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Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell looks on against the Chicago Bears.
The Minnesota Vikings‘ success this season is going to rely on two factors as much, or more, than any other — what they get from the QB position between JJ McCarthy and newcomer Kyler Murray, and how healthy the team can remain in the trenches on both sides of the football.
Minnesota’s injury luck on the offensive line was horrendous in 2025, with left tackle Christian Darrisaw serving as a representative example for the unit. Darrisaw suffered a torn ACL and MCL in October of 2024, which knocked him out for that season after just seven games played.
He returned after Week 2 last year, but Darrisaw’s availability fell in and out week by week due to lingering problems with his surgically-repaired knee, as well as other, less serious issues popping up here and there. And when he did play, his snap counts ranged from as low as nine in Week 8 and as high 76 in Week 4.
Minnesota ultimately shut Darrisaw down following its Week 14 contest on December 7. Now 27 years old, Darrisaw is healthy and looked fantastic during the team’s mandatory minicamp last week according to right tackle Brian O’Neill.
Brian O’Neill said today that Christian Darrisaw “ looks unbelievable” in his first full offseason back from his torn ACL. “I’m so fired up to get him back to what we know he is, and what we know he can be,” O’Neill said. “I hope people didn’t forget who he is, because that’s one
“Brian O’Neill said today that Christian Darrisaw ‘looks unbelievable’ in his first full offseason back from his torn ACL,” Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune reported June 10.
“I’m so fired up to get him back to what we know he is, and what we know he can be,” O’Neill said. “I hope people didn’t forget who he is, because that’s one of the best tackles in the league.”
GettyOffensive tackle Christian Darrisaw of the Minnesota Vikings.
Darrisaw, a former first-round pick (No. 23 overall) in 2021, inked a four-year contract extension worth $104 million in July of 2024, which keeps the left tackle under contract through the 2029 campaign.
While Darrisaw has yet to earn a Pro Bowl nod or All-Pro honors of any kind, he has been an elite-level player when healthy.
He ranked 11th out of 81 qualifying tackles in 2024 based on overall player grade as calculated by Pro Football Focus. Darrisaw ranked seventh out of 84 offensive tackles the year before. He was also second out of 81 qualifying players at the position in 2022.
However, Darrisaw finished 47th out of 89 tackles last year in limited work. It is also important to note that Darrisaw has missed half the team’s regular-season games over the past two years and has never appeared in more than 15 contests since joining the league.
Darrisaw spoke to reporters about his health during team activities in early June.
“Best it’s felt in two years,” Darrisaw said on June 5, per the Star Tribune. “I’m trending in the right direction. Full motion, everything feels great.”
GettyDefensive tackle Caleb Banks of the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota is also betting on the health of first-round rookie defensive tackle Caleb Banks out of Florida.
Banks has elite physical traits and could end up the best interior pass-rusher in the 2026 draft class if he gets healthy and can play most, or all, of the upcoming campaign.
However, Banks appeared in just three contests during his final collegiate campaign in 2025 after dealing with multiple foot issues over the course of the season.
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group's family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
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