The Minnesota Vikings have lost left tackle Christian Darrisaw, one of their top players and among the best at his position in the NFL, for the season because of injuries to the ACL and MCL in his left knee, coach Kevin O'Connell confirmed Friday.
Darrisaw suffered the injury late in the first half of the Vikings' 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night. The Vikings placed him on injured reserve Friday afternoon and, in the corresponding move, activated tight end T.J. Hockenson to their 53-man roster from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.
"He's clearly one of our offensive pillars that we have leaned on a lot," O'Connell said of Darrisaw, "and it's going to be a significant loss. But we've all got to do a little bit more."
Veteran David Quessenberry replaced Darrisaw in Thursday's game, but O'Connell said Vikings coaches were discussing multiple options for the position moving forward. Left guard Blake Brandel has played left tackle in the past, and guard Dalton Risner is eligible to be activated from injured reserve. The Vikings also drafted tackle Walter Rouse in the sixth round this spring.
"I thought [Quessenberry] settled in and did some things to help us," O'Connell said, "but yeah, whether when you talk about that mentality of trying to get the best five guys in there, not only those five options but then what's the rest of the depth look like? I do feel like this is where your O-line depth that we felt good about throughout training camp and then leading into the season gives you possibilities and we'll continue to have that dialogue within our coaching staff and we'll figure out what the best plan of attack is moving forward, and I do think there's multiple options on the table with that and that's what we've got to figure out."
Darrisaw, 25, has been the Vikings' starting left tackle since they made him the No. 23 pick of the 2021 draft. He has battled a series of injuries but performed well enough to merit a four-year contract extension worth up to $113 million.
The injury occurred while Darrisaw was blocking with 35 seconds remaining in the first half. Rams safety Jaylen McCollough fell into the side of his left knee, and team medical officials helped him walk directly to the locker room as the Vikings finished out the half.
The Vikings had taken possession of the ball at their own 3-yard line, but they had all three of their timeouts. Rather than having his team kneel the ball to close out the half, O'Connell said he wanted to see whether the offense could potentially move into position for a score. The Rams also had a timeout, which would have required the Vikings to kneel twice within a narrow space between the line of scrimmage and the end zone.
"They had dime defense on the field," O'Connell said, "so I thought we could maybe pop a run. Don't know if we were necessarily targeted versus that group out there, which I think if we are, maybe that ball's got a chance to [move]. If we get off and rolling with the timeouts we had left at the time, get that first down, then there's a chance to maybe try to dial some stuff up and not give them any chance at doubling us up there with them starting out the second half."