Vikings shut down Christian Darrisaw as knee injury lingers

Kevin SeifertDec 19, 2025, 04:03 PM ET

CloseKevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has covered the NFL for over 20 years, joining ESPN in 2008. He was previously a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings placed left tackle Christian Darrisaw on injured reserve Friday, concluding an unusual season in which he could never fully return from a left knee injury that occurred nearly 14 months ago.

Coach Kevin O’Connell said Friday that Darrisaw has not suffered a setback or a new injury. O’Connell said it’s his “personal belief” that Darrisaw will be able to resume a normal practice and playing routine next season. The Vikings were eliminated from playoff contention last week.

“This was a collaborative decision based upon where we’re at in the season,” O’Connell said, “from the standpoint of Christian’s workload and what these next few games and days are going to look like for our team. … We thought this was the best decision for Christian in the short term, but at the same time, I think a lot of this can be a projection on a really positive outlook for 2026.”

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Darrisaw, 26, signed a four-year contract extension worth up to $113 million in July 2024. On Oct. 24, 2024, he tore the ACL and MCL in his knee during a game against the Los Angeles Rams.

He recovered well enough to avoid the physically unable to perform list and opened training camp on the active roster, but he sat out the Vikings’ first two games and later revealed he had been told it would take a full year to recover.

Even after that landmark passed, Darrisaw couldn’t push beyond being a part-time player. He started 10 games this season but left five of them early. He took himself out of two of those games, Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns and Week 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers, while coaches removed him from the other three to manage his workload. The Vikings also excused him from at least one day of practice per week to give him extra rest.

Darrisaw said Thursday that he preferred not to talk about his season and wasn’t able to answer a question about his availability for the Vikings’ final three games.

“There’s just a lot of layers to it,” O’Connell said, “where as coaches and as the head coach, we’re just trying to defer to the medical staff and most importantly, making sure Christian’s in a good place and everything. It has been just a really unique year for him and one that I think he’ll be able to really grow from.”