Minnesota Vikings: Why Brandon Scherff Is Ideal Fit for Vikings Offense

As we've said over and over in the run up to the 2015 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings have given themselves plenty of options as to how to address their positional needs come April.

They have plenty of needs, but none are so glaring that they need to draft for position.

Instead, the Vikings can go ahead and take the best player available when it's their time to choose and still have the flexibility to address their areas of weakness throughout the draft.

The Vikings need another playmaker at wide receiver. They need a starting left guard. They need another impact linebacker. They need an upgrade at one of their starting cornerback spots.

Again, you can make a pretty good argument for filling any of those holes with the Vikings' first-round pick, the 11th overall in the draft.

Here we're going to make the argument for Iowa offensive lineman Brandon Scherff, who would be an ideal fit for the Vikings offense.

Your first thought in reading that is probably, "He'll be gone by then." You might be right, but most mock drafts have Scherff going in the range of No. 8 to 15. One of the most intriguing aspects of the 2015 draft is the volatility of the draft board. Nobody really has a great feel for who's going where from the first pick on down.

Minnesota's Offensive Line Draft History

The 2015 draft will be the ninth for the Vikings with general manager Rick Spielman calling the shots. 

A perusal of the Vikings drafts under Spielman shows that he doesn't place a ton of value on offensive linemen. He's selected just nine offensive linemen in his eight drafts and just two within the first four rounds. 

Those numbers are pretty low compared to some of the more successful teams in the league since 2007 as you can see in the table below:

Team	Record	OL Drafted '07-'14	Drafted Rds 1-4
New England	100-28	14	5
Green Bay	86-41-1	13	7
Pittsburgh	82-46	12	6
New Orleans	77-51	9	4
Dallas	75-53	9	7
Denver	73-55	13	9
NY Giants	71-57	9	5
Seattle	69-59	10	6
Minnesota	61-66-1	9	2

Are those numbers alarming? Probably not. Eye-opening? Definitely.

Obviously the win and loss numbers in the table above are probably more reflective of the quarterback play for those teams, but isn't it logical to think that teams with poor quarterbacks would at least want to have a good offensive line?

Of the teams listed above, the most similar numbers to the Vikings in terms of linemen drafted are those of the Saints. But those numbers are skewed considering that Minnesota has drafted 65 players in those eight years and New Orleans just 45.

The numbers suggest that it's time for Spielman to assign more worth to drafting offensive linemen a little higher in the draft.

Obviously teams are able to find starters for the offensive line in the later rounds of the draft. Spielman has found two in sixth-round picks John Sullivan and Brandon Fusco, but your odds certainly decrease. One could argue that Minnesota hasn't had a dominant offensive lineman since Steve Hutchinson in 2010.

How Scherff Would Fit In

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is now the face of the Vikings franchise. Their success and failure over the next few seasons will largely depend on Bridgewater's development. 

Bridgewater's rookie season was a success by almost every measure, especially considering he was leading a Vikings offense that lost its best player, had an injury-ravaged offensive line and lacked a No. 1 receiver.

All of those components hurt Bridgewater's learning curve, but he still played better as the season wore on. The single thing that stood out in Bridgewater's play was his composure. He never seemed to get rattled, even while he was being sacked eight times by the Detroit Lions or five times by the Buffalo Bills.

"

2014 Draft Do-over: 1. Texans: T. Bridgewater 2. Rams: O. Beckham 8. Browns: D. Carr FULL: http://t.co/iBQVS6Oer4 pic.twitter.com/laQ1dLONvt

— CollegeFootball 24/7 (@NFL_CFB) March 24, 2015"

The Vikings' main priority this offseason should be to make life easier for their second-year quarterback.

That's obviously a loaded sentence, because their are many different ways to do that. A great running back and a couple of great receivers would certainly help.

A stud offensive lineman might help the most.

It's never the most exciting thing in the world to take an offensive lineman in the first round. There's no exciting tape to watch, no breathtaking plays from his college career. But you need good offensive linemen. Go look at that table above again.

The best case for drafting offensive linemen high is being made of late by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys lost seemingly half of their starters on defense heading into 2014 and were predicted by most to fall off the map last season.

Instead they went 12-4 and had their best season in years. Was the main reason because DeMarco Murray found himself and led the league in rushing by almost 500 yards? Or was it perhaps that the Cowboys used three of their last four first-round picks on offensive linemen? 

Those three No. 1 picks turned a running back drafted in the third round into a star.

Scherff is a 6'5", 320-pound animal who would start at left guard from Day 1 for the Vikings and would immediately make their offensive line a lot better. 

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Scherff won the Outland Trophy last season at Iowa, as the nation's best interior lineman. NFL Media draft expert Mike Mayock compares Scherff favorably to the Cowboys' Zack Martin, according to Dan Parr of NFL.com.

A dominant left tackle at Iowa, Scherff, like Martin and fellow 2014 rookie Joel Bitonio, is expected to make a seamless transition to guard in the NFL. Scherff is a powerful run-blocker and has a high ceiling as a pass protector. 

Adding Scherff to the left side of the Vikings offensive line would not only give them a huge upgrade at the position but could also help them with one of their most precarious situations on their roster, left tackle Matt Kalil.

Quite simply, the Vikings need Kalil to turn into an effective left tackle. After a promising rookie season in 2011, the former fourth overall pick has been a disappointment. Kalil showed some promising signs during the latter half of 2014, and putting an excellent guard next to him can only help his development.

ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert tweeted this out on Wednesday afternoon in regards to Kalil:

"

Zimmer said he spoke recently to Matt Kalil and was “encouraged” by what he heard. LT had rough 2014 season.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) March 25, 2015"

That's good news for Vikings fans, and the thought of pairing a back on track Kalil with another first-round talent in Scherff is pretty tantalizing.

Scherff went a long way toward cementing his status as the No. 1 offensive lineman drafted this year with an impressive pro day on Monday, according to Bryan Fischer of NFL.com. 

As to how Scherff might gel with the other blue-collar players on Minnesota's offensive front, the headline from this story in Hawkcentral.com pretty much says it all.

The Vikings have had just one All-Pro offensive lineman since 2007 (the undeserving Bryant McKinnie in 2009). In Scherff, many see a similar player to Marshal Yanda, another former Iowa Hawkeye tackle who received more All-Pro votes than any other guard in the NFL last season.

Again, the most important player on the Vikings offense in 2015 will be Bridgewater. A resurgent Kalil might be the second. If Minnesota is lucky enough to land Brandon Scherff in the 2015 draft, it would go a long way toward assuring both Bridgewater and Kalil will be at their best next season. 

All draft numbers courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.