New PFF Article Ranks Vikings’ Receiving Corps 6th, but Why Not Higher?
Pro Football Focus has been a roll with their rankings lately, covering different positions, entire rosters, and fantasy football sleepers. This time, Trevor Sikkema ranks the NFL’s best receiving corps by both depth and top-end talent.
The Vikings’ Big Three
The Vikings’ receiving corps is arguably their strongest position group (the offensive tackle unit is quite nice, too), of course being highlighted by Justin Jefferson, fresh off a brand new four-year, $140 million deal, and second-year wideout Jordan Addison, who is looking to build on his mostly impressive rookie season where he racked up 911 yards on 70 catches and a team-leading ten receiving touchdowns.
Also included in that receiving group is tight end T.J. Hockenson, who immediately elevated a Vikings offense yearning for another weapon alongside Justin Jefferson for Kirk Cousins in 2022 before Jordan Addison was drafted. He has been one of the most productive players at his position since his arrival to the Twin Cities when Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sent a 2023 second-rounder and a 2024 third-rounder to rival Detroit in exchange for Hockenson and the Lions’ 2023 and 2024 fourth-rounders.
You could go on all day about how Justin Jefferson is the best non-quarterback football player on planet Earth, Jordan Addison has all of the makings to be one of the best WR2s in the NFL, and T.J. Hockenson is a target vacuum and is almost an automatic reception in the short-middle area of the field. You would be completely right about all of those things.
The leading trio of Jefferson, Addison, and Hockenson earned them PFF’s ranking of sixth-best receiving corps heading into 2024, placed behind the fifth-place Houston Texans, who sport former Viking Stefon Diggs, young standouts like Nico Collins and Tank Dell, as well as a solid tight end Dalton Schultz and legitimate depth pieces in Noah Brown, Robert Woods, John Metchie, and Brevin Jordan. Sikkema gave Minnesota the nod over the Detroit Lions (seventh), mentioning Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, and Jameson Williams.
Sikkema explains Minnesota’s sixth spot in his receiving group ranking:
Justin Jefferson is PFF’s No. 1 receiver heading into the 2024 season. Jordan Addison flashed in 2023 as a good WR2 when healthy, and T.J. Hockenson has established himself as a top-five tight end, earning an 82.4 PFF receiving grade last season.
He would also mention free agent signing Aaron Jones: “The Vikings added Aaron Jones to the depth chart this offseason, a productive pass-catcher over the past five years.”
Lack of Receiving Depth Lowers Ceiling
It wasn’t mentioned by Sikkema, but it is clear that the reason the Vikings weren’t rated even higher is because, beyond the big three, there is an obvious lack of depth.
Looking at the Texans right in front of them in fifth, not only do they have an insane top three receivers and a solid starting tight end, but they also have four legitimate depth pieces behind them. You could argue the Vikings really only have one decent depth receiver, that being Brandon Powell.
Fans have hoped that Jalen Nailor would finally remain healthy enough to take that third receiver role, but we do not have proof that he can. Signs out of camp are good about Trent Sherfield (this was reported last year when he was in Buffalo as well; he went on to post 86 receiving yards in 13 games played), but he has one season of more than 87 receiving yards in the NFL out of his five years in it.
Robert Tonyan could be considered a good depth piece, given his past production and his great showing at camp, but his legitimate production is multiple years in the past and he lasted until this late in free agency for a reason. As of now, he isn’t even exactly guaranteed to make the 53-man roster come September.
The fact is that the Vikings can’t rank super-duper high when it’s not even clear who will be the WR3. All of the candidates for it are completely unproven, and the starting tight end (while Hockenson recovers) is mostly a run blocker who hasn’t quite shown that he’s a legitimate receiving threat in the NFL yet. The backup to that unproven tight end is also unclear, although it likely is Johnny Mundt, who, again, is unproven as a legitimate receiving threat at the pro level.
The Vikings’ wide receiver and tight end rooms behind the starters have a bad case of being completely unproven, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t potential. Being unproven doesn’t mean that you can’t do some proving, but for a list that is based on where they are now going into 2024, it’s understandably difficult to give them a top-five spot and knock out a team like Houston or Chicago when all there is is question marks behind the top guys.
Having one of the best wide receiving duos in the league that just so happens to include the very best wide receiver in the league alongside a top-five tight end is really awesome, but the game of football is all about depth, and 2024 will be telling about whether or not Minnesota possesses that.
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