Vikings Sign Offensive Lineman — But Not That One.
Dustin Baker
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For a few days, Minnesota Vikings fans have waited for word that the club finalized a deal with free-agent offensive guard Dalton Risner, formerly of the Denver Broncos, who visited the club earlier this week.
Vikings Sign Offensive Lineman — But Not That One.
During the wait, the franchise signed an offensive lineman who played for the Broncos last year, but it wasn’t Risner. OT Christian DiLauro joined the 90-man roster Wednesday.
KPRC2‘s Aaron Wilson first tweeted the news on the X app, “Former Broncos offensive tackle Christian DiLauro signed with Vikings following a successful workout, per a league source.”
To make room for DiLauro, Minnesota waived undrafted free-agent offensive lineman Sam Schlueter with a non-football illness designation. Schlueter is a University of Minnesota alumnus.
DiLauro is the definition of a ‘camp body,’ likely on the roster for the preseason and perhaps gunning for a practice squad assignment in 2023. Of course, anything can happen during training camp and a few exhibition games, but the Illinois alumnus has never played an offensive snap in the regular season.
The Vikings and 31 other NFL teams have until August 29th to trim rosters down to 53 players.
Here’s DiLauro’s NFL resume to date, mostly living on summer rosters and practice squads:
- Cleveland Browns (2018)
- San Francisco 49ers (2018–2019)
- Houston Texans (2019)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (2019–2020)
- Tennessee Titans (2021–2022)
- Washington Commanders (2022)
- Denver Broncos (2022)
- Minnesota Vikings (2023)
The 28-year-old has played 15 total special teams snaps in his five-season career — in 2021 with the Titans and last year with the Broncos. He has no Pro Football Focus grading because of no offensive snaps played.
These are the Vikings current offensive tackles with the first preseason game one week away:
- Christian Darrisaw
- Brian O’Neill
- Oli Udoh
- Blake Brandel
- Vederian Lowe
- Bobby Evans
- Jacky Chen
- Christian DiLauro
After the DiLauro transaction, the ‘other Bronco,’ Risner, is still in play to join the Vikings, although he left the Vikings headquarters without a contract earlier this week.
O’Connell said about the possibility of adding Risner, a former teammate of DiLauro, “We really just wanted to bring him in and get to know him a little bit better, use the process of a visit to do that and see if we could possibly take what we think is a strong group and make it even better.”
DiLauro will turn 29 in November.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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