Vikings addition of Will Fries and Ryan Kelly forced Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's hand with former second round pick
The Minnesota Vikings addition of trench players in free agency has caused general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to make some changes on the interior of the offensive line. After signing both center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries, the writing was on the wall for both Ed Ingram and Garrett Bradbury and the Vikings made […]
The Minnesota Vikings addition of trench players in free agency has caused general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to make some changes on the interior of the offensive line. After signing both center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries, the writing was on the wall for both Ed Ingram and Garrett Bradbury and the Vikings made a move on Thursday afternoon.
According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Vikings have traded Ingram to the Houston Texans for a 2026 sixth-round pick.
Vikings trade Ed Ingram to Texans
It was bound to happen for the Vikings to likely move on from either Ingram, Bradbury, or both. Both players were essentially replaced over the legal tampering period and moving on from them made sense.
I wrote this on Wednesday after those signings were made about Ingram, who did lose his job midseason.
Ingram has been much maligned since he was the 59th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. In the first 41 games of his NFL career, he started every one of them. However, Ingram was replaced after the Vikings beat the Jacksonville Jaguars to improve to 7-2 by Dalton Risner who started the final nine games.
Similarly to Bradbury, Ingram doesn't have a trigger date on his contract, meaning his money isn't guaranteed for the season. Usually, with rookie contracts, teams will keep them through the offseason and training camp to see if they have grown or developed, as it can take 3-4 years to fully round out into the player you will be. Also, less than $4 million is a fine price to pay for a backup guard. If the Vikings cut him, it wouldn't be a surprise, but its arguably a smart move to keep him until final cuts just in case.
The trade of Ingram does save some salary cap space for the Vikings to a tune of $3,406,000, which will go a long way toward maximizing bringing someone like Cooper Kupp into the fold.
Moving on from Ingram means the Vikings only have three players left on the roster from their 10 selection 2022 NFL Draft class:
- ILB Brian Asamoah (3rd round pick)
- RB Ty Chandler (5th round pick)
- WR Jalen Nailor (6th round pick)
Former All Pro has officially been released and Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah needs to make the move happen to secure a Super Bowl caliber roster
Kevin O’Connell getting an upgrade WR3 should be the new priority
Vikings defense gets phenomenal news that will elevate Brian Flores’ unit to an elite level amid potential Super Bowl run
The Vikings just got better on Wednesday
