The Minnesota Vikings are one of the league’s most fascinating NFL teams at the moment.
That is because they drafted former Michigan quarterback and national champion JJ McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.
Additionally, they just gave All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson the largest extension for any non-quarterback in NFL history earlier this offseason.
But, there is another player who has been stealing headlines at practice.
It is 27-year-old guard Blake Brandel.
“You wouldn’t expect a former backup offensive lineman to be the talk of Vikings practices…After four years as a backup guard and tackle, and increasingly unsolicited raves from coaches, Brandel opened the spring as the first-team left guard,” ESPN’s Kevin Seifert recently noted.
According to @SeifertESPN, #Vikings OG Blake Brandel surprised him the most at mandatory minicamp 🧐
“You wouldn't expect a former backup offensive lineman to be the talk of Vikings practices, and it's not as if Brandel was on the tip of the tongue of every coach and player this… pic.twitter.com/N4L86Kd9wr
— The Purple Persuasion (@TPPSkol) June 26, 2024
Seifert also noted that even though Minnesota re-signed 2023 starter Dalton Eisner, they are giving Brandel every opportunity to take over that starting gig at left guard.
Brandel was a sixth-round draft choice of the team back in 2020 out of Oregon State.
He has played in 39 games over his career and has started in five of them.
2022 was the year where he started the most games (3) for the NFC North-winning Vikings.
The Oregon native has also brought 161 career snaps of special teams experience to the table.
For Brandel to be patient and work on his craft in order to have an opportunity at a starting job just speaks to the type of player he is.
If he can find a way to continue to put together consistent practices as the summer moves along, that starting guard job might be his immediately.
