Category: Offseason

Vikings WR Adam Thielen just an honorable mention on ESPN’s wide receiver rankings

More than 50 league executives, coaches, scouts and players to helped ESPN rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions. For wide receiver, Adam Thielen was just an honorable mention 

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen made the Pro Bowl in 2017 and 2018, leading Minnesota in receiving yards both years.

He moved up the Vikings depth chart to be considered one of the top wideouts in the league. Then an injury-marred 2019 happened.

Thielen played in just 10 regular season games this past year. He suffered a hamstring injury that led to him missing significant time.

Judging from ESPN’s rankings, people around the league have cooled off on Thielen a tad.

More than 50 league executives, coaches, scouts and players to helped ESPN rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions. Those people ranked Thielen outside the top 10 for wide receivers, putting him in the honorable mention category.

Here’s what one executive said about the Vikings wide receiver:

“Ask the Vikings who was better [Thielen or Diggs], most say Thielen. … Does everything well. Has such quick feet that the DB squats and he gets on top of him deep,” the NFC executive said, via ESPN.

Now, Thielen will have a bigger role than he did during his strong 2017 and 2018 campaigns, due to Stefon Diggs leaving in a trade. Hopefully, he can stay healthy and prove some people wrong next season.

See Madden ratings for Vikings WRs Justin Jefferson, K.J. Osborn

Check out the Madden ratings for rookie wideouts Justin Jefferson and K.J. Osborn!

Minnesota landed three wide receivers from this rookie class, all of whom can make an immediate impact.

The Vikings drafted Justin Jefferson in the first round, and it would be a pretty big surprise if he isn’t the wide receiver two.

The team also took K.J. Osborn in the fifth round of the draft. The Vikings could use a new punt returned and Osborn was good at running back punts for Miami in college.

Minnesota then signed Quartney Davis as an undrafted free agent. He could very well be the wide receiver three for Minnesota next season.

Madden has yet to release a rating for Davis, but those other two players are now covered.

Justin Jefferson is a 74 overall. He is the fourth highest-rated rookie wide receiver in Madden.

K.J. Osborn is a 65 overall. I could maybe see his rating going up if he wins the starting punt returned job for the Vikings. Madden would at least have to make him a decent special teams player.

In 2007 re-draft, Adrian Peterson goes at No. 2 and the Vikings get Marshawn Lynch

What if more teams saw Adrian Peterson coming? That might mean the Vikings would have had to settle for beast mode.

If people knew what Adrian Peterson was capable of out of college, it’s safe to say he wouldn’t go to Minnesota.

Peterson fell to No. 7 in the 2007 draft and that’s when the Vikings took him. He was recently named the Vikings best player of the last decade by ESPN.

But what if people did know? Well, Bleacher Report recently did a re-draft of the 2007 class, and Peterson ended up going No. 2 overall to the Lions.

That left the Vikings at No. 7, still needing a running back. Bleacher Report had the team taking Marshawn Lynch. Here’s what it said about the pick:

“Not being able to draft a franchise icon in Adrian Peterson would be a real bummer for the Minnesota Vikings. It would also leave the team with a rather glaring void at running back.

Marshawn Lynch may not have had quite the NFL career that Peterson did. But he was no slouch, either. Over 13 seasons in the pros with the Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders, Lynch bulled his way to over 10,400 rushing yards. Six times over that span, he topped 1,000 yards on the ground, including a 1,590-yard effort in 2012.”

It would have been different and Lynch probably would have been worse than Peterson, but it is fun to think about how much it would have affected Minnesota’s run to the NFC Championship in 2009.

Does Lynch not put up good enough numbers to get the Vikings to that final game? Or does he rise to the occasion in the playoffs and make things go differently?

I don’t think Minnesota can complain, though, with taking Peterson. At the end of the day, he was the better player, and seeing him run around and oftentimes through defenders is probably still a fond memory for many Vikings fans.

Vikings DE D.J. Wonnum says you can feel Danielle Hunter’s ‘leadership presence’

Vikings DE D.J. Wonnum says you can feel Danielle Hunter’s ‘leadership presence’

Minnesota drafted D.J. Wonnum, a defensive end out South Carolina, in the fourth round of this year’s draft.

As Wonnum has been getting acclimated to the Vikings, the team’s top returning defensive end has been helping him out.

Here’s what Wonnum said about Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter to Vikings.com:

“From the meetings and the walk-throughs, you can definitely feel Danielle’s leadership presence.”

Hunter, a former third-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, worked his way up the Vikings depth chart to not only become a starter, but one of the best young defensive players in the NFL.

If Wonnum can learn from Hunter and fill out the spot opposite to him on the defensive line, the Vikings pass rush will be promising.

Though Ifeadi Odenigbo seems like the favorite to win the open defensive end spot, you never know. Maybe Wonnum can progress to the point where he can win out.

Vikings safety Anthony Harris listed as a player Minnesota cannot afford to lose

The player the Vikings can’t do without? According to Bleacher Report, it’s safety Anthony Harris.

Bleacher Report recently listed a player that each NFL team cannot afford to lose.

For the Vikings, the outlet picked a player whose long-term future with the team is still in question.

Vikings safety Anthony Harris earned the recognition as a player that Minnesota cannot do without. Here’s what Bleacher Report said about that:

“Keeping the 29-year-old safety in the fold will be important as Minnesota is in the process of revamping its secondary. Cornerbacks Mackensie Alexander, Trae Waynes and Xavier Rhodes all departed this offseason.

The Vikings cannot let Harris do the same next offseason.”

A revamped secondary might not necessarily be a bad thing. Why? Not only was their room for improvement with the veterans who left in free agency, but the Vikings have a safety like Harris, who, paired with Harrison Smith back deep, makes the new-look secondary look decent on paper. Here’s to hoping the Vikings can lock in Harris for the future.

