Will Fries has been the rock — and ‘tree stump’ — of the Vikings offensive line

The Vikings could play with their offensive line intact Sunday against the Green Bay Packers if center Ryan Kelly, who has practiced in full two days this week, is given the green light to play.

The group has been hampered by injury all season: Kelly’s concussions, tackles Christian Darrisaw’s and Brian O’Neill’s knee issues, rookie left guard Donovan Jackson’s wrist surgery.

Only one member of the team’s projected starting five has appeared in all 10 games this season — right guard Will Fries, who said Thursday he has not paid much mind to the rotating cast around him.

“Where our season’s kind of gone up front there and the ebbs and flows, Will has been a rock for us,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said Nov. 7, adding that Fries was “coming into his own, finding his stride within our system, both the run and pass game.”

The Vikings signed Fries, 27, away from the Indianapolis Colts to a five-year deal worth up to $88 million in March. He was coming off a right tibia injury that ended his 2024 season five games in.

This year, Fries has played 592 snaps, the most on the Vikings offense by 11 over wide receiver Justin Jefferson (581). The next offensive lineman is multitool Blake Brandel at 466 snaps.

Within the expected starting five, Jackson (459) has played the most snaps behind Fries followed by Darrisaw (415) and O’Neill (413).

The Vikings have used four tackles this year, three guards and three centers.

Fries said it’s “definitely super exciting” to potentially have the intended starting five for the first time Sunday but was complimentary of all the players who have stepped in in the meantime: “We have a really good group of guys that have performed really well.”

O’Connell said Fries hasn’t directly taken on a bigger workload amid all the shuffling, but it has likely put more pressure on his job as a guard to communicate things across the line, especially in those games when Kelly has been missing.

“They’re normally conveyors of information, either inside out or outside in from the lineman next to him, but I’m sure that he’s felt a little bit more of a role, maybe even a leadership role, regardless of who’s in there with them, that not only my play and performance needs to be to a standard, but I’m going to bring guys along with me,” O’Connell said.

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While the Vikings line has had its ups and downs like the offense overall, Pro Football Focus lists offensive linemen as allowing only 18 of 34 sacks. The supposed-to-be starting five has allowed only four of those.

Fries has allowed just three hits and one sack across 370 opponent pressures on the quarterback. Only three penalties have been called against him, and he hasn’t been flagged since Week 4.

With those numbers in mind, the nature comparison offensive coordinator Wes Phillips made last week makes sense.

“He’s kind of a tree stump in there,” Phillips said. “He’s a very large tree stump, like a redwood cut down and just planted right in there.”

Jackson, who said he asks Fries questions “every day” about their shared position, smiled and agreed with Phillips’ metaphor Wednesday.

“I guess it’s a compliment?” Fries said. “It’s pretty cool. I just try to take a lot of pride in doing my job really well every time, and if that’s what a redwood does, that’s what I’d like to do.”

The Vikings announced Thursday that cornerback Dwight McGlothern Jr. was waived. A spot on the active roster is expected to be needed for Kelly to return from injured reserve.

McGlothern played 47 snaps for the Vikings this season between defense and special teams. He signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2024.