Prior to their Week 11 game against the Tennessee Titans, the Minnesota Vikings made the decision to bench starting right guard Ed Ingram and replace him with veteran Dalton Risner.
Two weeks later, Ingram was a healthy scratch for the Vikings before their Week 13 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, and it's now fair to wonder if the 2022 second-round draft pick has already played his final snap with Minnesota.
Before getting benched in Week 11, Ingram had started 41 consecutive games at right guard for the Vikings. The third-year guard being inactive on Sunday is the most recent piece of evidence to support the argument that Minnesota's 2022 draft class is the worst in franchise history.
Will Ed Ingram ever play another down for the Minnesota Vikings?
When asked about why Ingram was inactive for Sunday's matchup against Arizona, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell shared the following explanation.
"So, Cam Robinson did a hell of a job working through that foot , and he was going to give it a go. We felt pretty stressed a little bit in Chicago only having one tackle up for the game beyond Cam, so we wanted to get Rouse up, and then with that, needed Dan Feeney because one of our backup centers.
So really, Jurgens and Ingram, both of those guys, it was just the necessity of the numbers for the day. Wouldn't read anything into it.
Ed's been doing a great job and I would anticipate as we get healthy and can stack a full week for Cam together, I would anticipate Ed being back up. Absolutely nothing to do with anything larger picture or anything that."
O'Connell has never been one to throw someone under the bus in public like the guy who was Minnesota's head coach right before him. However, the fact that Ingram was even a candidate to be inactive just two weeks after getting demoted shows how far he's fallen down the Vikings' depth chart in a short period of time.
O'Connell said Ingram will likely be active again at some point this season, but unless someone gets injured, the odds of him actually entering a game don't seem very high.
Following the 2024 campaign, the former second-round pick will have one year left on his rookie contract with Minnesota. If the Vikings release Ingram during the 2025 offseason, they would free up more than $1.5 million in cap space, and with what took place on Sunday, this scenario becoming a reality is something that can no longer be ruled out.