MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings placed one of their best players on Injured Reserve, where it's confirmed he'll stay for the rest of the season.
NFL insider Ian Rapaport first reported speculation that Christian Darrisaw suffered a knee injury in Thursday Night Football severe enough to require season-ending surgery.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell later confirmed Darrisaw tore his ACL and will have surgery to repair torn ligaments.
“He’d really developed into one of our core leaders, clearly one of our offensive pillars that we have leaned on a lot,” O'Connell said. “It’s going to be a significant loss, but we've all got to do a little more, and it starts with me.”
The team officially placed Darrisaw on Injured Reserve on Friday.
It's a brutal loss for the Vikings, who started the season 5-0, but have lost two straight games, and their franchise left tackle, for the year.
The injury occurred before halftime in the team's loss against the LA Rams on Thursday Night Football.
The fourth-year tackle out of Virginia Tech was injured while blocking on a run play deep in Vikings' territory with just 21 seconds remaining in the second quarter. He was helped off the field after Rams safety Jaylen McCollough rolled into Darrisaw while trying to make a tackle on the play.
The team later ruled him out for the remainder of the game, replacing him with backup tackle, veteran David Quessenberry.
But the Vikings might feel the need to acquire another tackle with rookie Walter Rouse the only other one on the active roster behind stalwart right tackle Brian O'Neill. Rouse was a sixth-round draft pick out of Oklahoma.
O'Connell said Rouse would be in the conversation about the new lineup, with guard Dalton Risner also due to be ready soon from a back injury that has sidelined him since training camp. Current starting left guard Blake Brandel started three games at left tackle in 2022 when Darrisaw was out.
Darrisaw, who has protected the blindside for Vikings quarterbacks since being drafted in the first round in 2021, was in the midst of another amazing year.
Back in July, the Vikings announced they re-signed him to a four-year extension, which will keep him in Minnesota through the 2029 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
