Just before halftime of last season's Week 8 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, after an inexplicable decision to run the ball instead of the first of what should've been two kneel-downs, Minnesota Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw suffered a left knee injury that was later confirmed to be a torn ACL and MCL.
The Vikings made a concerted effort in free agency to upgrade their offensive line, signing center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries to replace Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram. Blake Brandel seems ripe for some competition at left guard, be it from a draft pick or a potential veteran addition.
Darrisaw was having a third straight excellent season when he went down last season, and his importance is well-reflected by Brandel's performance on each side of his injury.
According to Pro Football Focus, Brandel allowed six pressures and one sack from Week 1-7 (six games). From Week 9 through the Wild Card Round (12 games), Brandel allowed 36 pressures and six sacks.
Kevin O'Connell offers nice injury update on Minnesota Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw
The Vikings reconvened on Monday for the start of the voluntary portion of the offseason program. O'Connell of course spoke to reporters, with some updates on a couple notable injuries. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy is "ready to hit the ground running, starting today", and O'Connell also had an update on Darrisaw, who is now about six months removed from his injury.
"Christian has absolutely knocked it out of the park so far," O'Connell said. "He's had a really, really good offseason up to this point. The latest update I got, he's lifting, he's running. ... The player that I see right now and the player I know his teammates came back to see today, people were pretty excited about where he's at. Now it's just a matter of maintaining, and he's had such a professional focus really from day one, remarkably. He's just had such a good attitude about attacking it."
Darrisaw is of course still pretty early in his recovery process, and with that in mind O'Connell didn't want to give a specific timetable for his return to full strength. But by all accounts (including O'Connell's back in February, rehab is rolling along without a hitch.
The starting of training camp will be nine months out from the injury, and it seems Darrisaw has an excellent chance to be ready to protect McCarthy's blindside when Week 1 comes.