Tag: Oli Udoh

New Orleans Saints free agent profile: Oli Udoh

What is Oli Udoh’s best path to starting in 2024, and how does his signing affect the Saints draft plans for the offensive line?

Oli Udoh comes over to New Orleans after five years with the Minnesota Vikings. His experience ranges from interior to exterior, right side to left side. He’s primarily been a backup in his career, except in 2021 where he started 16 of 17 games. Ironically, that was the season Klint Kubiak was the Vikings’ offensive coordinator. That familiarity likely played a big part in Udoh picking the Saints in free agency.

Udoh has iterated his desire to start. The likeliest path seems to be at left guard, prior to the draft. If the Saints don’t believe in Trevor Penning, they’re planning on drafting his replacement. Guard is also where he started in 2021 for the Vikings.

Locked On Vikings host Luke Braun described Udoh’s struggles that year as a result of “a tackle playing guard.” However, guard could be where Kubiak still sees Udoh fitting best. At worst, Udoh can be a versatile swing lineman for the Saints in 2024

Udoh competing with James Hurst at left guard feels just as likely as New Orleans drafting an interior offensive lineman. If the vision for him is at left tackle, he’s a backup. Regardless of the position, Oli Udoh has no impact on the Saints draft plans. Udoh doesn’t even feel like a Chase Young type of Band-Aid at his position.  If the Saints want to get a starter for the future, Udoh will not stop them.

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Dennis Allen leaves the door open to an Andrus Peat return

Andrus Peat remains on the market despite a free agent visit with the Titans. A return to the Saints could help both parties, at the right cost:

Dennis Allen met with media at the NFC coaches breakfast on Tuesday during NFL owners meetings in Orlando, Fla., and he touched on a range of topics. One of those centered on free agent offensive lineman Andrus Peat, who has yet to sign with a team despite visiting the Tennessee Titans after his Saints contract expired.

“I think all things are on the table in terms of how we want to fill out our roster,” Allen said Tuesday. That’s hardly an endorsement for bringing Peat back, but it isn’t a door-slams-shut moment, either. “And so there’s a business aspect that goes along with all these decisions, so we’ll see.”

That sounds like the typical coach-speak to say the door is open on Peat returning to the team. This is likely just a sign there’s no bad blood between him and the team, but a return should be firmly on the table. The Saints do not have the luxury of being comfortable at offensive line.

The one move the Saints made in that position group was signing Oli Udoh. Udoh is a depth signing with limited potential. When you break down his value to New Orleans, it’s very similar to Peat but with seemingly a lower floor. Udoh is a depth piece that provides versatility at left guard and left tackle. He’s played both position, but has limited starting experience in the NFL at either spot.

Peat on the other hand has a lot of experience at both left guard and tackle. He could easily start at either position next year. The longer he stays on the market could be a sign of his value to teams. Udoh can improve depth but  his presence shouldn’t deter a reunion with Peat, at the right price. With Trevor Penning’s progress stalling out at left tackle and Ryan Ramczyk’s future in doubt at right tackle, they need to make more moves.

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Saints announce deal with one of Klint Kubiak’s former players

The Saints announced a deal with one of Klint Kubiak’s former players, former Vikings offensive lineman Oli Udoh:

The New Orleans Saints announced a deal with one of offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s former players on Tuesday, signing offensive lineman Oli Udoh (short for Olisaemeka) to a one-year deal. The Fayetteville, N.C. native played college football in-state at Elon before the Minnesota Vikings drafted him back in 2019.

Kubiak was on Minnesota’s coaching staff at the time, and he rose through the ranks to become the team’s offensive coordinator in 2021. That’s when Udoh first stepped into the starting lineup, playing 900-plus snaps at right guard. He’s also logged about 200 snaps at both left and right tackle through his pro career. The 27-year-old offers some versatility up front for New Orleans.

He’s also recovering from season-ending quadricep surgery in 2023, but Udoh told reporters Tuesday that he’s ahead of schedule in recovery and it sounds like he’ll be active in the offseason program. It’s unclear just yet which position the Saints will ask Udoh to play but he can help improve depth at a couple of different spots.

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6 Offensive linemen the Vikings could pursue in free agency

The Minnesota Vikings need to fortify their offensive line. These six players could be targets for them when free agency begins.

Offensive line is a position group that has haunted the Minnesota Vikings for some time. What has plagued them has been a series of poor draft picks, rough free agent signings and bad development.

