The Minnesota Vikings lost much more than the game in “Thursday Night Football” against the Los Angeles Rams.
Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw, one of the best players at his position in the NFL, will miss the rest of the season after sustaining a “significant” injury to his left knee on Thursday, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell announced Friday. Per ESPN, the injury is a torn ACL and MCL.
“Was holding out hope last night that maybe the imaging would reveal a less significant injury, but unfortunately that is not the case,” O’Connell said. “We’ll determine the best course of action in terms of the procedure that will repair the injury. I know CD will be right back where he was this year, which is one of the best left tackles in football.”
The injury occurred in the third quarter of a 30-20 loss for the Vikings, when Rams safety Jaylen McCollough fell on his lower leg while taking down Vikings running back Aaron Jones from behind. Darrisaw’s leg bent awkwardly and he needed to be helped off the field by trainers.
Christian Darrisaw #vikings
Knee gets hit from the outside while engaged in a block, causes a valgus moment (inward motion) at the knee. Likely dealing with an MCL injury. pic.twitter.com/QwvDr2w9ch
— Tom Christ, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT (@FantasyInjuryT) October 25, 2024
The loss of Darrisaw is a brutal one for the Vikings, who have now lost back-to-back games after beginning the season 5-0. Darrisaw’s play was one of the biggest reasons for that hot start.
The former first-rounder signed a four-year, $113 million contract extension with $77 million guaranteed last offseason and was playing like the top pass-blocker the Vikings were paying him to be. Pro Football Focus has his play ranked as ninth-best among 76 tackles in the NFL this season, helping Jones and quarterback Sam Darnold both post resurgent seasons.
There might not have been a player more important to the Vikings offense save for Justin Jefferson, and now Minnesota will need to find a way to replace him if they want to stay afloat in the highly competitive NFC North.
Veteran backup David Quessenberry replaced Darrisaw for the rest of the game Thursday, but O’Connell said the Vikings would discuss multiple options for a rest-of-season solution. Per ESPN, that could include moving over left guard Blake Brandel, who has experience at left tackle, sixth-round rookie Walter Rouse.
From ESPN:
“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.”
The Vikings will have a long week to figure out Darrisaw’s replacement after playing Thursday, with their next game scheduled for Nov. 3 against the Indianapolis Colts.