Oklahoma offensive lineman Cody Ford is in Minneapolis on Tuesday, visiting with the Minnesota Vikings ahead of the April 25th NFL draft, according to Darren Wolfson of KSTP.
My fault on the hashtag typo in last tweet. To clarify: #Vikings have Oklahoma OL Cody Ford in today for a pre-draft visit. Boston College WR Jeff Smith is also here today. @gregauman first on Smith note.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) April 2, 2019
Ford played in multiple spots along the Sooners offensive line throughout his career, taking advantage of his versatility as teammates went in and out of the lineup with injures. He started three games at guard as a redshirt freshman in 2016 before being lost for the season with injury, and returned a season later to start four games at left guard. The Louisiana native moved to right tackle last season, earning Third-Team All-America honors for arguably the top offensive line in all of college football.
Coming into the 2018 season, Ford had little ambitions of entering the NFL draft as an underclassman. Rather, he just hoped to be able to stay on the field for the season's duration, helping the Sooners in their quest for a Big XII title. A move from guard to to tackle, however, accelerated his timeline to the NFL.
“This [past] season, I didn’t have the mindset in the spring that this season was my last season,” Ford said at Oklahoma's pro day, per John Shinn of the Tulsa World. “This season, I was trying to get on the field and [focusing on] how could I stay on the field. I guess moving to tackle helped me out as far as staying on the field.”
Ford's versatility should make him an especially intriguing first-round option for the Vikings, who have a hole at guard and could also move incumbent left tackle Riley Reiff to the interior.
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