Minnesota desperately needed Pat Elflein back when Dru Samia was the starting right guard.
Samia was clearly not ready for the starting position. The Vikings interior offensive line struggled in pass protection and the offense sputtered in Elflein’s absence for the most part.
Elflein remains on IR, but when Samia went down with an injury, the Vikings gave a rookie offensive lineman a chance: Ezra Cleveland.
Cleveland, a second-round pick in this year’s draft, has filled the void at right guard despite playing tackle in college. He hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been good in pass protection, which helps the Minnesota interior quite a bit.
He’s also been stellar at times in run blocking and it’s shown in the Vikings offense as a whole. Dalvin Cook has ran for over 160 rushing yards in each of the last two games.
Cook is used to making his offensive line look better than they actually are, but recently, the Vikings blockers, Irv Smith Jr. and C.J. Ham included, have been making Cook look good.
In 2019, Elflein was pretty inconsistent. He was probably the worst Minnesota offensive lineman. In his one game against Green Bay this season, he was actually pretty good.
So the Vikings are left with a decision to make: Do you give Elflein his starting job back or do you play Cleveland to help him develop?
Cleveland might not be a right guard long term, and Elflein could very well come back and be better than Cleveland is right now. I think it really just comes down to how the season plays out. If Elflein hypothetically comes back and the Vikings look out of the playoff picture, it may help to leave Cleveland in.
But I think if Minnesota wins in Chicago, this season’s outlook could drastically change. The Vikings should play their five best offensive linemen in an effort to make the playoffs. I’m not sure if it is Cleveland or Elflein at this point, but I think it’s close if Elflein can play like he did vs. the Packers.
Elflein needs to be cleared by Nov. 16, or he’ll have to stay on the injured reserve. That means we will find out soon whether Minnesota will have to make a decision or not. Maybe Elflein stays on IR, and Cleveland continues to grow.