Is the Party Over Without Christian Darrisaw?
Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings experienced a worst-case scenario on Thursday Night Football. It wasn’t the 30-20 loss to a 2-4 Los Angeles Rams team. Obviously, it’s not ideal to drop to 5-2, but unless you thought Minnesota was going to go 16-1 this season, something like this was bound to happen. Instead, the Vikings lost one of the cornerstones of their offense in Christian Darrisaw, who underwent knee surgery that will take him out for the rest of the season.
KOC talking now. Confirms Darrisaw out for the year and says: “love everything about the profession of his career…im thinking about Christian developing into one of our core leaders and offensive pillars that we have learned on a lot”
— Matthew Coller (@MatthewColler) October 25, 2024
There’s no question that this is a massive blow. Darrisaw is one of the best tackles in the game, and the Vikings made sure to lock him up this offseason to keep him around for years to come. This season has seen Darrisaw boast the 14th-best PFF grade in pass-blocking (79.9) and eighth-best run-blocking grade (82.3) among 77 tackles who’ve played 20% or more of their team’s snaps.
Losing such a foundational piece to the offense puts everything at risk. Sam Darnold, who has already struggled at times in recent weeks, will face a lot more pressure. He did in the second half, though backup David Quessenberry’s two pressures allowed last night arguably wasn’t Minnesota’s biggest problem. It also takes away Aaron Jones’ best run-blocker, and we saw the Vikings running back take 10 carries for just 20 yards in the second half.
So… now what? Is the party over?
Minnesota probably can’t replace Darrisaw on the trade market. They can’t replace him internally. At the same time, Quessenberry isn’t exactly a scrub, either. In each season he’s played in the NFL, he’s finished with a PFF pass-blocking grade of 61 or higher. In 2021, where he saw the most snaps and was therefore as exposed to the league as possible, he posted a 61.6 grade with the Tennessee Titans. This isn’t losing Darrisaw and then getting the equivalent of Ed Ingram in the game.
Darnold can find some comfort in the fact that the bottom isn’t about to completely fall out at left tackle, but still, we can definitely expect more bodies in the QB’s face. In that 2021 season, Quessenberry allowed 11 sacks, almost double what Darrisaw allowed all last season (six). That’s going to be a problem because of how Kevin O’Connell conducts his offense.
The Vikings frequently run plays that take advantage of Darnold’s big arm, but those require him to stay in the pocket for longer, relying on his protection. KOC will need to dial up a faster-paced game, focused on getting Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison open in the intermediate game. Will that be as suited to Darnold’s talents as the deep shots he’s been taking?
Arguably, Minnesota will miss Darnold even more in the run game than in pass-protection. Quessenberry’s been much less consistent as a run-blocker through his career — though he did earn his career-high 86.6 grade in 2021, blocking for Derrick Henry. In 100 run-blocking plays last year, however, he was mediocre, earning just a 57.2 mark.
Even with Quessenberry being a decent In Case of Emergency, Break Glass option, it’s still going to be a substantial downgrade on the offensive line, there’s simply no getting around it. Even during a relatively soft part of the schedule, Minnesota’s going up against top-30 edges like Laiatu Latu in Week 9, Josh Hines-Allen in Week 10, and Arden Key in Week 11. And if and when they make the playoffs, what happens if they see Nick Bosa again with San Francisco? Or Jared Verse, who terrorized Minnesota last night?
The Vikings have a hard road ahead of them, with four NFC North Divisional games before the playoffs even swing around. It just got significantly harder, and O’Connell, Darnold, and the rest of the Minnesota offense must figure out a way to get it done while missing one of their most important players.
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