5 needs the Minnesota Vikings can hold off drafting in 2021

Wide Receiver

The Vikings have plenty of draft picks this year, and surely they’ll use one of them on a wide receiver, but they really don’t have to.

The Vikings have one of the best tandems in the league in Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson. Those are a couple of elite route runners with exceptional hands and have a great rapport with Kirk Cousins.

Behind them are Bisi Johnson and Chad Beebe, who have proven to be reliable targets when called into action. While the Vikings could be tempted to take a player like Alabama‘s DeVonta Smith if he’s sitting there at pick 14, they certainly don’t have to.

Cousins loves his top two targets and will throw the ball to them no matter who else is lined up out wide. This was proven over and over again last season. Sometimes it got him in trouble, but more often than not, his receivers would make a play even if they were double covered.

The Vikings can also hold off on a wide receiver because of the two talented pass-catching tight ends they have. Irv Smith Jr. is basically a wide receiver in a tight end’s body, and Tyler Conklin emerged as a threat in the passing game last season. These guys can get the leftover scraps that don’t go to Thielen and Jefferson.

With Adam Thielen turning 31 at the start of the 2021 season, the Vikings will eventually want to get his replacement on the roster, but that doesn’t have to happen in this April’s draft.