By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — On the first play of the preseason, Christian Darrisaw and Donovan Jackson sent a message. The play was a handoff to the left side. They shot up out of their stances like gigantic sprinters and plowed the path in front of Aaron Jones, knocking away everything in blue on their way, and Jones cruised to a 9-yard gain.
This was the vision of the Minnesota Vikings when they drafted Jackson in the first round last year. Kevin O’Connell envisioned two wildly-athletic linemen melding together on one side of the ball to create a force of nature.
That would have happened in 2025 except injuries got in the way.
Darrisaw was still recovering from an ACL injury suffered in 2024 and didn’t have a complete training camp. When he got into the regular season, he was still dealing with discomfort and he struggled to consistently stay on the field. In Darrisaw’s first game, he and Jackson mauled the Cincinnati Bengals but Jackson suffered a wrist injury that kept him out for an extended period of time.
All said and done, Darrisaw and Jackson only played five start-to-finish games together.
This year has already been a completely different story. The two players have become very close during the course of learning a new run scheme and preparing for the 2026 season. They have mutal respect and those around them see how the left side of the line can transform the offense.
I talked to Darrisaw, Jackson, O’Connell, Brian O’Neill, Dallas Turner and TJ Hockenson about how the combination of chemistry and talent between the two linemen can be a factor this season…
“If you see one, you see the other”
Darrisaw and Jackson are birds of a feather. As large as they may be, both are soft spoken and smart. Humble and approachable. Jackson loves to learn and Darrisaw has seen everything there is to see in his five NFL seasons and he likes to share. They both like to build legos in the offseason. Darrisaw put together the Avengers Tower and got the Titanic for Christmas, so he’s got some work to do on that one.
“If you see one, you see the other on and off the field, which is really great,” O’Connell said.
Darrisaw and Jackson share both hobbies and a mindset of wanting to be at the top of their craft.
“I feel like he's like myself, man,” Darrisaw said of Jackson. “He's just all about his work and he wants to be great. You can see it, he's just a smart, smart football player. It's really fun playing next to him.”
Jackson took notice quickly when he arrived in Minnesota that his partner to the left was enjoyable to be around and had a meticulous way of going about his business.
“He's actually really funny, that is one of his great qualities but he's very humble,” Jackson said. “He's always very eager to learn and it rubs off when everyone else in the room, like, one of our top guys is showing up every day looking to be better… it's a testament to his character and what he does here.”
Vikings captain and O-line leader Brian O’Neill thinks that there’s nothing better for Jackson’s progression as a young player than having Darrisaw by his side.
“I think it's huge, I think CD [Darrisaw] is one of the smartest players we have on this team, and he's seen a lot of things,” O’Neill said. “He's seen a lot of football. He's a great resource for [Jackson], and they speak the same language, if that makes sense. And then just like different stuff off the field…. he's been through different coaches, different O-line coaches, different systems, has dealt with injuries, things that are inevitably gonna come up for Donnie, so he's already been able to go through it.”
“He’s a whole different player”
By rookie standards, Jackson had a good season. Guard is one of the most difficult positions to transition from college to the NFL and he finished 36th of 61 guards by PFF in overall grade and 25th in pass blocking. In terms of rookies, only Dylan Fairchild was ahead of Jackson as a pass blocker and it was by a tiny margin.
“He's athletic, he's gifted,” Darrisaw said of Jackson. “He's played left tackle in college and just having that ability…it's not easy. Now he's inside and his pass pro, he has great hands, his strength, he’s tough, he's really aggressive, physical.”
Jackson’s PFF numbers are more impressive when you know that he spent the majority of last offseason not practicing next to Darrisaw and the majority of the regular season not playing with the superstar left tackle. Not to mention that he had three different centers and came back early from his wrist injury.
“To see how he played last year and what he took from that to where he’s at now, he's come in as a whole different player,” Darrisaw said. “He's playing way faster. Just having a year under his belt, and then as far as us, we had the whole offseason together, training came together… there’s just a lot of excitement.”
Last year teammates praised Jackson’s toughness and attitude toward learning. One of the things that was mentioned often was that he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He would make a correction and go forward.
“The biggest thing for Donnie has just been the maturation of just seeing more football, seeing more pre-snap looks, moving right before the snap, and then the post-snap movement and being able to still play with the conviction to play across the line of scrimmage and be physical and understand exactly how plays are going to kind of transcend and change based upon movement and then what my job is at the second and third level.”
While Jackson’s development is at the center of he and Darrisaw aiming to be one of the best combos in the league, Darrisaw’s health is a major factor. During training camp, he took nearly every rep, including in the joint practices against the Baltimore Ravens. The explosiveness and confidence that we saw previously was back.
As a fella who played tackle for a year in college, Jackson is blown away watching the things Darrisaw does with ease.
