Some help on the offensive line
The Minnesota Vikings have kicked off Round 6 of the 2024 NFL Draft by making a selection to help out on the offensive line.
With the 177th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings have selected offensive lineman Walter Rouse from the University of Oklahoma.
Rouse started his college career at Stanford, where he was a Freshman All-American and played for the Cardinal for four years before transferring to Oklahoma ahead of the 2023 season. Rouse was an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 this past season for the Sooners. He will likely compete for the opportunity to be the swing tackle for the Vikings early on with some of the players that the team has lost this offseason. He’s had a solid college career and, honestly, you can never have too many solid offensive linemen at this level, particularly when players like Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill have been dealing with injury issues over the past couple of seasons.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic has Rouse as the #17 offensive tackle in this year’s draft class. Here’s what Brugler has to say about Rouse:
A one-year starter at Oklahoma, Rouse replaced Anton Harrison at left tackle in former offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby’s up-tempo, RPO-based scheme. Considered a likely undrafted NFL prospect after four seasons at Stanford, he transferred to Norman for his final college season and made noticeable improvements, which turned him into a draftable option. In pass protection, Rouse works hard to maximize his length and has learned to trust his spatial awareness, although NFL rushers will be able to expose his stiffness when attempting to redirect. It might not always look pretty, but he has enough drive to flush out defenders in the run game. Overall, Rouse might not have a distinguishing trait to hang his hat on, but he has NFL size and smarts with passable athleti cism and strength to compete for an NFL roster spot. He is a potential swing tackle at the next level.
It sounds like Rouse has quite a bit of room to develop for the Vikings, so we’ll see how the Vikings are able to do that with him once we get to Training Camp.
Welcome to Minnesota, Walter!
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