Vikings' Christian Darrisaw was tested by injury. Now he's smiling again as 2026 season nears.

MINNEAPOLIS — Christian Darrisaw was wearing something strange following a recent Minnesota Vikings practice.

A smile.

It prompted the following question:

“Did you have any fun last year?”

“At times, yes,” he said. “At times, no.”

The Vikings left tackle missed seven games. Of the 10 he played, he left five early. Many times, he pulled himself because his surgically repaired left knee wasn’t feeling strong enough — in his opinion — to keep playing.

That prompted this response: “There were times when you pulled yourself that it looked like you had lost your love for football.”

“Absolutely not,” Darrisaw said. “That rehab process, recovery process, I won’t lie, it’s tough. It really tests your love of the game. If I didn’t truly love the game, I’d never have been able to do what it takes to get back on the field.”

Darrisaw and the Vikings aren’t at odds. It was obvious, however, that they weren’t always on the same page when it came to Darrisaw’s availability coming off his multiple ligament tears in October 2024.

Prime example: Darrisaw’s start on Oct. 23, 2025, a Thursday night road game at the Los Angeles Chargers that came four days after he played all 69 offensive snaps against the Philadelphia Eagles.

He lasted nine snaps before pulling himself. That’s also the game Carson Wentz took the mother of all beatings, suffering five sacks and a season-ending injury.

“The process of getting my leg ready for a Sunday, and now you’re telling me I got three days before we travel?” Darrisaw said. “I was doing everything I could do. It just wasn’t there. My legs just weren’t there.”

That prompted this question: “Why suit up if you thought your legs weren’t there?”

“I’m with you,” he said. “It’s just the way things played out. I’m past all that now.”

Darrisaw looks past it. He looks good. Very good. He’s moving well, bending well, like his old self. Like he’s not thinking about his left leg. Finally.

“I feel great,” he said. “I feel like I did before the injury. I was playing well before the injury.”

This reporter, who holds an All-Pro vote, said the expectations for Darrisaw should always be All-Pro at best, Pro Bowl at worst.

“For sure,” said the 2021 first-round pick out of Virginia Tech, who has been good, but enters his sixth season with nary an All-Pro or Pro Bowl nod.

Of course, earning All-Pro honors at left tackle would be easier if a Hall of Fame-bound guy named Trent Williams showed any signs of growing old in San Francisco. Williams is 38 and has played 15 seasons. He has been a Pro Bowl pick 12 times and first-team All-Pro three times.

“That guy could play till he’s 50,” Darrisaw said. “He just special. He’s a freak.”

Williams is also the reason Darrisaw switched jersey numbers to 71.

“I was growing up as a hometown kid rooting for Washington when Trent was there,” said Darrisaw, who was born in Petersburg, Va., and played high school football at Riverdale Baptist in Maryland. “I transitioned from tight end in high school and my coach said, ‘Put that guy’s tape on and watch it.’”

Darrisaw isn’t as big or as physical as Williams. Who is? But his balance and smooth technique are comparable. When his left knee is feeling up to par, of course.

“The surgery I had, a lot of people don’t even know this, but I tore my meniscus, too, my ACL and my MCL,” Darrisaw said. “Just with the meniscus, you have to wait eight weeks even before you start doing anything because you can’t put pressure on that leg. That delayed me two months before I even started my rehab.”

Darrisaw was injured on Oct. 24, 2024. His first game back was Week 3 of the 2025 season on Sept. 21. The team listed him as questionable in Week 1, giving the impression at least that he could have returned earlier. Darrisaw said the plan as he understood it was he would return in 12 months, meaning he came back earlier than expected.

“Maybe I could have used the extra time to get right,” he said.

His lowest point last year came overseas in Weeks 4 and 5, when the Vikings played back-to-back international games against the Pittsburgh Steelers (Dublin) and Cleveland Browns (London).

“Against Pittsburgh, we had some guys out and I ended up taking 76 snaps on offense, the whole game,” he said. “That wasn’t the plan. The plan that week was similar to Cincinnati, my first game back [38 snaps, 63.3%].”

The Cleveland matchup pitted Darrisaw against 2025 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.

“Knowing who we were playing, I wanted to be out there with my boys,” Darrisaw said. “I felt I had a great game. Myles didn’t have a sack. I gave it all I got. It didn’t play out how it was supposed to. After those 76 snaps against Pittsburgh, my quad was bothering me. I couldn’t fire at all.”

Darrisaw pulled himself. He played 41 snaps, 63.1%.

“I’d never keep playing if I’m putting my quarterback in danger,” Darrisaw said. “I gave it all I got.”

He played 100% of the Vikings’ offensive snaps in Weeks 9, 10 and 11 against the Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears. Then in Week 12, Darrisaw left the field after Green Bay edge rusher Micah Parsons had two sacks. He played 38 snaps against the Packers, 86.4%.

“I kind of got rolled up in that game,” he said. “But that’s in the past now. This is 2026. I’m feeling really good. I can achieve whatever I want. So I’m focused on being the dominant player I know I can be.”

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