4 Vikings who could take a gigantic leap in the 2022 season

Zach Davidson – TE

To be honest, Zach Davidson had about as bad a rookie year as humanly possible. The guy struggled horribly in the preseason looking lost on the field, and then dropping easy passes in exhibition games. What really topped it off was that when he was cut, he made a stink about it but ended up signing with the Vikings’ practice squad anyway.

While Davidson’s first taste of the NFL went completely sideways, so did K.J. Osborn’s. He made the team as a returner but like Davidson, showed shaky hands and soon lost that job. Maybe Zach can look to Osborn’s second season for inspiration and make a similar giant jump in year two.

Davidson does have some things going for him. The first is his ginormous size. The dude is 6-foot-7 and 245 pounds. He is easily the biggest tight end on the team and gives the team a giant red zone target that no one else can provide. The other positive he has going for him is a thin depth chart. Irv Smith Jr. will be tight end one, and Johnny Mundt is a Kevin O’Connell hold over from his Rams days so that last spot will come down to Davidson, Ben Ellefson, and rookie Nick Muse.

If Davidson can show more consistent hands this preseason, and catch on to the new offense, he definitely can usurp Muse and Ellefson, becoming the third tight end on this team. If that happens it’s not out of the question to think that there will be some games this year where Smith is unavailable due to injury, and that could open the door for Davidson to have some Osborn-esque production.