Ed Ingram’s Poor Play Pushed Vikings to Trade for Left Tackle?

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Tuesday evening, the Minnesota Vikings made some what of a splashy trade for Jacksonville Jaguars’ left tackle Cam Robinson. At first glance, it seems like a quick replacement of star left tackle Christian Darrisaw. However, was there more too it? When Darrisaw went down, the most viable in-house options were:

  • A) Keep David Quessenberry at LT
  • B) Shift LG Blake Brandel over to LT; insert Dalton Risner at LG

With either of these two options, the right guard situation remains static, with Ed Ingram. Prior to Darrisaw’s season ending injury, there was mass speculation that Ingram’s days were numbered at right guard. That still appears to be the case, a reality that appears to have played a major role in the Vikings’ decision to acquire Robinson from the Jaguars, earlier this week.

Local beat writer says Ed Ingram’s poor performance factored into the trade

In the latest Access Vikings podcast, Ben Goessling (Star Tribune) stated that Ed Ingram’s poor performance was a large component in the decision to trade for Cam Robinson. They aren’t directly correlated, of course, since Ingram is a guard on the right side. Robinson will play left tackle.

Nonetheless, Tuesday’s trade allows the Minnesota Vikings to keep Blake Brandel at left guard. Then, with Dalton Risner now healthy, he will compete with and have an opportunity to usurp Ingram at right guard.

“I think the not being locked into Ed Ingram is not a small component of this deal. I think it allows you to keep Blake Brandel at left guard and possibly you put Dalton Risner at right, whereas if you were gonna put Brandel at left tackle, Risner becomes your left guard. Ingram is still your right guard, which I don’t think would be the option they would prefer given some of the things we’ve heard about the short leash Ingram is on.

So yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense in that regard. And O’Connell said today about Reisner, we’ll probably see him in uniform, I think is what he said, sooner than later. So does that mean on the field?

Does that mean on the sideline? We’ll have to see. I tend to think, I mean, we’ve heard it, I think the chance of Risner being in the line up is strong at some point here, strong to quite strong.“

Ben Goessling (Star Tribune) via Access Vikings

This isn’t the first time Goessling has floated this idea out there either. Just the other week Goessling stated that Ingram was on a “short leash“. What is even more interesting is how he said the chances of Risner being in the starting line up is “quite strong” still at this point.

Looking ahead to who will be the Minnesota Vikings’ starting five offensive line players

In the short term, especially for Sunday night’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, it remains to be seen whether or not Robinson will make his debut. Kevin O’Connell stated in his Wednesday pressor that he was optimistic that he’ll have logged enough practice to make his debut Sunday. If that’s not the case, expect him to start the following Sunday.

Regardless of when Robinson will make his debut in purple and gold, he’s your new starting left tackle this season. Brandel and Garret Bradbury will remain at left guard and center, respectively. Goessling seems tocontinue banging the drum that Ingram’s time is coming to an end. It’s likely Risner will be the starting right guard here soon rather than later.

Rounding out the offensive line will be long-time right tackle Brian O’Neill. Overall, the Minnesota Vikings’ are likely to have two new faces on the offensive line here soon. There’s obviously a significant downgrade at left tackle.

Related: NFL Trade Rumors: Another 2022 Minnesota Vikings Draft Pick May be Exiled by Deadline

Darrisaw is one of the best in the NFL at his position. However, there is a possibility that the Vikings’ offensive line upgrades at right guard, given Ingram’s struggles all season. In the end, we’ll see how this new offensive line will look like over the coming weeks.

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