Breaking down the Minnesota Vikings wide receiver situation
By Tim Arcand
Who makes the final roster?
Here is a look at how the position shakes out when the season opens.
The locks: Adam Thielen, Justin Jefferson, Bisi Johnson, and Chad Beebe.
While there may be questions about his health and effectiveness after missing six games last season, the only way Thielen fails to make the team is if one of his legs falls off during training camp.
Almost as big of guarantee is Jefferson. There is no way a first-round pick does not make the team. In the history of the Vikings, only two of 60 players drafted in the first round failed to play with the team. The Vikings selected defensive tackle Jim Dunaway with the third overall pick in 1963, but he chose instead to play with the Buffalo Bills of the AFL. In 1965 the Vikings drafted wide receiver Jack Snow eighth overall and traded him to the Los Angeles Rams before the season started.
Despite limited to only three games in each of the last two seasons, Beebe will continue to impress and once again make the final roster—despite only catching six passes for 109 yards in two seasons.
On the bubble: Tajae Sharpe, Alexander Hollins, and K.J. Osborn.
That leaves eight players battling for the last two spots. Sharpe, with 47 games of experience will be the remaining favorite to make the roster. Sharpe makes the team with a role most like that of Jarius Wright’s. The final spot will come down to second-year player Hollins, who played in five games late last year as an undrafted free agent and K.J. Osborn this year’s fifth-round draft pick. Whichever player fails to make the final roster will most likely end up on the practice squad. Because the Vikings seem to like their new toys better than the older ones, Osborn makes the final roster.
Practice squad: Quartney Davis and Alexander Hollins
Despite getting snubbed in the draft and signing with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent, Davis most likely winds up on the practice squad along with Hollins when the season opens.
Fail to make the cut: Dillon Mitchell, Davion Davis, Dan Chisena, and Bralon Addison.
Mitchell, the Vikings’ seventh-round draft pick from last season never made it the active roster. With a dozen receivers on the roster, it will be tough to stand out. Mitchell spent last season on the practice squad.
Davion Davis, an undrafted free agent from last season shuttled back and forth from the practice squad a couple of times last season and made his debut in Week 8 against the Washington Redskins. On the season, he was active for two games but failed to get into a game.
As mentioned on an earlier slide, Chisena’s only shot to make the squad is on special teams. Those odds are still long and the Vikings will not keep a player solely as a special teams player and with limited experience as a receiver, they will not have a spot for him.
Must Read. Ranking all Vikings receivers drafted in the first round. light
Bralon Addison, an undrafted free agent, signed with Denver in 2016. The only NFL action he has was with the Chicago Bears in 2016 when he returned two punts and a kick. According to the Vikings website, he spent the last two seasons playing in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger Cats. The Vikings regularly sign players out of the CFL who have shown some success there. Rarely do they make the final roster. The last was Brandon Zylstra in 2018 who led the CFL in receiving yards playing for the Edmonton Eskimos in 2017. Despite those credentials, Zylstra, a Minnesota native, only caught a single pass in 2018 for the Minnesota Vikings.