3 former Vikings we’ll be glad are gone, and 2 we’ll wish stayed in 2023

Irv Smith Jr. – TE

New Team: Cincinnati Bengals

As a second-round pick, the expectations for Irv Smith Jr. were pretty high when he was drafted by the Vikings in 2019. Unfortunately for Smith, he didn’t come anywhere close to meeting the expectations Minnesota had for him.

He spent his first two seasons with the Vikings as their No. 2 tight end behind Kyle Rudolph. But then Minnesota moved on from Rudolph during the 2021 offseason and Smith became the team’s new No. 1 tight end.

The future looked bright for the young tight end as he had himself an outstanding training camp in 2021. But then Smith was bit by the injury bug when he suffered a knee injury in a preseason game that wound up preventing him from playing a single game during the 2021 regular season.

The young tight end returned to the field in 2022, but injuries limited him to appearing in just eight games. His unreliability ultimately resulted in the Vikings making a trade with the Detroit Lions to acquire T.J. Hockenson.

With Hockenson on the brink of signing a lucrative extension, and the fact that Minnesota signed tight end Josh Oliver in free agency this year, it’s not surprising that the team decided to end their relationship with Smith this offseason.