A New Vikings Star Got the Green Light
On the second day of the legal tampering window, the Minnesota Vikings didn’t waste any time and quickly established their plans to contend for a Super Bowl in the near future by investing in the trenches, which had been the Achilles’ heel for the purple squad in the past.
Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen will be a significant upgrade in Brian Flores’ defense, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy is surely happy about the team’s newly built interior offensive line.
New Vikings Guard Will Fries Is Ready to Roll.
Fries is a fascinating case, as he signed a lucrative five-year contract despite his season ending early with a fractured tibia, which demonstrates the high value teams around the league place on the level of play he provided prior to the Week 5 incident.
That injury, however, was still a serious cause for concern. The newcomer didn’t participate in any of the OTAs or minicamp. On Tuesday, head coach Kevin O’Connell announced that his pricey new talent is ready for action.
“I want to highlight the work they [Christian Darrisaw, Will Fries, and Rondale Moore] put in this summer to put themselves in a position to be out on the grass practicing, all in different capacities. We are very pleased with where those guys are at and, you know, their timelines to fully returning to daily participation.”
Darrisaw suffered a torn ACL in October. Both he and Fries would complete the offensive line’s overhaul after years of subpar play. Ryan Kelly, Brian O’Neill, and Donovan Jackson complete the unit.
“Will, he’s cleared, he’s ready to go,” O’Connell explained, “it’s just a matter of ramping him up football-wise in our offensive system from a comfort standpoint, and then he’ll assume a full allotment of reps here and we’ll take a look at what that looks like as camp goes on.”
After spending his rookie season as a backup in Indianapolis, the 2021 seventh-rounder cracked the lineup in 2022. He was solid for a couple of years, but had his breakout a year ago. Fries played at a Pro Bowl level through five weeks until his leg injury cut his campaign short.
PFF’s Dalton Wasserman wrote in May: “Will Fries was on his way to a breakout season before suffering a season-ending injury in the Colts’ fifth game. During the time that he did get to play, he recorded a terrific 86.9 PFF grade that would’ve been a top-five mark at the position if he had played enough snaps to qualify.”
Fries’ contract is worth $88 million through five seasons. A huge investment, but worth every penny if Vikings fans can avoid seeing their quarterback squashed various times a game because of incompetent guard play once again ruined a promising play-call.
Earlier this offseason, O’Connell teased Skol Nation with an exciting comment about Fries’ power: “It’s almost hard to believe with how strong he is, some of the things you’re hearing about from what he’s doing in the weight room, but we’re being really smart with the injury that it was, and then once we’re able to kind of get him in and get a feel for that, you know, knowing how we handle the spring.”
Fries’ return is pretty much comparable to Andrew Van Ginkel’s a year ago. The defender was signed in free agency despite suffering a lisfranc injury at the end of the previous campaign. His availability to start camp was in question, but that story disappeared rather quickly, and he demonstrated his excellence throughout the season.
The new blocker turned 27 this offseason and is waiting for his true breakout season. A smooth recovery is the first step.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.