Vikings Rookie Details Pre-Surgery Conversation with Vikings

This week looks like it will be much different for the Minnesota Vikings on the availability front. Kevin O’Connell met with reporters on Monday and sounded confident that at least some of the cavalry is on its way back to help push this team to more victories, starting Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Among them is rookie guard Donovan Jackson, who is just a few weeks removed from a mid-season wrist surgery. That would be big news for the Vikings, whose injury issues have been especially bad on the offensive line. Jackson played the first three games of the season, where he was very impressive for a first-year player.

In fact, losing their promising first round pick has turned out to be one of the more crucial injuries on the roster, and one of the reasons the MN Vikings feel lucky to be 3-2 coming out of the bye.

Donovan Jackson talked himself into Vikings game

Their best game of the season probably came against the Cincinnati Bengals, before the Vikings boarded a plane to Dublin. That week three contest also happened to be the last time Jackson played, before undergoing wrist surgery.

He almost didn’t take the field, however, and who knows what ripple effects that would have caused. We found out after that 48-10 victory that Donovan Jackson and the Vikings knew his wrist required a procedure, earlier that week.

Because of that, trainers and coaches urged Jackson not to play in that game, even though he was not going to get surgery until after. When the former Ohio State standout found out he couldn’t hurt himself any worse by playing, there was no way he was sitting out, as he told reporters on Tuesday.

#Vikings 1st-round pick Donovan Jackson details the conversations he had with doctors about his wrist procedure — they advised him to sit out Week 3, but Jackson decided to play through it to get the surgery a week later:

“I was told that it was a significant injury in terms of… pic.twitter.com/Regri3fdw0

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) October 13, 2025

Related: Minnesota Vikings in for Longer-Term Change at Center

Jackson also answered the question as to whether or not him getting through a game would have meant he didn’t need surgery at all. The training staff cautioned him of that thought process and noted, with him being young, it made sense to get it fixed so it’s not a problem in the future.

Minnesota Vikings o-line getting awfully healthy…?

Now eyeing a return to the field, Minnesota’s offensive line is getting dangerously close to full-health. If Jackson and O’Neill can both return, they’ll be short just one starter, veteran center Ryan Kelly (concussion). But Donovan Jackson, next to Christian Darrisaw, and opposite Will Fries + Brian O’Neill, sounds a heck of a lot better than what we’ve gotten to watch so far this season.

During his debut against the Chicago Bears, Jackson graded out as one of the best guards in the league. We’ll see how he looks Sunday when the Eagles come to town.