonuses are present in this contract. The Vikes had re-signed Blake Brandel to a one-year, $3.25MM deal. While ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert notes Brandel worked with Minnesota’s first-stringers at OTAs, Risner’s return figures to affect the veteran backup’s standing.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2024/05/vikings-to-re-sign-g-dalton-risner

What's wrong with Risner?
What's right with Risner?
I look at his midling PFF grade from 2023. A 57.1 combined PFF grade.
How much of that was due to him not being signed until week 7? Lack of familiarity with our system? Was he a liability in the run game, contributing to our weak numbers rushing?
Could a full year-plus of familiarity help his performance?

First off, I'm glad that they re-signed him, for depth or as a starter. If Brandel truly is that much better, he should start.
Risner is built similar (6'5" 312 lbs), compared to Brandel (6'7" 315 lbs).
I think we are better at OL with Risner than without. If for no other reason than depth. Glad he got a job.

I'm not sure why it took this long (again), because at worst he's a serviceable starter and excellent in pass pro. For an interior that's been nothing but a mess the last few years you'd think he would have been a no-brainer to bring back. Maybe Brandel works out but you are asking a lot for a late round swing tackle trying to transition inside to guard.

I wonder if Brandel is truly our starter at LG, if they might tinker with Risner at center? It was a position he excelled at his freshman year at K State.

supafreak84 wrote:
I'm not sure why it took this long (again), because at worst he's a serviceable starter and excellent in pass pro. For an interior that's been nothing but a mess the last few years you'd think he would have been a no-brainer to bring back. Maybe Brandel works out but you are asking a lot for a late round swing tackle trying to transition inside to guard.

I wonder if Brandel is truly our starter at LG, if they might tinker with Risner at center? It was a position he excelled at his freshman year at K State.

I think it's pretty clear that Risner wants legit starting guard money and no team wants to pay him legit starting guard money, they'll pay him borderline starting guard money that doesn't hamper their ability to upgrade if it comes to that, so how long it takes for him to sign is dependent on how long he waits before settling.

I think Brandel and Risner are probably fairly close and will be competing for the starting position.  I doubt there is an established starter right now, just two guys they wouldn't feel horrible starting.

I think there's zero percent chance that Risner gets legit looks at the center position.  I think we're more likely to resign Bradbury for 4 more years than to give Risner the starting job there.  I do think they'll have him and probably all the other interior lineman some time "tinkering" at the other positions just to know where they stand if injuries happen and they need to figure stuff out.

Glad he's back in the fold. Doesn't cost or hurt much. He's not a world beater but he seemed fine to my untrained eye.

Andrew Krammer
@Andrew_Krammer
Regarding the Dalton Risner re-signing, it's my understanding that left guard Blake Brandel will remain with the first-team offense in OTAs. Brandel was not at today's practice for personal reasons. Dan Feeney was with the 1's. Risner started 11 games last season.

The Purple Persuasion@TPPSkol
According to@Andrew_Krammer
via@AccessVikings, despite re-signing LG Dalton Risner, Krammer was told the #Vikings still expect LG Blake Brandel to be the starter ?

“And then they bring Risner back, and then Brandel's not here today. And you start wondering, okay, did Brandel go down, what happened? But turns out, I was told wasn't here for personal reasons, and that they actually still expect him to be the starter, despite Dalton Risner coming back.”

StickierBuns wrote:
Quality depth signing with Risner. Glad to read Brandel still probable starter.

For now. This could play out any number of ways. One is that Brandel beats out Risner. But considering that Risner is a LG only and Brandel can play both sides, the Vikings could put Brandel in a competition with Ingram at RG to get the best five on the field. Either way that 3-way competition could result in better IOL play.

Whoever starts between Risner and Brandel, our OL depth is now better.