The Vikings Appear to Have Confirmed Specific Roster Strategy Before Firing GM
Starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw is an exceptional player when he’s healthy. The great issue for Darrisaw is that he has often been at less than full health.
Back in 2024, the Vikings’ LT1 suffered a major knee injury in Week 8, knocking him out for the remainder of the year. The recovery took a while, keeping Darrisaw out of the lineup to begin 2025 before contributing toward him ending the season on the IR. Whether Darrisaw can play from Week 1 onward for the 2026 NFL season is a sneaky story to monitor in Minnesota, an issue that had the attention of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
LT1 Christian Darrisaw & The Vikings’ Plan at OT
Lately, the attention around the Minnesota Vikings has been on the unsettled quarterback situation. A case could be made for Kyler Murray, Derek Carr, Geno Smith, Tua Tagovailoa, and several others.
In front of whoever is passing the ball will be a front five that should have a chip on its collective shoulder. Part of the issue last season was that essentially all of the starters took turns getting hurt, with newcomer Will Fries being the lone exception. After the season ended, OL Coach Chris Kuper was allowed to get away, resulting in new employment with the Eagles.
Consider what Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had to say when asked about the team’s confidence level in Mr. Darrisaw.
“He’s a year removed from that injury,” the former GM explained, “so time is on our side in terms of kind of getting away from that injury point. Another year of rehab, strengthening, and different things like that.” Shortly thereafter, Adofo-Mensah noted Darrisaw being very “important” while then saying that Minnesota has “gotta be more mindful of” fortifying the tackle depth.
A few ideas get tossed into Adofo-Mensah’s answer.
For starters, Christian Darrisaw has some more runway to get back to being himself. More time off to rebuild strength and confidence isn’t a bad thing. So, be optimistic since the starting left tackle should end up in a nice spot to compete in 2026.
But then there’s an acknowledgement of needing to beef up the OT depth. Last offseason, Minnesota did so by moving on from David Quessenberry in exchange for Justin Skule. The new OT3 would partner with Blake Brandel and Walter Rouse to give the OT spot the needed depth. Or, at least, that was the plan.
The reality of Darrisaw struggling to stay on the field for 2025 appears to have caught Minnesota off guard. Missing a couple of games in September? No problem, the Vikings could handle that. Ongoing absences and limited snaps throughout the year is tougher to manage, especially with confidence in Rouse seeming to disappear.
The Vikings, like all NFL teams, need the trenches to be formidable. If not, the game gets difficult very quickly. How does that reality play out after Adofo-Mensah has been fired? Note that Kuper has been fired, too.
Leading things within the front office for the Vikings is Rob Brzezinski. He’ll be supported by Kevin O’Connell and the remainder of the front office personnel since nobody else was fired alongside the former GM. Is there still a feeling that a heartier investment is needed to shore up the OT spot?
Starting off with Darrisaw, Brandel, Rouse, and Brian O’Neill is a reasonably strong position. In a pinch, Donovan Jackson could get shuffled over to tackle, but best to let the young fella get acclimated to left guard, his natural home.
Dipping into free agency, the draft, or both could be the way forward even if the shuffling within the front office has made things harder to predict. Adofo-Mensah basically said that was the plan back in January.
The legal tampering portion of NFL free agency begins on Monday, March 9th.
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