The Minnesota Vikings have embraced a more physical style of play in the trenches this season that has the team off to a 3-0 start — but it comes with a cost of player health, notably starting center Garrett Bradbury playing injured.
SKOR North’s Judd Zulgad noted that Bradbury, who was on last week’s injury report with an ankle injury, looked hampered in the team’s Week 3 win over the Houston Texans.
He allowed a season-high five pressures, a sack and a hit last week — and his 10 pressures allowed are the second-most by any center so far this season, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). Bradbury did not practice Wednesday but was given a limited designation on Thursday ahead of a Week 4 matchup with the Green Bay Packers.
“Bradbury did not have a good game I thought on Sunday. If you watched it he was playing hurt,” Zulgad said on September 26, adding that the threat of Packers Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark could complicate the Vikings’ decision to play Bradury on Sunday.
“It’s not a question of ‘Can he play?’ it’s a question for the coaching staff of ‘How well can he play?’ ”
Garrett Bradbury Proved Vital for Sam Darnold-Led Vikings Offense
A 2019 first-round pick, Bradbury had his starting role under siege during the new regime’s first offseason in 2022. His communication and chemistry with Kirk Cousins was an intangible that kept Bradbury playing despite a few down years.
That communication paid dividends for Darnold during joint practices against a fierce Cleveland Browns defensive front in the summer.
After a chaotic first practice that was arguably Darnold’s worst as a Viking, Bradbury came to Darnold the next day, suggesting he switch the cadence.
“He felt like the Browns’ front had timed up Darnold’s snap count, and Darnold agreed. The switch gave Darnold and the offense a bit more time to work,” The Athletic’s Alec Lewis wrote on August 15.
“Before, with Kirk, he knew the calls, the checks, when to change the play, when to change the protection,” Bradbury told Lewis. “Now, it’s not so much that I’m running the show, but if I see something, it’s, ‘Hey, yo, Sam, maybe check this.’ We’re kinda just leaning on each other.”
Bradbury signed a three-year, $15.8 million extension in the 2023 offseason, cementing himself at the center of the Vikings offensive front as the organization has leaned on continuity.
While Bradbury, undersized and more of a run-blocking center, has his struggles in pass protection, his communication has helped the Vikings offensive line make dramatic improvements over the past two years.
“You’ve just really got to dial in and lock in,” left tackle Christian Darrisaw told Lewis. “It starts with Garrett. He’s giving out all the calls, all the communication. He’s directing everywhere we need to go.”
Vikings Must Manage Injuries With New, Physical Identify
Throughout the 2024 season, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has touted the term “playing style” when talking about his team.
That style, he described as relentless, came out of the ashes of that first joint practice with the Browns. Cleveland’s defense was mauling the Vikings, who had several players injured early on.
Minnesota Star Tribune reporter Mark Craig admitted that he, and several other reporters, took a conversation with Brown defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz as a plea to tone down the intensity.
That speculation, which wasn’t true, ran rampant on social media.
“O’Connell was preaching toughness to his players — ‘ripping them in the hotel that night and saying we better show up tomorrow and be a lot more physical if we want to be what we say we are’ — and hated that he sounded weak to them on social media at the same time,” Craig wrote.
“One of the reasons I got so upset in Cleveland was I knew our players would be reading that I told Schwartz he was being too physical,” O’Connell told Craig. “That couldn’t have been further from the truth.”
O’Connell, the 39-year-old offensive wunderkind with a winning smile, was brought in to be the nice guy after Mike Zimmer’s Mr. Hyde.
However, he has his team embracing what Brian Flores called a “dark side,” which has materialized by outmuscling two of the league’s toughest teams, the San Francisco 94ers and Texans, in back-to-back weeks.
“‘Relentless’ is a word I used in training camp,” O’Connell told Craig. “I told them at the start of camp that if I told you right now we’re a relentless team, I’d be lying. That’s changed now, but it’s all about making sure I’m authentic in everything I do. I tell the team all the time, ‘I’m never going to lie to you guys.’ ”
How O’Connell manages workload and player health will be tantamount to how far the Vikings go this season.
