Vikings To Place Andre Smith On IR?

Andre Smith has an elbow injury and it might end his season. The tackle’s injury is keeping him out of practice today and the team believes that it might be severe enough to warrant placing him on IR, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweetsAndre Smith (vertical)

The Vikings, unfortunately, have been wrecked by injuries this year. The first big blow came late in the summer when Teddy Bridgewater suffered a severe knee injury. Then, a torn meniscus knocked Adrian Peterson out for a minimum of two months and potentially for the entire season. Now, Minnesota might lose another starter in Smith.

Smith came to the Vikings on a one-year, $3.5MM deal. Smith, the sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft, was the Bengals’ starting right tackle for several seasons, making 73 starts in Cincinnati since first joining the club seven years ago. Although he has been a steady performer throughout his career, the 29-year-old became expendable in Cincinnati after the Bengals used their first two picks in the 2015 draft on offensive tackles.

Through one month of NFL football, the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus have Smith ranked as just the 69th best tackle out of 75 qualified players. Meanwhile, fellow Vikings tackle Jeremiah Sirles is rated No. 32.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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