The Minnesota Vikings didn't choose to sign left guard Dalton Risner until after week three in 2023 when Oli Udoh went down with a season-ending injury. The fanbase was clamoring for it over the course of the six weeks prior and they got their wish.
Shortly after, Ezra Cleveland suffered an injury and Risner took over. He was good enough over his first few games that the Vikings ended up trading Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars for the first pick in the sixth round.
With a hole at left guard heading into the bulk of the offseason program, Risner is still without a contract.
Why has Dalton Risner not re-signed with the Vikings?
The one question on a lot of fans' minds is why Risner hasn't re-signed with the Vikings. For as much as fans believe he was good and better than Cleveland, it's not the case. While Risner did have the better pass blocking grade, he fell behind in overall PFF grade and run blocking grade.
It does need to be mentioned that Cleveland struggled once he got to the Jaguars. It can be difficult to jump into a new offense and offensive line and see success right away. Before the trade, Cleveland was a better player than Risner and one thing separated the two players.
Athleticism.
Cleveland is a far superior athlete and it's exemplified by his Relative Athletic Score.
New #Jaguars OG. His #RAS at OT was also stellar when he came out.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) October 31, 2023
Ezra Cleveland was drafted with pick 58 of round 2 in the 2020 draft class. He scored a 9.98 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 3 out of 1099 OG from 1987 to 2020. https://t.co/eULh0N7qZf pic.twitter.com/OhvEJLi8q3
Dalton Risner was drafted with pick 41 of round 2 in the 2019 draft class. He scored a 7.96 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 215 out of 1049 OG from 1987 to 2019.https://t.co/S1QQVmWdXp pic.twitter.com/pUUS9xsDRu
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 24, 2024
The lack of quickness manifests itself in a major way for Risner, especially in the running game where climbing to the second level is key in zone concepts. Risner doesn't move that well in space when it comes to both aiming toward second-level defenders and climbing quickly to that level. It's something that Cleveland excelled at and the running game suffered massively because of it.
With the guard position becoming more expensive in free agency, Risner has openly said that he just wants a starting level contract.
Just In case anyone was wondering… I’ve started 73 games over 5 years in the league… missing only 4 games due to injury… earning the starting spot amongst 3 different coaching staffs… I’ve never asked for a bag, simply just a starting guard contract.
— Dalton Risner (@Dalton_Risner66) March 12, 2024
Being that Risner is viewed by many in the same bucket as Cleveland, that would mean getting around $9.5 million per season. That is too much for what the Vikings are willing to pay and Risner being a free agent exemplifies that.
Now, is that the right call? Well, you could argue that they should pony up the money because Blake Brandel is set to be your starting left guard. Now, Brandel is a quality player but not someone you want to trust as a long-term starting left guard. Something to watch for with Risner is the potential of signing late like he did in 2023.
Will the Vikings end up doing that? My guess is only if it's absolutely necessary. The focus of trying to get the running game back on track will likely have the Vikings looking in a different direction.
