Fans of the Minnesota Vikings seem fed up with their offensive line and are absolutely begging to see the former Denver Bronco on their team. At this point, I am getting a kick out of Dalton Risner still being a free agent. I have a hunch that he was not well-liked in the locker room in Denver, and him pushing Brett Rypien on the sidelines last year just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Well, we are about to be two weeks done with the 2023 NFL season, and Risner is still on the market. One of the teams that make the most sense for Risner's services is the Minnesota Vikings, who are 0-2 after another disappointing loss against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night. While I am not an expert on the NFC North team, one thing that I do know for certain is they are struggling up front on offense.
The Minnesota Vikings have three solid OL in Christian Darrisaw, Ezra Cleveland, and Brian O'Neill. However, their worst player along that OL is Ed Engram, who is listed as their starter at right guard. Well, Vikings fans seem to think Dalton Risner would be a better solution for them than Engram, who truly is a liability.
Just take a look at Vikings' fans practically begging for the team to sign Risner:
Dalton Risner and linval Joseph need to be in purple tonight 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ #Vikings
— Kmari 😶🌫️ Watson (@KmariWatson) September 15, 2023
By Sunday I need to see Dalton Risner and Leonard Fournette in purple and gold playing for the Vikings.
— Mohamed Salad (@MohamedASalad) September 15, 2023
Sign Dalton Risner
— Steven Rosier (@srosier20) September 15, 2023
Sign Kareem Hunt
Play Addison as WR 2@Vikings
Well the Vikings were 7 turnovers and one Dalton Risner away from being 2-0.. nicely done Kwesi the cook #Skol pic.twitter.com/XCslssOvCx
— Rick Sosa (@sosarick) September 15, 2023
There is a ton more, but these are some of the cries for help. Risner did tease something on his Twitter account a few days ago. He's obviously in an airport:
🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/c7cpzytyD6
— Dalton Risner (@Dalton_Risner66) September 11, 2023
Perhaps that was Risner hopping on a plane to visit a team? Well, that was four days ago, and nothing seems to have happened since then. Dalton Risner was a second-round pick of the Denver Broncos back in 2019 and was a four-year starter for the team. However, Risner was pretty bad from 2020-2022, and was not re-signed by the team in the offseason. Instead, they spent over $50 million to sign Ben Powers to replace Risner at left guard.
We'll see what happens with Dalton Risner at some point I'm sure, but it is quite interesting to see a fanbase begging for a former Broncos lineman. Denver has had some rough OL units in recent years, and Risner was a big reason for that. As for the Broncos, their offensive line was actually one of the best in the NFL in Week 1, so I am encouraged that Denver finally has some stability with that unit.