Vikings trade guard Ed Ingram to the Texans; looking to deal center Garrett Bradbury, too

After signing center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries this week, the Vikings traded away an offensive lineman Thursday afternoon.

They’re sending right guard Ed Ingram to the Texans in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

Ingram was the No. 59 overall pick by the Vikings in the 2022 NFL draft but lost his starting job during the 2024 season. He was set to count $5.2 million against the Vikings' cap space this year.

The Texans have been rebuilding their offensive line during free agency, also signing guard Laken Tomlinson from the Seahawks. In 2024, Houston gave up 54 sacks on quarterback C.J. Stroud, tying for third most in the league.

Ingram appeared in 48 total games through three seasons with the Vikings, starting 41. He did not finish a season with above a 59.5% overall offensive grade, according to Pro Football Focus.

Ingram was one of the last remaining players from the Vikings' 2022 draft class. The others are linebacker Brian Asamoah II, running back Ty Chandler and wide receiver Jalen Nailor.

Ingram is the third pick from that class to be traded. Cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. was traded last year for cornerback Nahshon Wright; tackle Vederian Lowe was traded for a 2024 sixth-round pick in 2023.

The Vikings have already traded away two of their 2026 draft picks. They’ve now offset one of those with the Ingram trade.

Minnesota is also looking to trade center Garrett Bradbury and will release him if no deal is found.

Bradbury was a first-round pick for the Vikings in 2019 and started 88 games over six seasons. But he was one of the lowest-graded centers with the highest snap counts this season and gave up the most pressures (38) in that group, according to PFF.

Kelly, who officially signed with the Vikings on Wednesday, is expected to start at center next fall with 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Jurgens as his backup. Fries is now slotted in at right guard, and last season’s starting left guard, Blake Brandel, is still on the roster. Dalton Risner, a career left guard who replaced Ingram at right guard in 2024, is a free agent.

Bradbury’s release or trade will save the Vikings $3.6 million in cap space. It leaves $2.5 million in “dead money,” or a cap charge for a player no longer on the roster. Bradbury signed a three-year, $15.7-million extension in 2023.

The Vikings continued to make offensive line transactions into Thursday evening, agreeing to terms with former Buccaneers tackle Justin Skule.

Skule has appeared in 66 games with 17 starts across a five-year career that started with the 49ers in 2019 when they selected him in the sixth round of the draft. He was waived by San Francisco in August 2022.

The Vikings will return starting right tackle Brian O’Neill and left tackle Christian Darrisaw, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in October. Cam Robinson, who was acquired from the Jaguars at the trade deadline to take Darrisaw’s place, is a free agent.

Former Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold officially signed his three-year, $100.5-million contract with the Seahawks on Thursday.

Darnold will continue to wear the number 14. Wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, who’d worn the number for Seattle for six seasons, was traded to the Steelers this week.

At his introductory news conference — wearing a flannel appropriate for his new city — Darnold said he’d been looking at “all possibilities” when asked if how heavily he considered returning to the Vikings.

Darnold’s signing in Seattle reunites him with offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who was passing game coordinator for the 49ers the season Darnold spent there. The 27-year-old QB said he’s eager to return to Kubiak’s system, elements of which are similar to Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell’s system.

“There’s variations of the same system that kind of go around the NFL,” Darnold said. “Being in one of those last year, and kind of getting to morph a little bit of that with obviously most of the stuff we did in San Francisco, and then I know he grew on his system a little bit last year in New Orleans. I know I keep using this word, but very excited to get rolling on what this system, what the offense is gonna look like next year.”

Darnold made his first Pro Bowl after passing for a career-high 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns during one season with the Vikings.

“I think Sam’s best days are ahead of him,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said.

At his introductory news conference Thursday, new Colts quarterback Daniel Jones said Indianapolis is where he was “most excited to be” after choosing a one-year deal worth up to $17.7 million over an undisclosed offer from the Vikings.

Jones, who spent six weeks on the Vikings roster last season after he was released by the Giants, said Colts brass told him he’s competing for a starting job with incumbent Anthony Richardson.

“That’s been the communication,” Jones said. “An opportunity to come in and compete. Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. I think I’ve had a lot of fun, a lot of respect for Anthony watching him. I think he’s certainly a talented, young player and I think the competition aspect of it brings out the best in everybody.”

All 66 players who played at least one snap for the Vikings last season recently split $14.1 million via the NFL’s performance-based pay system, which originated in 2002 as a way of rewarding players with high snap counts but low salaries.

Guard Blake Brandel, who played all 1,117 snaps on offense last season, led the team with a $655,556 bonus.

Linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. got the biggest pay raise by percentage with a $559,758 bonus that is 68% of what he earned last season.

Some current and former Vikings players signed big contracts this week during NFL free agency, and they got an additional pay bump, too. Darnold got $55 million guaranteed from Seattle, plus just over $300,000 in performance-based pay.

Quarterback Nick Mullens, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars this week, got the team’s smallest distribution: $4,222 for playing seven snaps last year. Mullens completed his only two attempts for 38 yards.

Andrew Krammer and Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed reporting to this story.