5 biggest Vikings concerns after the 2022 NFL Draft

Who will be the Vikings No. 2 TE?

Vikings tight end Irv Smith Jr. is still recovering from a significant knee injury that sidelined him for the entire 2021 season. Tyler Conklin was a pleasant source of support throughout the year, but he is now a member of the New York Jets. The Chris Herndon panic trade experiment has come to an end. What is the answer now?

Minnesota drafted tight end Nick Muse with a late-round pick this year, but he’s is hardly a valid solution. He is known to have drops and he is inconsistent in other areas of his game. With that poor of a review of his performances to date, advancing to more difficult competition that will capitalize on the inadequacies raises questions as to how poorly things could go.

Look, maybe Smith is recovering well, but banking on that is reckless at best. It isn’t fair or rational to expect him to operate at an ultra-competitive level as soon as he can get back into the lineup. So once again, it’s going to be another situation where fans will need patience or another solution.

It’s also worth mentioning Johnny Mundt was acquired in free agency. If you haven’t heard of him yet, that’s because he’s had a pretty low-key career up to this point. Plain and simple, the tight end group is thinner than it’s been at any point in the last decade and beyond.