Report: Vikings OT Phil Loadholt out for season with Achilles injury

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Vikings right tackle Phil Loadholt, one of the team’s more consistent run blockers, was carted off during Saturday night’s preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with what NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting is a season-ending Achilles injury.

The injury occured on the second play of the game, on a zero-yard gain by Jerick McKinnon. Loadholt crumpled to the ground and never got up, as his teammates huddled around him and the cart came out.

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#Vikings OT Phil Loadholt suffered a torn Achilles, source said. After he’d worked his way back from last year. Brutal.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 16, 2015

Loadholt missed the final five games of the 2014 season with a torn pectoral but was being counted on as one of Adrian Peterson’s main road graders this season. It appears the team will give the first crack of replacing Loadholt to rookie T.J. Clemmings, who slipped to the third round of the draft but was lauded as a top-50 talent.

But this is a blow no matter how you shake it because the Vikings’ O-line talent and depth loomed as one of its biggest questions befort the Loadholt injury.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm