The Minnesota Vikings poured major investment into their offensive line last offseason to no avail.
After signing former Indianapolis Colts starters Ryan Kelly and Will Fries to deals worth a combined $105 million and drafting Donovan Jackson in the first round, the Vikings offensive line finished the 2025 season ranked 31st in pass protection.
Injuries were the bane of the team’s struggles on the offensive front as the starting unit played just 89 snaps together all season.
However, that wasn’t enough reason to give offensive line coach Chris Kuper another chance. According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, the Vikings did not retain Kuper and are actively looking for his replacement.
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Hired in 2022, Kuper was an original Kevin O’Connell staffer and is credited with developing Christian Darrisaw and Blake Brandel into starting-caliber players.
However, the rest of the offensive line group struggled, and after watching several former Vikings linemen move on to have success in 2025, it was time for a change, according to The Athletic’s Alec Lewis.
“Minnesota’s interior still allowed the highest pressure rate in the NFL this past season, according to Next Gen Stats. Only the Las Vegas Raiders’ interior was dinged for more sacks. The Vikings improved throughout 2025 in the run game, but struggles continued against more physical and respected defensive fronts,” Lewis wrote on January 17.
“Another layer of this decision is the success that former Vikings offensive linemen are having elsewhere. Former center Garrett Bradbury has performed admirably this season with the New England Patriots. Former guard Ed Ingram has held his own with the Houston Texans. Even former guard Ezra Cleveland produced consistently with the Jacksonville Jaguars, as did former guard Dalton Risner with the Cincinnati Bengals.”
After years of struggles in Minnesota, Bradbury, a former first-round pick, allowed a career-low 21 pressures with the Patriots and did not surrender a sack this season, per Pro Football Focus (PFF).
A 2022 second-round pick, Ingram had posted sub-60.0 PFF grades throughout his three seasons in Minnesota. In Houston, Ingram has posted a 74.2 overall grade this season as a key contributor to the Texans’ playoff push.
A 2020 second-round pick, Cleveland is coming off his best season as a pass protector, tallying a 71.4 pass protection grade after sub-60.0 grades throughout his tenure in Minnesota.
Risner also allowed a career-best 17 pressures this season for the Bengals.
Christian Darrisaw’s Absence Central to Vikings O-Line Struggles
In his end-of-season news conference, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah addressed Christian Darrisaw’s injury-riddled season after a year-long rehab from knee surgery left the star left tackle still sidelined often.
“He’s a year removed from that injury,” Adofo-Mensah said. “So time is on our side in terms of kind of getting away from that injury point; another year of rehab strengthening and different things like that.”
The Vikings offensive line’s health led to 20 different line combinations this season. Darrisaw played just 50.3% offensive snaps, and along with Kelly’s multiple concussions this season, left the team making weekly adjustments to the unit.
Adofo-Mensah indicated that finding more depth at tackle will be a priority in the offseason.
“But obviously at all parts of our team, we’ve seen how important [Darrisaw] has been to our play. And so when we’re addressing things in the draft or free agency, we have to be mindful of that. I don’t want to say ‘insurance,’ but we’re always trying to have a roster of aspiration as a GM, when that first guy goes out, that next guy comes in and is as good as the guy. Is that reality? No, but that’s the mindset we got to take, and that’s a position we probably got to be more mindful of that.”
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