Over the last few years, the Vikings have started to find hits, especially at tackle. Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill are two of the best tackles in the National Football League. On the interior, Ed Ingram is slowly developing and Garrett Bradbury is fine but replaceable.

With the current state of the offensive line, left guard is currently open as are the backup offensive line spots. Who could the Vikings choose to bring in to help fortify the offensive line? One seems like a near certainty at left guard so we focused on rotational guys behind the starters.

Vikings announce two roster moves

The Vikings officially announced two pending roster moves

On Tuesday morning, the Minnesota Vikings officially announced the signing of guard Dalton Risner and placed left tackle Oli Udoh on injured reserve.

The signing of Risner was first reported on Monday by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The deal was for one year and up to $4 million with $2.25 million guaranteed. The deal itself is interesting. That is a significant amount of money for a player that appears to be signed for depth.

With the Vikings’ struggles on the interior, could they have brought Risner in to be a starter? Time will tell.

The move with Udoh was inevitable. He tore his quadriceps tendon during the second half of the Vikings loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He is facing upward of a year recovery time

Before the Risner contract was signed, the Vikings had $12.22 million in cap space. That will likely drop down to slightly under $10 million before any bonuses are included.

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Oli Udoh (leg) out for season

Tough break for the Vikings offensive line

After leaving Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles due to injury, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told the media that offensive tackle Oli Udoh would be out for the season.

Udoh suffered a torn quadriceps tendon during a second-half pass-blocking rep. He was backpedaling and collapsed to the ground.

This is a really rough break for the Vikings. Udoh re-signed with the Vikings on a veterans exemption contract that paid him over $2.5 million while only counting $1.2 million on the salary cap.

Udoh got the start for left tackle Christian Darrisaw who was active with an ankle injury, but ended up re-aggravating the injury in between the inactive list coming out and the start of the game.

Our best wishes go out to Udoh and wish him a speedy recovery.

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Oli Udoh and Vederian Lowe switch starting spots

The Vikings swapped their starting tackles in an interesting strategy

At the beginning of the Minnesota Vikings preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals, the starting tackles switched spots, as Vederian Lowe started at right tackle and Oli Udoh started at left tackle.

This is an interesting development that can be taken multiple different ways. You want your backup tackles to be able to play on both sides, so giving them reps at both is a good idea.

The other angle here is trying to find a fix for Udoh’s inconsistencies on the right side. He has struggled quite a bit on the right and moving him back to his natural position on the left side could help eliminate that.

So far, it’s working, as the Vikings drove 75 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown.

State of the offensive tackle room: The Real Forno Show

The Minnesota Vikings have one of the best offensive tackle rooms in the National Football League and we discuss on The Real Forno Show.

The Minnesota Vikings have struggled on the offensive line for the last decade. Going into the 2023 season, the offensive tackle group is one of the best in the National Football League.

Even with the top end talent, there are still some question marks with this group.

  • Can Christian Darrisaw improve on his excellent 2022 season?
  • How will Brian O’Neill rebound from his partially torn Achilles tendon suffered in week 17?
  • Will Blake Brandel and Oli Udoh improve on their 2022 performance?
  • Can Vederian Lowe show enough improvement to make the roster?
  • Jacky Chen and Sam Schlueter are trying to make the roster. Can they make the roster?

All of that and more on the latest episode of The Real Forno Show, airing Monday and Wednesday nights at 6 pm central on the Vikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel.

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Vikings state of the roster: Offensive tackle

Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill have elevated the Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle group to one of the best in the NFL.

The 2023 season is inching closer and closer by the day and we here at Vikings Wire are previewing the season from every angle.

We are currently writing player profiles on each Minnesota Viking on the roster with projections for what their 2023 season could look like. How things look projecting forward is where the real intrigue lies.

Leading up to training camp, we will be looking at each position from a more in-depth perspective. Today, we will be looking at the offensive tackle position.

Vikings 90-man roster player profile: OL Oli Udoh

After signing with the Vikings under a veteran exemption contract, how does Oli Udoh factor in for the 2023 Vikings?

Welcome to the beginning of our 2023 season preview content!

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at each player on the roster in-depth with backgrounds and how they currently project forward on the Minnesota Vikings roster.

What is the best-case scenario? What is the worst-case scenario? What should we expect from them during the preseason and beyond? We will break all of that down here.

As a staff, all of us at Vikings Wire ranked the entire 90-man roster 1-90 and will be releasing player profiles in reverse order.