It's Time For the Vikings to Bench Ed Ingram and Start Dalton Risner

It's time for the Vikings to bench Ed Ingram and put Dalton Risner in the starting lineup.

Yes, that means giving up on a second-round pick less than a month into his second season. When you start a season 0-3, difficult choices have to be made. If the Vikings don't start Risner this week in a must-win game against the Panthers, it would be unclear why they went out and signed him at all.

To Ingram's credit, he had a great game as a run blocker in Sunday's loss to the Chargers. He earned an elite 91.1 grade from Pro Football Focus in that department, helping open up numerous holes for Alexander Mattison. But any benefit Ingram may provide on the ground — and this was just his fourth game with a run blocking grade above 70 in 21 career contests — he negates with his pass protection.

Ingram allowed six more pressures against the Chargers, per PFF, bringing his season total to 13 (among guards, only Panthers rookie Chandler Zavala has allowed more). Two of those six pressures turned into sacks. Ingram was also flagged for holding twice (one was declined).

As a rookie last season, Ingram's 63 pressures allowed were more than any other lineman in the league. Any sort of second-year leap hasn't happened, at least from a pass protection standpoint. On tape, the LSU product has issues picking up stunts and landing his punch with the proper balance during pass sets. Dating back to last season, Ingram's poor reps often seem to happen at inopportune times. Then there's the weird stuff — stepping on Kirk Cousins' foot twice last year and knocking the ball out of his hands for a turnover in this year's opener.

Pass protection continues to be a problem for the Vikings, and Ingram is the primary culprit as the weak link of the offensive line.

"We just need to be a little bit better on third down and give Kirk a little bit more time to operate and try to find some people," Kevin O'Connell said after the Chargers loss. "Because there's some throws to be had if we can keep him safe and clean."

With the Vikings looking to climb out of an 0-3 hole, it's time to bench Ingram. Even with less than two weeks in the building, the veteran Risner almost certainly provides a higher floor as a pass blocker. Risner has exclusively played left guard in the NFL, but he's been working at both spots since arriving in Minnesota and he played right tackle in college. He'll be ready to go at right guard if the opportunity is given to him.

This can't be a time to worry about a wasted draft pick or prioritize run blocking. The Vikings are a pass-heavy offense that needs to keep Cousins upright. They're an 0-3 team that has to start stacking wins immediately to have any chance of turning this season around.

Risner was brought in for a reason. It's time to see what he can do.

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