Minnesota Vikings unlikely to find receiver help in free agency

The Minnesota Vikings need to find more wide receiver help, but the pool of free agents offers few solutions.

Stefon Diggs led all Vikings receivers last year with 720 yards on 52 receptions. The Vikings’ most expensive receiver, Mike Wallace, had just 473 yards on 39 receptions. 2014’s breakout “star” Charles Johnson suffered a mid-season injury and ended up with just nine catches for 127 yards.

Jarius Wright had a decent year for a #3 receiver with 442 yards on 32 catches. Former first-round draft pick Cordarrelle Patterson…well, never mind.

Could the picture be any clearer? The Vikings need to rework their receiver corps if they’re going to improve as a passing team in 2016. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of quick-fix solutions out there.

The free agent pool at wide receiver this year can charitably be described as thin. Alshon Jeffery would have been the #1 available player but he will be franchise tagged by the Bears.

With Jeffery off the table, who is the #1 receiver available? Probably Marvin Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals. Raise your hand if the prospect of signing Marvin Jones excites you.

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This is how bad a year it is for free agent wide receivers: Pro Football Focus has listed their top 8 and #5 is 100-year-old James Jones.

Rueben Randle is #6. Bryan Walters is #8. Todd Pinkston may have cracked the top 20.

To me the only potentially-intriguing name among the top free agents is Rishard Matthews, who had a nice break-out-type season for Miami last year before being felled by broken ribs.

Matthews finished with 662 yards on 43 catches with 4 TDs: decent numbers for a seventh-round pick in his third year. This is a player who could be on the verge of breaking out. And the Vikings absolutely should not consider signing him.

The Vikings don’t need Rishard Matthews because they already have their Rishard Matthews. His name is Stefon Diggs.

Travis Benjamin is another free agent name you’ll hear bandied about, but the Vikings already have their Travis Benjamin and his name is Jarius Wright.

Jermaine Kearse is available, but it’s unlikely he’ll get out of Seattle. And who wants Jermaine Kearse anyway?

If you’re looking for answers at wide receiver in free agency, you’re looking in the wrong place. So what should the Vikings do?

The draft I believe is where Minnesota will address wide receiver. A player like Josh Doctson could be intriguing at #23, or Laquon Treadwell if somehow he falls that far.

You know who else could be a big help for the Vikings in 2016? Charles Johnson.

I know Johnson vanished last year but there were some factors working hard against him. He got hurt, for one. He also got lost in the shuffle behind over-priced Mike Wallace.

Will Wallace himself be back in 2016? The Vikings have said nice things about him and by all accounts he has a good personal rapport with Teddy Bridgewater, but Wallace looked like a terrible fit for the Vikings’ system last year and unless he’s willing to take a massive pay-cut, there’s no reason to have him back.

The general feeling is that the Vikings need to help out Teddy Bridgewater by finding a big receiver in the Alshon Jeffery mold, a physical guy who can create space and jump a little and be a good weapon on third down and in the red zone. You know, a “true #1.” Too bad those guys don’t grow on trees.

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