NASHVILLE – Dalton Risner played left guard for the Vikings last season, as he’d done his whole career. But when the team started working him at right guard after bringing him back on a one-year deal this offseason, it seemed possible he’d eventually replace Ed Ingram in the starting lineup.
The Vikings made the move Sunday, starting Risner in place of Ingram at right guard in their 23-13 win over the Titans. It was Risner’s first start of the season, after he started 11 games last year, and the first of his career at right guard.
“I wanted to take a look with Dalton being healthy now, seeing if we could get a little bit more just of a veteran presence there,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It was a tough challenge to have Dalton’s first start on the right side be against [Jeffery] Simmons and [T’Vondre] Sweat. That’s two of the best interior guys playing right now in this league, and they are a huge part of how they’re able to play all that shell coverage and really eat up combinations and all those things. We’ll look at the tape and see how Dalton did. I just felt his play style. I felt him totally into the game.”
Ingram, whom the Vikings took with the 59th overall pick in the 2022 draft, had started 41 games in his first three seasons, and hung onto his starting job through the first half of this season as Risner stayed on injured reserve because of a back injury that occurred in training camp.
The Vikings had begun working Risner at right guard before his injury, seemingly to give themselves another option if Ingram struggled. He’d continued to work on the switch to the right side, and learned this week he would start instead of Ingram. He admitted things felt a bit clunky Sunday.
“I’m a guy that, I mean, I played nothing but left guard for five years,” he said. “Everything’s flipped. And there’s a lot of things I’m still trying to get used to. This game is so much more technical than people realize, and for me, it’s just focusing in every play. Left guard, I hear the play, it’s done. Right guard, it’s like, ‘Let me really assess this.’ You can’t think about that on game day; you’ve got to be quicker. But it’s been a fun switch.”
O’Connell said he doesn’t want to make the guard lineup a “week to week” switch but said he did want to introduce some competition for the spot in the final weeks of the season.
“And at the same time, I was proud of the way Ed handled the week as well,” O’Connell said. “He was knowing he’d be one snap away; he was asking great questions and he was prepared and ready to roll.”