“To manipulate set angles, manipulate rushers, and just play his game and dictate to the defense what he's going to do is very unique,” Jackson said. “It's very rare.”
In Darrisaw’s last full healthy season, he ranked as PFF’s sixth best graded overall tackle and No. 3 in pass protection.
Solving problems quickly
Where does the combination of talent and chemistry show itself most?
For that, we need to understand what’s been happening in the NFL in recent years with defenses. Once upon a time, the offense and defense would line up across from each other and run whatever play and coverage they were going to run. There were tells that the defense had, allowing smart QBs to see rush plans and coverages before they happened. Deception was still part of the equation after the snap but now defenses — led by Brian Flores — have found ways to make it much, much harder for offensive players to identify the rush and coverage.
Veteran tight end TJ Hockenson explained:
“I think that's the evolution of this game, that it's gone even since my time being here. I remember when, if it was quarters [coverage], you were able to tell it was quarters [before the snap] or if it was two-high [safeties] pre-snap, or if it was a single high [safety], you knew it was going to be a single-high pre-snap,” Hockenson said. “That's the evolution of the game and how difficult it's gotten in the offensive side of the ball. Defenses mask everything and there's not the same tells that usually have.”
Hockenson gives an example of how offenses used to figure out coverages that defenses have now solved.
“Sometimes you wou;d send a guy in motion and you're able to tell if it's man or zone,” Hockenson said. “That’s not always viable anymore. I think it comes down to offenses being able to play fast and see things post snap and having your own set of a foundation that you're able to have your plays instead of worrying about the defense.”
While offensive linemen aren’t given the answers to the test anymore, luckily it’s a group project. And the pairs on each side of the line have to work together and understand each other in order to succeed.
“When the picture changes and guys got to play together because you can’t have a connected group of five working together if the left side and the right side aren’t dialed in in their own kind of mini world,” O’Connell said.
The Vikings’ head coach points out that the time available to make adjustments when things change either right before the snap or after is miniscule.
“There’s no time to [say], ‘hey, hold up for a sec, let me see exactly what it is,’” O’Connell said.
O’Neill explained that the process for understanding the different permutations of what the defense could be doing begins during the meetings that week.
“You gotta be on the same page when you go over it in the meeting room at first, and then one or two times you do see it at practice, you have to be able to talk about it right away,” O’Neill said. “Because that communication has to happen within like a second or two, we both have to understand what we’re looking at and what it means.”
But even the extensive preparation that’s done with film study, meetings and practice doesn’t prepare players for the actual game scenarios every time. The defense is working hard during their week to find even the tiniest ways to throw off the O-line, whether that’s with an alignment they’ve never done before or going against a particulra tendency.
That’s where chemistry between the guard and tackle is truly tested.
“Anything that comes up that's not like a super standard, easy look from a front wise or a pressure wise, like it's not something they the top three things they do, it's something that might be a little bit different…if one of us can notice it, we can survive, but if both of us notice it and can call it out and anticipate it, we'll be driving,” O’Neill said.
“You kind of have your own language…it could be just a one word, ‘hey, we’re here to here, or like, ‘got it, got it,’” Hockenson explianed. “It’s quick but it’s the chemistry of knowing what he’s talking about. I know where we’re going.”
There’s a saying with offensive linemen that if everybody’s wrong together it’s better than four people being right and one wrong. That applies to the pairs as well. If Darrisaw and Jackson don’t have the correct on-paper answer but they are on the same page and can do it quickly, there’s a better chance it will work out.
“Sometimes it's playing extremely fast and just going and figuring it out on the run, if that makes sense,” O’Neill said.
There can’t be any hesitation.
“A long day at the office”
Dallas Turner let out a heavy sigh when he was asked about going up against Darrisaw and Jackson all summer long. They say that it’s better to have it harder in practice than in the game — that’s definitely the case for the Vikings’ third-year pass rusher.
“I used to hate it because they have so much chemistry with each other,” Turner said. “They knew that they could set certain ways knowing that they could rely on each other without even having to look back there to check.”
Turner said that where the chemistry shows up is that Darrisaw always understands when he’s going to have Jackson helping him out with inside moves, which means that the rusher isn’t just going one-on-one.
“CD can set certain ways knowing that he’s got Donovan on his side helping whatever inside move that I’m going to throw at them,” Turner said. “It’s like a one-and-a-half versus one. It’s a blessing to have those caliber players [to practice against] every day.”
Turner dropped the iron-sharpening-iron line about practicing against Jackson and Darrisaw but it was clear he was very ready to face off with a combo that isn’t of the same pedigree.
“Those two guys — it’s going to be a long day at the office for whoever is going against them,” Turner said.
Said it before and I’ll say it again: FOOTBALL