Latest Vikings News
By: Jake Rajala
The Minnesota Vikings will be fighting vigorously not to miss the playoffs for the third straight season. Kevin O’Connell will bring new energy and a unique offensive attack to the 2022 Vikings squad. It’s already been reported by NBC Sports that Dalvin Cook is lining up at WR in training camp for Captain Kirk. The Vikings Pro Bowl RB is known for being an electric ball-carrier, but he was potent quite potent as an all-purpose RB in 2019 (519 receiving yds with 1,135 rushing yds). Coincidentally, Cousins threw his least amount of interceptions in 2015 (6) since his rookie season (one game started as a rook).
The Vikings had the 10th best passing offense (passing YPG) and Cousins unleashed the ninth-most passing touchdowns last season. Cousins could be more efficient with Cook as a pass-catching threat and it would be hard for opponents to prepare for WR Justin Jefferson, WR Adam Thielen, and WR/RB Cook.
There were a couple of other training camp observations for the Vikings. According to The Athletic, the Vikings RG position witnessed a rotation between Jesse Davis and Chris Reed, so it will be fascinating to see which OL profile wins the open competition. The intriguing CB position is obviously highlighted by Patrick Peterson and Andrew Booth Jr. Unfortunately, the Vikings second-round pick is still rehabbing an injury on the sidelines.
The Vikings will strive to be well-rounded, but their biggest horse is still unequivocally Justin Jefferson. The third-year WR was named a darkhorse MVP candidate by NFL.com. It’s not a huge surprise that Jefferson is receiving a lot of hype, as he’s been a 1,400+ yard WR in each of the past two seasons. It’s also worth mentioning that WR Cooper Kupp won OPOY last season and was crowned Super Bowl LVI MVP. Jefferson might be the next WR to bring home gold hardware, while potentially really helping his team take positive steps forward.