For many Vikings fans, this has felt like the offseason of hurt feelings.
As Kwesi Adofo-Mensah attempts to successfully pull off the elusive “competitive rebuild,” he’s been confronted with several tough decisions regarding fan favorites and franchise stalwarts. Dalvin Cook, Eric Kendricks, and Adam Thielen are all names that have been synonymous with Vikings football for almost a decade, and they’ll all be wearing new uniforms next season.
This team managed to win 13 games in scrappy fashion last season but showed plenty of warts along the way. With eyes set on the future, this front office made the tough cuts of franchise veterans, and there’s plenty of reason to expect a regression by a team that may have overachieved in 2022.
But through the pain, there’s also been promise.
The Vikings have also been infused with young, exciting talent. There may be some units due for a regression, but others may be ready for a big leap. For the next two weeks, I’ll be looking at which position group I think is primed for the biggest regression, and which could ascend to even greater heights. And why not start positive?
I love it when a team builds strength on strength. The Vikings already had the best wide receiver in football last season, but this 2023 wide receiver room feels ready to take their game to a new level.
Obviously, this conversation can’t begin without recognizing Justin Jefferson‘s greatness. The best receiver in football has already cemented himself in a tier of receiver Vikings fans usually reserve for Chris Carter and Randy Moss. What’s crazy: I think he can be even better.
Kevin O’Connell had a lot of fun last season tinkering with new ways to move Jefferson around the field and confound defenses attempting to stop him. Jefferson was the first Viking since vintage Adrian Peterson who was so overwhelmingly dominant that teams completely changed their defensive schemes to slow him down, often attempting to double- or even triple-team JJ. This led to the occasional stall on offense as the Vikings attempted to adapt. Eventually, it required other playmakers to step up and take heat off of Jefferson — sometimes to middling results.
But in Year 2 of O’Connell’s tenure, the young head coach should be even more seasoned at handling these schemes designed to slow down Jefferson at all costs. And the addition of playmakers around Jefferson should make the prospect of selling out to stop him much less appealing for opposing defensive coordinators.
Ultimately, he’s just a stud. We’ve yet to see a season where he didn’t reach even greater heights and outperform even our loftiest expectations. Why wouldn’t he do the same in 2023?
The greatest room for growth in the receiver room isn’t with the WR1, but the rest of the depth chart. Despite losing Thielen this offseason, the rest of this unit ought to be much better than last year.
K.J. Osborn has proven to be more than capable and should be excited by the opportunity to take on some of the snaps Thielen vacated. He may be able to fill a similar role as the dependable veteran in important third-down situations, and he’s still plenty explosive down the field when given the opportunity.
What fans should be most excited for, though, is with the young talent coming down the pipe. Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor could be real game changers in this offense if they can hit the ground running.
A second-year player out of Michigan State, Nailor has been the darling of offseason workouts. As I wrote earlier this offseason, Nailor may simply be too explosive to keep off the field this season. Nailor may have largely redshirted as a rookie, but he appears to be coming into his own as a more consistent player. That consistency will only allow him more opportunities to get that track speed and playmaking ability on the field more in Year 2. Plays like the one below will only help his cause if he can keep it up.
And then we have Jordan Addison, Kevin O’Connell’s shiny new toy. The former Biletnikoff winner is no stranger to expectations and has an awesome opportunity in front of him.
Addison provides a level of versatility and playmaking ability that Minnesota was lacking pretty desperately last season. Addison’s ability to manipulate defenders as a route runner and make them pay at all three levels is exceptional, and he can do so outside or in the slot depending on the matchup. And by matchup, I mean wherever he can make you pay the most for overcommitting to Jefferson.
With another year for this coaching staff to install this offensive scheme and Kevin O’Connell to develop as a play caller, we should see even more production out of this group. As Jefferson continues to explode as the focal point of the offense, his running mates are primed and ready to seize their own opportunities to make defenses pay. The development of the young talent, combined with a bonafide superstar, makes the sky the limit for this room if they can reach their potential.
