Christian Darrisaw Part of ‘Zero Snaps’ Club Among 2021 1st-Rounders
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings drafted Christian Darrisaw with the 23rd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft with high hopes the Virginia Tech alumnus would start at left tackle out of the gate.
For the time being, it seems that mindset was best-laid plans.
Darrisaw was an extremely limited participant in Vikings training camp and ultimately underwent a second surgery for a core injury in Philadelphia about two weeks ago. In the interim, career reservist offensive lineman Rashod Hill is slated to start for the Vikings unless Minnesota does something funky like signing Russell Okung. There is also a slight chance that Darrisaw rapidly recovers in the next 16 days. But he’d be a longshot to start in Cincinnati with such limited practice time inside the Vikings offense.
His preseason participation is also nil. On most of the snaps versus the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts, some hodgepodge of Rashod Hill, Blake Brandel, and Evin Ksiezarczyk shared the workload. Those contests would’ve been the perfect time for Darrisaw to begin learning the speed of the game — but no such luck for the rookie lineman.
He’s not alone, though. Tallying zero snaps in the preseason is not a singularly-Darrisaw circumstance. Around the league, Kyle Pitts (TE, ATL), Alijah Vera-Tucker (G, NYJ), Kadarius Toney (WR, NYG), Rashod Bateman (WR, BAL), and Payton Turner (EDGE, NO) have all missed the preseason so far.
For Pitts, nothing is wrong with him injury-wise. New Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith has merely treated him like a star-studded quarterback, showing him no preseason attention within the offense. Frankly, Atlanta evidently does not want to risk injury for Pitts who figures to be a large part of the offense amid Julio Jones’ departure to the Tennesee Titans. It’s a bold and bizarre strategy. Perhaps Pitts is just that freakish that he doesn’t need preseason snaps to be prepared for the tempo of the NFL.
As for the others — Vera-Tucker, Toney, Bateman, Turner, and Darrisaw — the lack of snaps is borne of injury. Vera-Tucker, who was intensely associated with Vikings pre-draft hype, is dealing with a pectoral muscle matter but will return to practice soon. Toney’s malady is mysterious — he contracted the coronavirus, then the Giants sat him down because of an undisclosed injury. Bateman, like Darrisaw, has a core muscle problem, so he’ll be out through at least mid-September. And then Turner from the Saints is plagued by something reportedly minor.
All in all, 19% of the 2021 NFL Draft’s 1st-Round picks have yet to experience preseason action.
The Vikings will need Darrisaw at some point in 2021. Hill might stave off some of the league’s mediocre pass rushers. However, battling the likes of Myles Garrett or Chandler Jones will be a trickier assignment. If Hill was good enough to earn LT1 duties as a full-time starter, well, the Vikings would not have needed to pluck Darrisaw out of the draft.
Offensive line performance is one habitual bane for the Vikings under Mike Zimmer. Often, the run-blocking is serviceable, providing Dalvin Cook some cover to run roughshod. Yet, the pass protection is routinely porous and has scraped the bottom of the NFL since 2017.
Darrisaw’s maturation is vital to the remedy of a Vikings offensive line problem that persists year after year. The sooner he returns — the faster he can develop alongside Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury, Oli Udoh, and Brian O’Neill.