The Vikings declined center Garrett Bradbury's fifth-year option in May, thereby making 2022 a platform year for the NC State product. Bradbury’s play through the first five games of the current campaign has considerably raised his free agent stock, though he wants to remain in Minnesota for the long haul, as Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes.
“Absolutely,” Bradbury said when asked if he hopes to stay with the Vikings. “I love this team, I love the offensive line here, I love the coaches. We’ll let that work itself out in the spring because I can’t do anything about it this week.”
Bradbury expressed those same sentiments back in June, but at the time, it seemed unlikely that the team would want to continue what had been a disappointing relationship. After all, Bradbury struggled mightily with his pass-blocking over his first three years in the league, which is why the Vikings decided against exercising the option that would have kept him under club control through the 2023 season. Even in August, Bradbury’s hold on his starting job was reportedly less than secure.
However, Bradbury entered the team’s Week 6 contest as the ninth-best center in the league in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, which assigned him a strong 72.0 pass-blocking grade and has charged him with one sack. Part of the improvement stems from the 10 pounds of muscle that Bradbury added over the offseason, which he says has helped him in his battles with opposing nose tackles. The fact that he is surrounded by other quality O-linemen also helps.
When asked if he sees Bradbury as a long-term anchor in the middle of the line, head coach Kevin O’Connell was somewhat noncommittal, saying, “I’m a big fan of Garrett, how he’s playing, how he projects in our offense. I know [quarterback] Kirk [Cousins] feels great having him in there as well as those other four linemen. So I love where Garrett’s at right now. He’s just got to keep playing at the level that he’s playing at, which has been pretty darn good.”
Of course, if Bradbury maintains his current level of performance throughout the season, the club would almost certainly want him back. The league’s top pivots are earning in the $10M-$14M range in terms of average annual value, and if Minnesota had exercised the fifth-year option, Bradbury would have been owed a fully guaranteed $13.2M in 2023. So even if the Vikings ultimately need to pay Bradbury at a top-of-the-market rate or something close to it, they will still be in better shape than they would have been otherwise, as they will at least be able to flatten out his 2023 cap hit with a multi-year pact.
For now, the club is 4-1 and at the top of the NFC North, and its O-line play is a big reason for the early success.
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