Vikes Views: Should Risner Start at RG on Thursday?

Ed Ingram or Dalton Risner…who do you think should start?

The Minnesota Vikings take on the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football! Some ridiculous rumors are swirling about the two teams and potential trades. I thought about asking about those, but they are covered in other posts and, quite frankly, aren’t based on anything real. Rumors of talks from an unverified random X/Twitter account seem to be what they are now.

The burning question in my mind is whether Dalton Risner will start on Thursday. Risner has been listed as a full participant in practice for the first two days of this week. He’s been activated from the IR and can be moved to the active roster at any point. The Vikings have no incentive to do that before Thursday. It will likely be a game-day decision, but he’s healthy and seems ready to go.

The worst spot on the offense has been right guard. Ed Ingram just hasn’t panned out the way the Vikings had hoped. PFF has a grade of 48.3 on Ed Ingram; 60-69 is backup-level and replacement level is considered 59.0 and below.

He’s not even good enough to be on the roster.

Some fans rave about Ingram’s run blocking and those grades are slightly better, but he’s not good enough to be on the field. If the Vikings have any hope of going deep in the playoffs, they need better from the Interior OL. Ingram is the weakest spot and must be replaced immediately.

We’ve proved over the years that it can always get worse on the offensive line, but if you know it isn’t good enough, what’s the difference? Ingram isn’t improving at all; he’s somehow regressing.

Kwesi picked Ingram in the second round of his first draft. It wasn’t a great start to the draft, with Ingram, Lewis Cine, and Andrew Booth Jr. all being picked in the first two rounds.

Akayleb Evans in the fourth, Ty Chandler in the fifth and Jalen Nailor in the sixth are the only useful picks left. None of those are in the starting lineup when everyone is healthy.