The Minnesota Vikings are facing an uphill battle to return to being a competitive team in the NFC North. The Detroit Lions, of course, are the reigning division champions and the Green Bay Packers are a team on the rise thanks to the emergence of quarterback Jordan Love.
The Chicago Bears took quarterback Caleb Williams with the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. They also added Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen and just extended DJ Moore.
Meanwhile, the Vikings face some uncertainty at the quarterback position after Kirk Cousins signed with the Atlanta Falcons in free agency. While they drafted JJ McCarthy, he may end up sitting behind Sam Darnold to start the season. The former New York Jets quarterback has not exactly done much in his career to inspire confidence either.
The Minnesota Vikings Face Depth Issues at Wide Receiver and Tight End
The Vikings made a bit of NFL history this offseason by signing wide receiver Justin Jefferson to a contract extension that will pay him $35 million a year. This is the highest annual salary for any player that is not a quarterback in league history.
While they have Jefferson, who is considered one of the best (if not the best) wide receiver in the game right now, they do not have much depth at either wide receiver or tight end at the moment.
T.J. Hockenson is expected to miss the beginning of the season due to a torn ACL he suffered in December of last year. Wide receiver Jordan Addison is likely to get a suspension for his recent DUI arrest (the one that followed Vikings rookie Khyree Jackson being killed by a drunk driver).
Tight end, especially is a position at which the team does not have any serious receiving threats with Hockenson out. That is why Minnesota signed Robert Tonyan in free agency.
Unfortunately, Tonyan had to be carted off of the field yesterday during training camp practice with an injury. On Friday, head coach Kevin O’Connell gave an update on the tight end’s status.
Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell Has a Positive Update on the Robert Tonyan Injury
On Friday, O’Connell told reporters, “He was carted off. It was a back spasm type issue. He’s gonna be working through kind of a lower back thing. We hope to get him back soon. We’ll see how that goes here in the next few days, how he kinda turns over. But we wanna give him, especially with the preseason games in the not-too-distant future, we wanna make sure we get him to a good place so he can take part in those.”
Tonyan is coming off of a season in Chicago that saw him catch just 11 passes for 112 yards. Back in 2020 with the Packers, though, he caught 52 passes for 586 yards and 11 touchdowns, which tied their franchise record for touchdown receptions by a tight end.
Hopefully Tonyan can return to the field and return to form, or else the Vikings could see some serious struggles in the passing game early on.
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