Vikings Could Move Alex Boone To Left Tackle

Thanks to another season-ending injury to an offensive tackle, this one to recently-signed Jake Long, the Minnesota Vikings are going to have to re-shuffle the deck along the offensive line again. The move that ESPN’s Ben Goessling (among others) are talking about is one of the more drastic ones that the Vikings could probably make.

Alex Boone, who's played tackle in the NFL before, said he and Tony Sparano are going to talk tonight about where he'll play now that Jake Long is likely done for the season.

Of the 35 games that Boone started in college at THE. . .dramatic pause. . .Ohio State University, 22 of them were made at the left tackle position. He started out as a tackle in the NFL, too, with the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners eventually moved him inside to guard in 2012, where he was a starter for them through the 2015 season. He signed with Minnesota this past off-season.

At this point, I guess, the Vikings could do worse than moving Boone to left tackle. I certainly don’t want to see T.J. Clemmings back there again, as he’s probably better suited for the right side (and, honestly, I’m not sure he’s better suited to be a guard than a tackle, but that’s another debate).

If the Vikings do move Boone to the left tackle spot, I assume that means that Jeremiah Sirles would slot in at the left guard position with Joe Berger at center, Brandon Fusco at right guard, and Clemmings at right tackle. That would make Zac Kerin, Nick Easton, and Willie Beavers the primary backups.

Yes, we are potentially one or two plays away from Willie Beavers getting meaningful snaps on the offensive line. What a season, huh?

I’m sure we’ll see more about this story throughout the course of the week, but at this point it looks like the Vikings’ big signing from this past off-season is going to get moved to the most important position on the offensive line.