One Viking Called “Unguardable” and “Money” in Joint Practices
Off the field, Jordan Addison has made some mistakes. On the field, Jordan Addison has been exemplary, so much so that he often generates praise from onlookers.
He’s one Viking who shined in the joint practices with the New England Patriots that are taking place at TCO Performance Center. Alec Lewis of The Athletic offered the insight: “Also, for the record, Jordan Addison was unguardable today.” Elsewhere, Lewis commented, “J.J. McCarthy just rips the hell out of these in-breakers to Jordan Addison. Money every time.”
One Viking Called “Unguardable” & “Money”
To be sure, there were a lot of insights coming out of the practice that took place earlier in the day. Learning that Addison was excelling didn’t hit anyone as a shock.
Indeed, the simple reality that Mr. Addison was roasting New England’s defensive backs merely reconfirmed what has been plain to see for a little while. While in Eagan, I walked away impressed with the chemistry between J.J. McCarthy and Addison, writing on August 2nd, “The sophomore QB found his third-year receiver on multiple occasions. What was so fascinating was the diversity of ways in which they were able to connect. There were fastballs and more layered throws. There were plays in 7-on-7 as well as in the full team drill. So, too, did they find each other in the redzone.”
“J.J. McCarthy isn’t a perfect passer,” I wrote. “He is, however, a promising passer, one who looks even more promising when he’s targeting Jordan Addison.”
Purely on a physical level, Addison isn’t the world’s most impressive receiver. He comes in at just 5’11” and 175 pounds, meaning that no one is going to mistake him for Calvin Johnson (or give him the sweet nickname Megatron). His RAS score came in at an uninspiring 5.94.
He is, nevertheless, an excellent receiver, one who likely gets overlooked due to needing to share a field with Justin Jefferson. Addison’s talent is such that he could be a strong WR1 but is instead an excellent WR2.
What allows him to win is great precision and shiftiness. He has strong compete and focus when tracking the football. He’s capable of shaking loose from his man in coverage, gaining the separation needed to make plays on the ball. Across two NFL seasons, Addison has picked up 19 touchdowns, proving to be an assassin when it comes to scoring.
As a rookie, Jordan Addison climbed up to 70 catches, 911 yards, and 10 touchdowns. That was within the tumultuous 2023 season where all of Kirk Cousins, Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall took turns playing quarterback (the only thing missing was a partridge and a pear tree). One even wonders if the absence of Justin Jefferson hurt him a touch since defenses could focus more on the USC alumnus.
Addison’s sophomore season was a bit more modest, largely due to missing two full games and part of one more. He finished off with 63 catches for 875 yards and 9 touchdowns. An encouraging detail is that he improved his yards-per-catch average from 13.0 to 13.9. Seeing him take another step — pushing things closer to 15.0, perhaps — would be a nice development for Minnesota’s offense.
At this stage, the only thing holding Jordan Addison back is himself. His 2023 and 2024 offseasons featured a pair of driving-related infractions. In 2025, there have been no such issues.
Jordan Addison, 23, is carrying a $3,478,629 cap charge into the season.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
