Schefter: Nick Easton undergoes surgery for herniated disc, season likely over

Earlier this week, we received the news that Minnesota Vikings guard Nick Easton was seeking a second opinion on the neck and back injuries that he’s been dealing with since the early portions of Training Camp.

Apparently the second opinion wasn’t any better than the first one.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Easton has undergone surgery for a herniated disc in his neck, and the expectation is that he won’t play again in 2018.

Easton was a restricted free agent this past offseason, and the Vikings placed a second-round tender on him. No other teams showed any interest, so Easton signed the offer at a salary of a little under $3 million for this season. He was coming off of a broken ankle in Week 16 of last year that ended his season, and the expectation. . .or hope. . .was that he was going to step back in and reclaim his left guard spot this season. Apparently that is not going to be the case.

With Easton out for the year, we will have to see how the Vikings choose to fill his spot at left guard. Mike Remmers played left guard in the Vikings’ regular season finale and both playoff games last year, but has been working exclusively at right guard this offseason and during camp (when he’s been healthy). There are going to be several in-house candidates to potentially replace him, such as Danny Isidora, Tom Compton, and Cornelius Edison. (Keep an eye on Aviante Collins, too, though he probably won’t be mentioned quite as frequently.) With Easton, Remmers, and Pat Elflein out early in camp, Compton and Isidora have been holding down the guard spots while Edison has been filling in at center.

In any case, the Vikings won’t be able to count on Nick Easton taking the next step in 2018, as it appears that his season is over before it ever really got underway. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for him.