The rookie season for Vikings center Garrett Bradbury might not have gone as expected.
The team’s 2019 first-round pick finished with a Pro Football Focus grade of 57.7, a mark that ranked 30th among 37 ranked centers in the league.
Former Bears center Olin Kreutz, who made six Pro Bowls and was a one-time All-Pro, watched the film on Bradbury and said the rookie certainly has some room to grow.
“He has a lot to learn about body positioning and angles and getting his hands inside and punching guys when you’re a smaller center,” Kreutz said via SKOR North. “A lot of those things he has to learn and work on but there is a ton of film of guys doing what he’s trying to get accomplished and you can see why he got drafted early when he gets his head across on zone plays and those one-on-one blocks and cuts the defense off and gashes guys when Dalvin Cook was running all over people. He has a lot to learn but he definitely can develop what he needs if he takes his time and studies film and studies the guys who came before him.”
While Bradbury wasn’t the Pro Bowl-caliber player many Vikings’ fans hoped for, it was only his rookie season. When the team drafted him 18th overall, it was considered a no-brainer among most experts.
We’ll see if we get back to that thinking during his second season.