The Vikings are down to one preseason game, and the biggest unresolved issue on the roster is staring them right in the face: center.
Saturday’s 3-13 loss to the Ravens didn’t feature most of Minnesota’s starters, but it still offered a harsh look at how fragile the offensive line depth has become. The backup quarterbacks spent too much of the afternoon under duress, and the pressure made it impossible to ignore how shaky the interior has looked behind the projected starters.
Minnesota should be in decent shape on four spots up front. Christian Darrisaw, Donovan Jackson, Will Fries and Brian O'Neill are all back from last season and are expected to be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 NFL regular season. The problem is what happens in the middle, where Blake Brandel is set to open the year as the full-time starter at center for the first time.
Brandel handled fill-in duty last season when Ryan Kelly was sidelined by concussions, but this camp has not gone smoothly. He has had multiple practices where he struggled to snap the ball cleanly in shotgun, a mistake the Vikings simply can’t live with once the games count.
And if Brandel slips, the options behind him do not inspire much confidence.
Michael Jurgens has had a rough preseason against both the Ravens and the Giants. Through 73 offensive snaps, he has allowed two pressures and carries a 50.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. That’s not the kind of profile that suggests Minnesota has a reliable fallback.
Rookie Gavin Gerhardt, a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, has also failed to make much of an impact in camp or in exhibition action. The Vikings have even tried guard Joe Huber at center during training camp when Brandel was unavailable, which says plenty about how thin the position looks.
With the roster cut deadline coming Sunday at 5 p.m. CT, Minnesota may have to look outside the building for help.
A trade is one possibility, and Sports Illustrated’s Trevor Ripley suggested over the weekend that the Vikings should consider Seattle center Olu Oluwatimi, who has fallen out of favor there. Another route would be claiming a center who gets released when teams trim to 53.
However they do it, the Vikings need to find a center they trust. The position is too important to wing it, and with the season closing in fast, Minnesota still has not found a clean answer.
In Other News...
Vikings May Have Found The Run Stuffer Brian Flores Needed
Domonique Orange has quickly become one of the more interesting early developments in Vikings camp, and it is easy to see why. The rookie third-round pick out of Iowa State already looks like he can help Minnesota shore up the middle, bringing the kind of size and power that can make life miserable for interior offensive linemen. Analysts have even drawn a familiar comparison to former Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams, a name that still carries weight around these parts for the way he anchored the run defense.
For Brian Flores, that sort of presence is exactly the kind of addition the front would be looking for. Orange has shown the ability to push blockers back and hold his ground in the gaps, which gives Minnesota a chance to get sturdier up front without asking too much of him too soon. The expectation is that he will have a role right away in the rotation, and if those early signs hold, the Vikings may have found a useful run stuffer before his first season even gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Are Trying An Unusual Chaz Chambliss Experiment
Chaz Chambliss has become one of the more unusual camp stories around the Vikings this summer, spending time at fullback during joint practices after lining up as an outside linebacker. He also switched his jersey number from 57 to 40, a move that makes him eligible to handle both roles and gives Minnesota some added flexibility as it sorts through the depth chart behind the starters.
Chambliss arrived as an undrafted free agent last offseason and spent most of his rookie year working on special teams, so this is not exactly a sudden reinvention. Still, the Vikings seem to be exploring him as an emergency fullback option, potentially as a backup to rookie Max Bredeson, which is the kind of cross-training that can quietly shape a roster even if it never becomes a headline move on game day. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Roster Crunch Now Starts With A Quarterback Decision
With the final preseason game still to come, the Vikings are now deep into the kind of roster math that turns every snap into an audition. The most immediate call centers on quarterback, where Kyler Murray has been named the Week 1 starter as Minnesota moves toward the deadline for cutting the roster to 53 players. From there, the staff is still weighing backup options and sorting through several camp battles that have carried into August.
The quarterback choice only sharpens the pressure on the rest of the roster, especially with projected spots still up for grabs on both sides of the ball. Minnesota has seen encouraging stretches in camp and preseason action, but there are still clear questions to settle at key depth spots on offense and defense before the next round of decisions arrives. [Read more 🡒]