Vikings Activate OT Blake Brandel From IR, Waive C Greg Mancz

Brandel suffered an MCL tear against the Lions in Week 14 and was placed on IR, missing the final four games of the regular season. The 2020 sixth-rounder returned to practice this week and looked good, so the Vikings made the move to activate him.

Oli Udoh took over at right tackle in Green Bay when Brian O'Neill injured his Achilles. Udoh played well in that game and also impressed in the semi-meaningless regular season finale in Chicago. Now the Vikings have a decision to make. Start Udoh, an excellent athlete who has gotten two weeks of game reps at RT? Or start Brandel, who is perhaps more technically sound than Udoh but played left tackle earlier this year with inconsistent results?

Brandel is the Vikings' swing tackle, so he's been practicing on both sides all year. However, he hasn't played right tackle in a game since 2016, his redshirt freshman year at Oregon State. In his final three years at OSU, he started all 36 games at left tackle. Brandel stepped in at LT for the Vikings earlier this season when Christian Darrisaw missed three full games and half of two others due to multiple concussions. He had some good performances (at BUF, vs. NYJ), some mediocre ones (vs. NE, at DET), and one horrible one (vs. DAL).

The Vikings like Brandel a lot. That lends you to think he has a real chance to start this game.

Then again, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were Udoh, either, especially after he played well in the last two games. Udoh had a rough season as the Vikings' starting right guard last year, but he's always been better suited to play tackle. His athleticism could be useful against Giants rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux.

We'll find out soon enough who gets the nod.

With Garrett Bradbury's back healthy, the Vikings no longer needed Mancz, who they signed after Austin Schlottmann got hurt against the Packers. Chris Reed will back up Bradbury on Sunday.