Vikings Inks Tackle Christian Darrisaw to a 4 Year, $117 Million Extension

By Albert Harris III

Earlier in the week, The Minnesota Vikings signs Pro Bowl Tackle Christian Darrisaw to a 4-year extension worth up to $117 Million, with $44 million guaranteed at signing per Adam Schefter. The deal was done pretty early as the Vikings already had him locked up for through the end of the 2025 season since they exercised his 5th year option this recent off-season. However, Darrisaw has done more than enough to secure this contract extension and the Vikings lock up their Franchise Tackle.

As the 23rd Overall pick in the already stacked 2021 NFL Draft, the Virginia Tech product became a great blindside tackle for Kirk Cousins and the backups that were starting in place of Cousins in 2023 following  his Achilles injury that ended his season. Per Pro Football Focus (PFF), Darrisaw back to back campaigns of having an offensive grade higher than 82 while also allowing only 11 sacks combined those past two seasons. Taking into account all of that including a blocking efficiency percentage of 97% and above, it becomes crystal clear why the Vikings didn’t want to wait on locking up Darrisaw.

Furthermore, with the departure of Kirk Cousins to Atlanta, the Vikings’ cap space opened up drastically which allowed for extensions of both Franchise Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson and Darrisaw. While the Kirk Cousins era is now gone, the Vikings gear up for a mini rebuild of sorts as they build around their 1st round pick in Former Michigan QB J.J McCarthy,  who also signed his contract ahead of the Vikings 1st day of training camp Wednesday. He will be waiting in the wings as veteran QB Sam Darnold will be taking the helm as starter for right now.

The post-Cousins era now officially kicks off with securing two franchise pieces to build around an developing offense for what they hope to become a rising contender in a NFC North consisting of a Jordan Love led Packers and Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions. This offense all falls on the development of McCarthy as they hope to see the National Champion become a franchise QB for years to come.