Vikings

The Vikings Are Preparing For Life After Darrisaw

Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings.

The most impressive thing about Christian Darrisaw’s debut is that he was invisible.

Darrisaw played one special teams snap against the Cleveland Browns in Week 4 of the 2021 season. A week later, he rotated with Rashod Hill and played 42% of the snaps against the Detroit Lions. By Week 6, he was a full-time starter.

“I didn’t even see him sneak out there on his first drive,” Alexander Mattison said after the Detroit game. “He did some good stuff out there, and it was good to see him. He has a lot of potential.”

Darrisaw may have been invisible to the untrained eye. But he left his peers impressed.

“It’s crazy. [Darrisaw’s] rookie year, he didn’t practice all OTAs, didn’t practice all training camp,” said Garrett Bradbury, referencing Darrisaw’s training camp groin surgery. “We threw him in there [and he] strapped it up, and we’re like, ‘This guy’s legit.’”

“He was just figuring it out on the fly at that point. Year 2, started to get his bearings. And then Year 3 and mostly this year, you saw I can be the best in the league at this.”

Darrisaw is the invisible man guarding Sam Darnold’s blind side. He earned a four-year, $104 million extension in the offseason by staying out of the spotlight. Darrisaw allows Darnold to operate without looking over his back. However, Darrisaw tore his ACL and MCL in the first half of the Minnesota Vikings’ 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday.

His absence will only magnify his importance to the Vikings.

“You hate it for the guy. You hate it for him,” said Bradbury. “He was playing probably as good as anyone in the NFL at that position.

“He’s a big part of what we do, and as much as we’re going to miss him on Sunday, we’re going to miss him on Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” added Bradbury, referring to team meetings. “So, hopefully, [the surgery] goes well, and he can get back to us as soon as possible.”

Walter Rouse is the sixth-round rookie tackle the Vikings took with the pick they got from the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Ezra Cleveland trade. Rouse describes Darrisaw as a supernatural phenomenon.

“When I was looking at his film and whatnot, I tried to copy some of his physical attributes,” he said glowingly. “But he does a lot of unnatural things that come to him naturally that I can’t really replicate.”

Watching tape of Darrisaw was almost surreal.

“I mean, the stuff we watched when he was able to anchor block Nick Bosa with one leg,” said Rouse. “And then a couple games ago, when he posted down, does a little loop-de-loop around and then blocks other guys. His level of awareness is off the charts, and that’s insane.

“You can’t really teach that. It just comes naturally to you.”

David Quessenberry stepped in for Darrisaw after he went down against the Rams.  However, Blake Brandel is an experienced option to replace Darrisaw. Brandel has played left tackle in the past, and Minnesota could activate guard Dalton Risner from injured reserve.

“Whoever’s on the field, we’re going to figure out our best way forward,” said Brandel. “That’s a great part about offensive line play, there’s ways you can help each other, whether that’s with technique, communication, just whatever.”

Darrisaw had taken his game to the next level this season, making his loss even more devastating from an emotional and tactical standpoint.

“You saw a different approach to the day-to-day grind,” said Bradbury. “Even [offensive line coach Chris Kuper] said he came in with a different attitude this year. And you saw on the field, he was dominating guys.

“We didn’t blink about the left side. We could do whatever we needed over here, and we knew that was strapped down. That’s a testament to the player he is, the work that he put in the offseason, and the mentality that he approached with this year.”

Darrisaw has made a living being invisible while protecting the blind side. But the Vikings are going to miss him now that he’s out for the season.

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