Vikings vs. Buccaneers listed as Minnesota’s toughest matchup

Do you think the Vikings’ toughest matchup this season is Week 14 against the Buccaneers?

As it stands, Minnesota will head to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers in a Week 14 matchup.

If Tom Brady adjusts to the Buccaneers offense in Tampa Bay, then wide receivers like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin could take apart a relatively young Vikings cornerback corps.

Pro Football Focus thinks that this is Minnesota’s hardest matchup of the season, and based on how the teams are stylistically, it makes sense.

The Buccaneers not only have an offense with the potential to be one of the best in the league, they also have a defense that is solid in getting pressure on the quarterback.

The 49ers, Packers and other teams gave the Vikings fits this past season when they were able to consistently put pressure on Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Tampa Bay returns Shaquil Barrett, who had 19.5 sacks in 2019. The team also has Jason Pierre-Paul. He tallied 8.5 sacks. If those two can bring pressure and Brady finds his receivers open, it could spell trouble for the Vikings.

Report: NFC executive said Dalvin Cook would be better than Ezekiel Elliott in Dallas

“Cook can play. Contact don’t bother him. You’ve got to get him down. He’d be better than Zeke in Dallas,” an NFC executive told ESPN.

The Cowboys have been known for having a strong offensive line for some time now.

Even though center Travis Frederick retired, Pro Football Focus gave the Cowboys the third-best rating heading into the 2020 NFL season.

The Vikings were ranked No. 23 on that same list.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that an NFC executive thinks the Cowboys would be different with Vikings running back Dalvin Cook in the backfield. Here’s how:

“Cook can play. Contact don’t bother him. You’ve got to get him down. He’d be better than Zeke in Dallas,” an NFC executive told ESPN.

That executive ranked Cook as the top running back in the NFL. Cook, however, came in sixth on ESPN’s running back rankings.

Cook is coming off a season in which he had 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2019. Both those stats were career highs for him.

Earlier this offseason, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Cook will be out of any team-related activities until he receives a “reasonable” deal.

With Cook ranking high on this list and the Vikings being reliant upon the run, hopefully the team can work out a deal sooner rather than later.

Madden Ratings for Vikings QBs Jake Browning, Nate Stanley

Check out what Madden rated Vikings quarterbacks Jake Browning and Nate Stanley.

The Vikings have an interesting situation at quarterback beyond Kirk Cousins.

There’s Sean Mannion, the backup quarterback last season who has a chance to win the job again. And then there’s Jake Browning, a quarterback who made the practice squad last season, who has a chance to move up the depth chart.

Vikings fans also can’t forget about Nate Stanley, the seventh-round draft pick out of Iowa.

Due to having no regular season reps between Browning and Stanley, it’s pretty hard to quantify how good they’re going to be in 2020. But Madden tried to do just that.

The game released ratings for both Browning and Stanley, both of whom earned a rating of 53 overall.

Browning has a short throw accuracy rating of 77, a medium throw accuracy score of 68 and a deep throw accuracy score of 68. He also has a 74 rating when it comes to play-action passing.

Stanley has a short passer rating of 73, a medium passer rating of 65, a deep passer rating of 67 and a play-action rating of 75.

Those two might be tough plays for now, but if they impress at any point in 2020, you never know, maybe they start earning a better rating.

PFF thinks Irv Smith Jr. is a breakout TE candidate for 2020

As a rookie, Smith finished with 36 catches for 311 yards and two touchdowns.

The Vikings drafted Irv Smith Jr. in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

While the team already had Kyle Rudolph, Smith is a more dynamic pass catcher than Rudolph and it would seem he has a higher ceiling.

With Rudolph getting older, there’s a good chance we’ll see more of Smith in a pass-catching role with the Vikings in 2020.

Andrew Erickson over at Pro Football Focus thinks Smith can be a fantasy football breakout star in 2020.

Here’s a bit of what Erickson wrote about Smith:

Irv Smith Jr. is entering his second year in the NFL after an encouraging rookie season with the Minnesota Vikings. The former second-round pick from Alabama was the highest-graded tight end (65.0) among the 2019 tight end draft class who saw at least 40 targets. Smith also owned the sixth-best catch rate (78.3%) among all qualifying tight ends.

As a rookie, Smith finished with 36 catches for 311 yards and two touchdowns. I would expect those numbers to increase quite a bit in 2020.

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson ranks 7th in Rookie of the Year rankings

When it comes to opportunities, Jefferson should get plenty as the favorite as the team’s WR2 behind Adam Thielen.

The Vikings will likely need to rely on rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson in 2020 after drafting him in the first round out of LSU.

When it comes to opportunities, Jefferson should get plenty as the favorite as the team’s WR2 behind Adam Thielen.

So, where does he rank in the 2020 Rookie of the Year chase?

Lance Zierlein over at NFL.com ranked all the rookies and Jefferson ranked seventh.

Here’s what Zierlein wrote about Jefferson:

Jefferson was good in 2018, but he was great in 2019, showing off improved route running and impeccable ball skills. He steps into a pretty good situation, taking over for the departed Stefon Diggs in a role that should feature accurate, catchable throws coming his way from Kirk Cousins. Adam Thielen should return healthy after a hamstring injury slowed him last season, and Dalvin Cook — assuming he does not end up holding out — appears to be the focal point of the offense, but there should still be plenty of action coming Jefferson’s way as the WR2 in Gary Kubiak’s scheme.

The Vikings have had five OROY winners in franchise history:

  • 1973, Chuck Foreman
  • 1976, Sammy White
  • 1998, Randy Moss
  • 2007, Adrian Peterson
  • 2009, Percy Harvin

We’ll see if Jefferson can join that list.

You can check out Zierlein’s full list here.