We now get to talk about one of the more exciting areas of the Vikings roster: the receivers. I just get tingles in my nether regions thinking about it. Mostly because it's the glamour position on the offense with all the dazzling speed moves and spectacular catches. I mean, while the offensive line is the sole of the offense, the receivers are the outer beauty that people tend to gush over while watching games. Typical Americans, all about outer appearances.
(Associated Press)
Tight End: TE Kyle Rudolph (26), TE Mycole Pruitt
(23), TE Rhett Ellison (27)
I honestly don’t see us moving any pieces here and I don’t really
think we need to. The ability of all of
these players were under appreciated until later in the year. Rudolph showed he still had great hands when
thrown to and decent block to boot. He always has a size advantage over most defenders and Norv Turner seems to always over look this (which is odd because he used to work with Antonio Gates). I still think he has many good years in front of him. The Vikings just need to put him to better use so he can be a top 5 type of tight end once again. (I mean, we are paying him as the 5th highest paid tight end in the league, and it wasn't just for blocking, Norv.)
(USA TODAY Sports: Andrew Weber)
Pruitt looks to be more of a passing weapon than blocker once he gets the system down. I like the Vikings put him to use at the end of the year and I'm excited to see what he can do with more snaps.
Short and simple: Ellison is going to remain a blocker with a small upside of catching 10-15
passes a year. Neat!
I don’t think the vikings will do anything with this spot.
(See, I can go a whole section about tight ends without making a joke about butts.)
Wide Receivers: WR
Stephon Diggs (22), WR Mike Wallace (29), WR Jarius Wright (26), WR Charles
Johnson (26), WR Cordarrelle Patterson (24), WR Adam Thiele (25)
This is an amazingly athletic, but overwhelmingly underachieving group to say the
least. Diggs is the only one I can
actually see staying on the team, but I don’t see many of the other guys going
anywhere just yet: except for Patterson.
(Associated Press)
Diggs will be our #1 guy, and he should be. He proved once given a chance he could be a
baller (720 yards and 4 touchdowns as a rookie) even without starting the
whole year due to rotation and experience. The ability to get open and make guys miss after the catch is something the Vikings haven't seen in awhile. Hopefully with hard work in the offseason we can finally see another 1,000 receiver on the roster.
Wallace I still think can be a decent 2nd/3rd
guy on our team. I feel his productivity wasn’t his fault this year, and
that comes back to Norv Turner and the development of Teddy Bridgewater. I feel given another year in the system,
along with other changes, he could be a threat again. This is completely my own opinion, but on how Zimmer is talking is still about him, he admitted that he has talent that wasn't used correctly.
Wright has always been consistent as a 3rd/4th
option and I don’t see him moving unless it’s farther down the bench. He's shown solid hands and clean routes his entire time being a Viking and that will be helpful if they really want Teddy to "let it loose" in 2016.
Patterson needs to go.
I’m over the whole “I’m the Flash” gimmick and I hope Zimmer is,
too. He is speedily moving himself to 'Harvin status' as a failed WR who has all the tools to be great. He has shown no consistency to be a
legit receiver. As a return man, his last big run followed by a fumble turned me against him, because of his nonchalant reaction on the sideline. It was a big game, and he was just laughing it off like it didn't matter. His lack of effort combined with his apparent superstar attitude is
annoying and childish. He won’t become a
threat at wide receiver unless he puts in hard work and I just don’t see that
happening. I get we'd lose a special weapon on kick offs, but with the move to the 35 yard line, the art of returns has turned almost useless. There is no reason to dump anymore money into a position like this.
(Associated Press)
Johnson is odd. I
thought he would be a solid 1st/2nd option and quickly
got moved to nothingness. Does anyone else find this completely questionable and shocking? I honestly don’t remember seeing him on the
sideline. After averaging 60 yards a game the final 7 games of 2014, he Houdini-ed. It is extremely confusing to
see someone go from a great option to an afterthought. I don’t know if we will see him again or not,
but his tale so far is very confusing.
I could see the Vikings picking up another option for Teddy
in this department. Probably from the draft which is great to get young guys to develop like Diggs, whom they took in the 5th round. I have faith they will grab another play maker here instead of putting money into a free agent.
Skol!
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