Tag: Dalton Risner

PFF lists Giants as potential landing spot for pair of top guards

Pro Football Focus lists the New York Giants as a potential landing spot for two impending free agent guards.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen has his work cut out for him this offseason. There are needs at just about every position and depth has become a long-standing issue in East Rutherford.

Needs along the offensive line are near the top of the list, especially at the guard positions.

Fresh off a season in which the Giants allowed 85 sacks, second-most in NFL history, and ranked near the bottom of the league in almost every O-Line metric, Schoen recognizes that he must add quality bodies.

Pro Football Focus recognizes that as well and recently listed the Giants as a potential landing spot for two of the available free agent guards.

First up is Kevin Dotson of the Los Angeles Rams, whom PFF has ranked as the 23rd-best available free agent.

Dotson earned himself a lot of money in 2023 following a trade to the Los Angeles Rams, earning a career-high 88.8 run-blocking grade. While his pass blocking dipped compared to prior years, a 68.3 mark serving as a career low is a pretty strong floor.

The Giants desperately need to improve the league’s worst offensive line from 2023, and while much will be made of the right tackle spot, where 2022 top-10 pick Evan Neal has really struggled, adding a top-end pass protector next to the right tackle could go a long way in stabilizing the right side of the offensive line.

Dotson’s pass protection regression could be a cause for concern for the Giants but as PFF notes, that is a career anomaly. If it’s a red flag Schoen can’t ignore, their next option is Dalton Risner of the Minnesota Vikings, whom PFF has ranked as the 65th-best available free agent.

The Giants could look to lock down their other guard spot with a good pass-protecting left guard in Risner, who settled in after his late arrival to Minnesota this season.

Either or both of these players would provide an immediate upgrade for the Giants, who desperately need to stabilize their interior offensive line.

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7 Vikings make Pro Football Focus’ top 150 free agents list

From Kirk Cousins to K.J. Osborn, 7 Minnesota Vikings made Pro Football Focus’ top 150 free agents list.

Free agency is going to be an interesting time for the Minnesota Vikings.

When you look at the future for the Vikings, there are a lot of question marks. How will they clear cap space to add talent? Will they be aggressive in the market or prefer to keep their players in house?

Looking at that will be really interesting throughout the next few months because the success they have had over the last two years has been varied. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will have some difficult decisions to make.

The Vikings have 28 free agents this offseason and seven of them made Pro Football Focus’ top 150 free agents list.

Dalton Risner continues to rise to the occasion

Dalton Risner continues to shine as a Minnesota Viking

Minnesota Vikings left guard Dalton Risner has been impressive in his first year with the team. According to Pro Football Focus, Risner has not allowed a sack on 412 pass-blocking snaps for the Vikings this season.

Risner joined the team via free agency after Minnesota lacked depth along the offensive line with linemen Chris Reed and Oli Udoh out due to injury. His relationship with offensive line coach Chris Kuper was a likely significant reason for the signing. Brought in as a backup behind Ezra Cleveland, Risner was to be a reinforcement and allow Blake Brandel to move back to the reserve tackle position.

After Cleveland suffered a foot injury two weeks before the trade deadline, Risner stepped in and never had to give the job back. Cleveland was shipped off to Jacksonville, and Risner stepped in and became more than just a body at the guard position. He became an asset on an improved offensive line.

While his status as a Viking in 2024 is up in the air, there is no doubt that Risner made himself some money in the upcoming off-season.

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4 Vikings make Pro Football Focus’ top 100 free agents list

The Vikings will have some sought after free agents this offseason

We are (likely) just a few days away from the Minnesota Vikings entering the offseason officially. With that comes discussions of free agency and who might be staying or leaving the Vikings for the 2024 season.

Those discussions will be plentiful over the next 10 weeks or so and they have already begun. Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus put out his top 100 free agents going into the offseason and the Vikings have four players that graced the list.

What do they project to get and will the Vikings end up bringing them back? Let’s take a look.

5 areas of concern exposed in Vikings 30-24 loss to the Lions

Chris Spooner takes a look at five areas of concern that Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions exposed heading into the final weeks of the season and into the offseason.

Just like that, the Minnesota Vikings hopes of winning the NFC North were dashed. Instead of a Christmas miracle, the Vikings were handed a lump of coal with their 30-24 loss on Christmas Eve to the Detroit Lions. With the loss, Minnesota was eliminated from contention for the division title, and the Lions clinched their first division title since before the NFC North was even in existence.

The Vikings did a lot of things right in this game. Quarterback Nick Mullens was throwing the ball all over the field and notched his first career game with more than 400 yards passing. Minnesota was able to hold the Lions running game largely in check, and they made some big plays throughout the game when they needed it.

Unfortunately, as has been the case for much of the season, it was the unforced errors that ultimately doomed the Vikings. Mullens was doing his best impression of a baker out there, handing out turnovers left and right. He had four interceptions on the day, and could have easily walked out of there with a couple more.

