Which Minnesota Vikings players could start hearing the word “bust” associated with their name if they don’t turn things around?
The Minnesota Vikings are a team that prides themselves at finding talent in the draft and then developing those players into starters and sometimes stars. The majority of their roster is built this way as players like Harrison Smith, Danielle Hunter, Davlin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Brian O’Neil, and Eric Kendricks were all picks who lived up to their draft status and became key pieces on the Vikings.
In addition to Jefferson, the Vikings also look to have hit on Jeff Gladney, Cameron Dantzler, Ezra Cleveland, and D.J. Wonnum in this year’s class, continuing their strong drafting ways. While the Vikings hit on the majority of their picks, they sometimes miss on others. Players like Mike Hughes, Jaleel Johnson, Pat Elflein, and Ben Gedeon didn’t pan out.
The Vikings have some young players on the roster who aren’t considered busts yet, but if their lack of production continues throughout the rest of this season, they may start hearing that dirty word associated with their names. Here are four Minnesota Vikings who are in jeopardy of becoming busts.
Alexander Mattison – RB
Alexander Mattison was expected to have a much bigger role in 2020 than he did his rookie season. During that first year, he would only see a handful of carries a game and while he often looked good in those scant number of attempts, he just didn’t get enough run to make an impact. He also got hurt late in the season and missed the final three games.
Everyone knew that going into the 2020 season the Vikings were going to run the ball and run it hard under Gary Kubiak. With Dalvin Cook‘s injury history it was figured the team would give a few more of his touches to Mattison to ensure Cook stays fresh throughout the game and avoid getting injured. This just hasn’t happened.
The Vikings ride Cook every game and he gets 90 percent of the carries. Mattison will get one here or there, but that’s it unless the game is out of hand or Cook is temporarily sidelined with an injury. While Mattison has proven to be a quality back, the offense clearly takes a step back when he’s the one toting the rock. Mattison did have a big game against the Seahawks when Cook went, out but if he just would have made a cut right and followed his block, the Vikings would be 7-5 right now and in much better playoff shape.
A couple of other things that make Mattison’s almost two years in the league disappointing are his lack of touchdowns and inability to stay healthy. Mattison has just two scores in his career and like stated above, missed three games last year and while he can’t be blamed for an emergency appendectomy, he has missed time this year as well.
Mattison isn’t a bust yet, but if his lack of touches and inability to find the endzone continue, and he misses more games, he may start hearing that word associated with his name at some point next season.
Dru Samia – OG
Many Vikings’ fans would already consider Dru Samia a bust. The guy was taken in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft and being that high of a pick, came with it a certain level of expectation. That expectation was that he’d be a contributor in year one and a potential starter as soon as 2020. Neither of those came to pass.
Samia struggled mightily in camp his rookie season and ran with the third-stringers. He was inactive the majority of that year and he didn’t exactly turn heads during his second training camp with the Vikings either. When Pat Elflein was hurt early in the season, many fans got their wish and Samia was inserted into the starting lineup.
The reason many fans would consider him a bust already was because his play was so atrocious. This guy was getting overpowered and pushed into the Vikings’ backfield on the majority of plays. He was also missing blocks and drew plenty of penalty flags that killed Vikings’ drives. His poor play was a big part of the Vikings‘ 1-5 start to the season.
As bad as Samia was, he can’t be considered a bust yet because he’s likely going to get one more shot. The Vikings guard situation is going to be a major competition in 2021 and Samia will definitely be in the mix. Maybe getting his toes wet this year and another offseason studying the playbook and hitting the weights will pay off and he’ll surprise and earn a starting spot. If that doesn’t happen, then it’ll be safe to slap Samia with the “bust” label.
K.J. Osborn – PR/KR
It may be unfair to put a rookie on a list of potential busts, but there has been nothing about this kid so far that has shown why Rick Spielman took him with a fifth-round pick. The Vikings made him their kick and punt returner for the sole reason he was taken so high. He’s rewarded them by having the Vikings’ return game be the worst in the NFL.
K.J. Osborn just doesn’t have the burst or wiggle to be a quality NFL returner. He hasn’t shown the ability to make the first man miss and then make a cut and find the opening and then turn on the jets. He also has struggled to cleanly field punts and has had one bounce off his shoulder pads and also fumbled a return that was luckily recovered.
Osborn has just 27 punt return yards on the season and 303 kick return yards. The Vikings have shown their lack of trust or even faith in his ability, as there have been games where they’ve made him inactive and tried options like Ameer Abdullah and Chad Beebe instead. When you take a return man with a fifth-round choice you better be damn sure this guy is dynamic and explosive. Osborn isn’t that.
The good news for Osborn is that he still has time to turn it around, but even if he does, he’ll be in a battle in Vikings’ camp in 2021 to be the return man. If he loses that battle, there’s no guarantee he’ll even make the final roster. If that happens, he’ll be the front runner for the biggest bust of the Vikings’ 2020 NFL Draft class.
Irv Smith Jr. – TE
It really is hard putting Irv Smith Jr. on a list of Minnesota Vikings who could potentially hear the word “bust” associated with their name because this guy is so loaded with talent, but it is what it is. Smith just hasn’t produced through almost two seasons, to the level of being a mid-second-round pick.
He’s teased Vikings’ fans with moments of greatness, showing off his speed, hands, and route running but those glimpses are few and far between. Through his first 25 games in the league, Smith has caught 51 passes for 493 yards and four touchdowns. That is over a season and a half and many figured he’d produce those numbers in about half that time.
Smith has been hurt recently, but even so, has just 15 catches this year and seems to be regressing from a production standpoint. That is frustrating because offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was very vocal in the offseason about how they were going to utilize Smith this season in the offense and move him around to create mismatches.
They haven’t done that, as the offense goes through Dalvin Cook. When Cousins does throw, he’s looking at Thielen or Jefferson the majority of the time and rarely goes Smith’s way.
4 Vikings players that we can now safely call busts
After the way this year has gone, it's now clear we can label some of the Minnesota Vikings recent draft selections as busts.
So while the lack of production doesn’t fall directly on Smith, if it continues, he may begin hearing the word “bust” whispered when his name is mentioned next season.