For what feels like the 100th consecutive year, the Minnesota Vikings will have an open competition at their third wide receiver position. It’s a backup job for the TE-heavy Vikings, but one that gets plenty of ink spilled. Chad Beebe and Olabisi Johnson lead the way while a smattering of long shots nips at their heels. It’s not an inspiring group. So what do we have in the other two guys?
Beebe is a fairly known quantity. He’s 5’10” with a paltry 4.68 40 time and a drops issue. That said, he’s a better separator on quick passes than anyone else on the roster, which makes him the favorite for the job. Last year Johnson was the primary second wide receiver while Justin Jefferson got his feet under him, but Beebe got more reps in a rotational capacity. That two-game stint ended, in large part, to a couple of ball-adjustment errors during the Week 2 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Perhaps scarier than a bad WR3 is the idea of one of Adam Thielen or Justin Jefferson going down with an injury. Bisi Johnson will take over in that event, barring a training camp surge from an unlikely source. So what do young players like Imhir Smith-Marsette, K.J. Osborn, or Whop Philyor need to do to supplant him?
Johnson played significant time in three games: the first two weeks before Jefferson broke out and Week 12 when Thielen was out with COVID-19. By studying those, we can get a sense of the package that Johnson provides as a backup wide receiver. Before that, we can look at his athletic profile to give us a baseline:
It’s decent all-around athleticism, but that one red number stands out. While a 4.52 40 is a decent score on the whole, it doesn’t get going quickly enough. The Vikings have been attracted to this kind of athletic profile for a while. That lack of explosiveness betrays Johnson in a few recurring situations.
A common theme of Johnson’s game is a lack of separation. He does a fine job with his route running techniques but struggles to take advantage of the windows he creates. It’s a lack of acceleration that opens a window for players behind him to overtake him.
So why does Johnson keep getting this job? Some veteran savvy helps, in particular when it comes to finding holes in zones.
It’s rare for young players to have that trait, but it’s not particularly rare for young players to have more burst. So the type of player that beats out Johnson — and Beebe, for that matter — will need to be an explosive playmaker. If you can get open short and explode off of the line, you may have the goods to take that job. Behind Beebe and Johnson, there are a few undrafted rookies, one drafted rookie, and a couple of second-year hopefuls.
The Veterans
K.J. Osborn has been somewhat of a pleasant surprise in OTAs. His rookie campaign was a big disappointment for people who thought he’d be the future as a kick returner and a possible option from scrimmage. By week 11, Osborn had lost the kick return job to Chad Beebe and then Ameer Abdullah. He did not take a single snap from scrimmage, with the Vikings instead opting for Tajae Sharpe, Beebe, and Johnson.
While OTA reports are encouraging, Osborn doesn’t quite have the explosiveness we’re looking for. It’s better than Johnson’s by three-tenths of a second, but that may not be a big enough margin to stand out against Johnson if Osborn can’t improve in other areas. As for Dan Chisena, the special teams ace who got Marwan Maalouf excommunicated, it’s difficult to imagine his excellent speed overcoming his inexperience.
The draftee
Ihmir Smith-Marsette, the fifth-round pick out of Iowa, is most people’s favorite to win the WR3 job. He garnered a lot of pre-draft attention. Both he and Osborn are the only two drafted wide receivers in this challenger pool, and both were taken higher than Johnson. That implies an expectation that Smith-Marsette should be the strongest challenger here. Smith-Marsette has certainly made an impression with his personality, but his summer program was relatively quiet.
There’s a lot of time to turn that around, and Smith-Marsette’s athletic profile fits the bill. His 4.5 40 beats Johnson’s, and his 10-yard split is very encouraging. But since he hasn’t taken any second-team reps yet, and the kick return battle is still very open, the book is far from closed.
The undrafted rookies
Perhaps the biggest mysteries among this group are the three undrafted rookies, Myron Mitchell, Blake Proehl, and Whop Phiylor. Mitchell’s 4.83 40 is likely disqualifying. Phiylor’s athletic profile is a major concern, including a 10-split that is worse than Johnson’s. While both Mitchell and Phiylor have explosive highlights, it will be difficult for them to contrast their wins with Johnson’s losses. They may have a better chance at Beebe’s rotational role or Chisena’s special teams role than Johnson’s all-around responsibilities.
Blake Proehl may have the athleticism we’re looking for. Like Smith-Marsette, Proehl’s 4.47 40 and 1.55 10-split imply the requisite explosiveness to supplant Bisi Johnson. In fact, aside from Jefferson, Proehl is the next-fastest receiver on the roster. However, with only small-school experience, it remains to be seen whether he can offer that same veteran savvy. For what it’s worth, Lance Zierlein lists that as one of his strengths. It’s also noteworthy that Proehl has earned some second-team reps where Smith-Marsette has not.
Whether it’s Proehl, Smith-Marsette, or someone I’ve underrated, the door is open to beat out Bisi Johnson. If you can reliably get separation more than five yards downfield and reliably beat off coverage, you can be the primary backup to Adam Thielen or Justin Jefferson.