He also had two plays where he narrowly avoided fumbling the ball. A four-turnover game was almost a blessing considering how much worse it could have been.

The turnover issues have been a theme throughout the season, but there were a lot of other areas of concern that this game exposed. Areas that have been a concern all season, but have largely been masked or glossed over in one way or another. Let’s take a look at five of those areas of concern that the loss against the Detroit Lions exposed.

Analyzing final Vikings injury report for Week 15 vs. Bengals

The Vikings will be without two starters on offense with at least one returning starter

The Minnesota Vikings are set to take on the Cincinnati Bengals in a Saturday afternoon clash on December 16th at noon CST.

Heading into the game, there were many injuries that the Vikings were concerned about, including ones to multiple offensive starters. The final injury report for the week 15 matchup has been released and it reflects better than expected.

Let’s break it all down.

Vikings Wednesday injury report adds one name

The injury report on Wednesday showed one added name for the Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings held their first practice of the week, as they did a walkthrough on Tuesday. The injury report did add one name to it with one other player seeing improvement.

  • RG Ed Ingram (hip): Full
  • WR Justin Jefferson (chest): Limited
  • LG Dalton Risner (ankle): Limited
  • RT Brian O’Neill (ankle): Did not practice
  • WR Jalen Nailor (concussion): Did not practice
  • RB Alexander Mattison (ankle): Did not practice
  • G Chris Reed (illness): Did not practice

Reed was the addition to the report with an illness. That could mead a lot of things but also will be worth monitoring moving forward.

Ingram taking a step forward is a really important distinction to his status on Sunday. With O’Neill still nursing his ankle injury, if Ingram returns, could Blake Brandel start at tackle or will it be Quessenberry?

Thursday afternoon will see the final injury report released and that will tell us who will and won’t play on Saturday.

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Vikings initial Week 15 injury report features 6 players

Jefferson highlights the injury report heading into week 15

The Minnesota Vikings released their initial injury report for Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

  • RG Ed Ingram (hip): Limited
  • WR Justin Jefferson (chest): Limited
  • LG Dalton Risner (ankle): Limited
  • RT Brian O’Neill (ankle): Did not practice
  • WR Jalen Nailor (concussion): Did not practice
  • RB Alexander Mattison (ankle): Did not practice

Ingram missed Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders with a hip injury. He was a late addition to the injury report last Thursday.

Jefferson is day-to-day with his chest injury. Early indications are that he will play but anything can happen.

Risner did return to the game with his ankle injury on Sunday. His being limited in practice is likely just out of precaution than anything.

Nailor having a concussion or being in the protocol wasn’t something known before today’s injury report. If trends continue, Nailor is likely to miss Saturday’s game. He was the fourth wide receiver after Jefferson left the game.

Mattison also did not practice with his ankle injury. He left the game and did not return. If he was unable to go, Ty Chandler would be the likely starter with DeWayne McBride likely making his NFL debut off of the practice squad.

Like Mattison, O’Neill left Sunday’s game with an ankle injury. The last time that happened, he had partially torn his Achilles tendon.

The injury report updates from the next two days will tell us a lot about where things stand.

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Stock up, stock down in Vikings 3-0 win vs. Raiders

In an ugly win like this one, multiple stocks saw movement for the Vikings

For the first time since 1971, the Minnesota Vikings won a game by a score of 3-0. The Vikings outlasted the Las Vegas Raiders in Allegiant Stadium to improve to 7-6.

It was ugly, very ugly. The offenses combined for 430 total yards and 24 total first downs. The passing games combined for 243 yards through the air, an almost unheard-of number in the modern era.

Ugly games happen in the NFL all the time, but they aren’t usually like this. The last game to end by a score of 3-0 was in 2007 when a John-Beck-led Miami Dolphins team fell to Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game that the NFL dubbed “The Monday Night Mud Bowl.” But being on the winning end of a game like this is much better than the alternative. 

In a win this hard-fought, some players are bound to see their stocks rise, and others will see theirs fall amidst all the chaos.

Dalton Risner leaves game vs. Raiders with an apparent leg injury

Risner left the game with an ankle injury but was able to return

An awful day on the injury front for the Minnesota Vikings keeps getting worse, as guard Dalton Risner had to be helped off the field with just under six minutes to go in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Risner was injured on a running play with about six minutes to go in the third quarter. Seldom-used running back Kene Nwangwu lined up in the backfield and took the carry to the outside. With the offensive line pulling to block, Risner went down and was immediately visibly upset, pounding the turf.

Risner was helped off the field by the training staff, unable to put much weight on his left leg. The Vikings were already missing right guard Ed Ingraham coming into the game and lost right tackle Brian O’Neill earlier in the game with an ankle injury.

Risner did return to the game and we will monitor his status for the remainder of the game.

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