Injuries are inherent in football, but when you take inexplicable risks you invite bad outcomes. The Minnesota Vikings learned that the hard way last season.
Just before halftime of a 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 to run the half out, Minnesota Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw suffered a left knee injury that was later confirmed to a torn ACL and MCL.
Throughout the offseason, there has been great optimism about Darrisaw's recovery. Head coach Kevin O'Connell noted how he had "knocked it out of the park" and was really "attacking" his rehab. The visuals from individual drills during mandatory minicamp in June backed up that sentiment and fostered genuine optimism that Darrisaw could be ready for the start of the season.
Training camp is now a few weeks away, and the start date will mark just about exactly nine months since Darrisaw was injured. Putting pads on will be the true test of his readiness, and caution will certainly be the word at the beginning of camp, if not throughout.
Week 1, Sept. 8 against the Chicago Bears, will be about 10 and a half months out from the injury for Darrisaw.
Minnesota Vikings beat writer puts kibosh on idea that Christian Darrisaw will be ready for Week 1
Alec Lewis of The Athletic put together some short notes on all 45 Vikings' offensive players heading into training camp. His note about Darrisaw addressed the obvious question.
"Will he be back in time for Week 1?"
"That’s probably a rosy expectation at this point. Still, Darrisaw has attacked his rehab. The Vikings have commended his progress."
There's a pretty good chance Darrisaw starts training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, but he'd be able to come off the list if/when he's deemed ready to practice during camp.
The drop-dead date for Darrisaw coming off the PUP list and being able to play Week 1 will be when it's time to cut the roster down to 53 players. If he still is/stays on the list at that point, he'd have to miss at least the first four games of the season. As Christopher Gates of The Daily Norseman noted, that could get a little hairy with the Vikings playing overseas in Week 4 (Dublin) and Week 5 (London).
Darrisaw being ready for Week 1 this season after tearing his ACL and MCL a week before Halloween last October has always been a less-than-sure-fire proposition. With that in mind, the expectation should be free agent signing Justin Skule starting at left tackle for at least a couple of games before the Vikings have their full starting offensive line in place.