Confidence replaces confusion on offensive line

The mistakes now seem so obvious to Artis Hicks, he wonders how he could have made them in the first place. Each time the Vikings right guard watches film of his performance from last season, he spots another miscue. Nothing huge, but enough to derail a play or a block.

"Every time I turn a game on I say, 'I knew better than to do that. All I had to do was bend a little more or make sure that right foot is a little further outside,' " Hicks said. "Small things that I messed up on. ... I'm looking for a much bigger and better season out of myself this year."

The Vikings will be looking for the same, not only from Hicks, but also from Ryan Cook, who is working as the first-team right tackle this weekend alongside Hicks during the Vikings' three-day minicamp.

It was the right side of the line that was responsible in part for the Vikings not achieving the success up front that many expected last season, when Pro Bowl left guard Steve Hutchinson was signed away from Seattle and Pro Bowl center Matt Birk returned from injury.

The Vikings could have looked outside the organization for help on that side of the line. Instead, coach Brad Childress and his staff are counting on Hicks and Cook's experience in 2006 to make them better players in '07. "I like the way they are coming along," Childress said. "They are getting there."

While Hicks will be entering his sixth NFL season and Cook only his second, both had one thing in common a year ago. They were playing unfamiliar positions. Hicks, acquired in a trade last April from Philadelphia, was moved from the left side of the line to the right, meaning he had to adjust his hand and footwork. Cook was shifted from center to right tackle, where he had never played before.

Hicks attributes many of the errors he made last season to changing sides and is confident that won't happen again. "I'm more comfortable with the techniques that I'm being taught by my O-line coaches," he said. "It feels good now."

Cook said his biggest challenge at tackle was "moving around in space and not having a guy to the right of you," like he did at center.

Vikings offensive line coach Pat Morris was aware that moving the linemen was a lot to ask, especially when it came to having Hicks on a different side.

"I always relate it if you get directions to a place you don't [normally] go you always drive slow and turn off the radio," in order to find it, he said. "But after you've gone to that place 20 times you take a left, take a right and you're there."

By that logic, Hicks should be ahead of Cook when it comes to comfort.

Hicks started 14 games last season at right guard, sitting out two contests because of an ankle injury. Cook, a surprise second-round pick by the Vikings out of New Mexico, was inactive for the first 10 games before playing in the final six and entering into a rotation with Mike Rosenthal.

Cook then started at right tackle for the final three games of the season. Rosenthal is now in Miami and Cook will compete for the job with Marcus Johnson, who started the first 10 games in 2006 before suffering an ankle injury.

Cook, like Hicks, has spent plenty of time this offseason at the Vikings' Winter Park facility watching film of himself from last year and also now more easily identifies his mistakes. He admits, though, that his mistakes weren't necessarily small ones.

"I go back and watch it and I'm like, 'What was my whole mindset during that time?' " he said. "You go back and watch that film to get better. ... [I feel] I am two times better than I was last year, but still it's an evolving position for me."

Judd Zulgad • jzulgad@startribune.com