{"id":76899,"date":"2025-05-25T02:44:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T02:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/76899\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T02:44:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T02:44:14","slug":"vikings-legend-offers-to-mentor-the-rookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/76899\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings Legend Offers to Mentor the Rookie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"Sep 22, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings fans react during the third quarter against the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings snapped a long drought<\/a> in this year\u2019s draft when they selected Donovan Jackson out of Ohio State. He was Minnesota\u2019s first offensive guard selected in the first round in 37 years. In 1988, the club chose Randall McDaniel, and he turned out to be a pretty good player for the purple squad. <\/p>\n

Vikings Legend Offers to Mentor the Rookie<\/p>\n

Of course, folks immediately compared the two, but it\u2019ll take some time for Jackson to come remotely close to McDaniel\u2019s prime. The cool thing is that the Hall of Famer is willing to mentor the newcomer, he recently claimed in the interview with the Grand Forks Herald. <\/p>\n

\"vikings\"Aug 8, 2009; Canton, OH, USA; Randall McDaniel poses with his bust at the 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement at Fawcett Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee\/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

The article<\/a> from earlier this month quotes Jackson: \u201cI will get out there at some point and make the official greeting. I\u2019m looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his first impressions of the 22-year-old, McDaniel responded: \u201cI definitely like what I\u2019m hearing. The things that he\u2019s been saying are all great. Just a typical offensive lineman. He does all the right things. Just watching him play at Ohio State, loved him moving out to tackle to help the team out. That\u2019s what offensive linemen do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson started 40 games at Ohio State; 31 of those came at left guard and the last nine at left tackle. Fellow draftee and left tackle Josh Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury, and even his backup got hurt. When the coaching staff was looking for a solution, they approached Jackson about a move to the outside. <\/p>\n

\"\"Ohio State Buckeyes offensive lineman Donovan Jackson (74) celebrates a touchdown by TreVeyon Henderson during the NCAA football game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Ohio State won 38-15.<\/p>\n

Although he is a natural guard and there was a chance the move would hurt his draft stock, he agreed to make the switch and helped the program capture the national championship. <\/p>\n

McDaniel provided some clarity on how hard it is for a guard to play on the outside. \u201cIt all happens so quickly inside. You can work with the center or the tackle. You\u2019re on an island sliding outside. The technique completely changes up. You have to stop and think. That\u2019s the hard part. You\u2019re used to reacting quickly, so when things change, there\u2019s a hesitation for a brief moment. You\u2019ve got to make sure the technique is sound in order to combat that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s new teammate Brian O\u2019Neill recently praised<\/a> him for the ability to switch positions, too, suggesting that\u2019s not something he could do. <\/p>\n

McDaniel then pointed at the things Jackson does best: \u201cThey were known for running that ball. I liked that. I like the way he gets after it. He finishes his blocks and initiates it. I\u2019m an old-school lineman; anytime I get to see a young kid run blocking, I get excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"vikings\"Indianapolis Colts guard Will Fries (75) and center Ryan Kelly (78) enter the field before the game against New Orleans, Sunday., Oct 29, 2023, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
\nRobert Scheer\/IndyStar-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The rebuilt offensive line could help the Vikings finally implement a respectable rushing attack. With Ryan Kelly and Will Fries coming over from the Colts and providing a significant boost in terms of power, as well as Jackson\u2019s presence, Kevin O\u2019Connell should be willing to call his offense more run-heavy than in his first three seasons at the helm. <\/p>\n

Vikings legend McDaniel then promised to be there for Jackson, should he request help: \u201cWhen I first came into the NFL, I had some of the older offensive linemen kind of show me the ropes. It was great being able to pick their brains. I will offer that up to him. If that\u2019s something he\u2019s interested in, I\u2019m more than willing to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson is in a sweet position and has various experienced guys around him he can learn from. That, of course, starts with offensive line coach Chris Kuper, who played 90 games for the Broncos and has a decade of experience in coaching. <\/p>\n

In addition to that, Jackson can ask his teammates for advice. Offensive tackles Christian Darrisaw and O\u2019Neill are among the best in the business. Kelly is a four-time Pro Bowler and will play right next to him, and Fries is one of the better guards in football, who can help with guard-specific questions. <\/p>\n

\"\"Feb 2, 2018; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings and Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive guard Randall McDaniel at Macy\u2019s at the Mall of America prior to Super Bowl LII between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the Hall of Famer. McDaniel is now 60 years old. He spent all but the final two seasons of his legendary career in the Twin Cities and collected seven first-team All-Pro honors (second-team twice) and went to 12 Pro Bowls. McDaniel played in 222 career games and logged 220 starts. <\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s next step will be a competition with 2024 starting left guard, Blake Brandel. It remains to be seen whether he can snatch that starting gig in time for Week 1. <\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Information from\u00a0PFF<\/a>,\u00a0Over The Cap<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Sports Reference<\/a>\u00a0helped with this article.<\/p>\n

\"Vikings\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sep 22, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings fans react during the third quarter against the Houston Texans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[1490,7,233,259,2529,6,22285,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-76899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-donovan-jackson","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-vikings","12":"tag-minnesotavikings","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-randall-mcdaniel","15":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114566179512833510","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}