It’s been well over a month since the NFL’s free agency period started, and a plethora of players are going to be on new teams when the 2024 season starts. The Minnesota Vikings made a number of moves during the period, and had a few of their high-profile free agents sign deals with other teams.
One of the moves they didn’t make is re-signing offensive lineman Dalton Risner. Risner came to the Vikings during the 2023 season and, within a few weeks, had taken over the starting job from incumbent Ezra Cleveland, who was subsequently traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Risner remained the starter throughout the season and figured to be in line for a new deal.
At least, that seems to be how Risner saw things, and he appears to be frustrated that the Vikings front office apparently saw things differently. In an interview with radio station WIBW, Risner expressed his frustrations at still being a free agent at this point in the process, saying:
Dalton Risner voicing his frustration on the timeline of his future deal (@wibw):
“I showed up there (Minnesota), and their four-year starter, within three weeks, I beat him out for the job, ended up trading him away, and I played 11 games. I thought things would change this… pic.twitter.com/ymWqovm9iQ
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) April 19, 2024
The Vikings have a clear need along the interior of their offensive line, so it’s interesting that they haven’t gotten a deal done with Risner yet, nor have they made any moves to get another starter-quality player slotted in. Minnesota does have the NFL draft coming up, and they could address the position then. But the fact that Risner is still on the market does raise some questions.
If a deal between the two sides does get done, it will likely come after the NFL draft, which kicks off this Thursday and runs through Saturday. If the Vikings don’t draft someone along the interior on days one or two, Risner coming back should be a strong possibility. But how willing will he be to come back after how this process has played out? We’ll have to wait and see.