Can Rondale Moore Seize the Vikings’ WR3 Role?
One of the more unsung maneuvers made by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings front office was the signing of WR Rondale Moore, a 2021 2nd-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals, who snagged him at 49th overall out of Purdue University.
Moore spent three seasons with the Cardinals before being traded to the Falcons in March of 2024. Over his tenure with Arizona, Moore appeared in 39 games (starting 23) and hauled in 135 receptions for 1,201 yards and 3 TDs. This comes out to a per-game average of roughly 3 catches for 31 yards. On top of his receiving numbers, he also has totaled 52 rushing attempts for 249 yards and 1 TD.
Moore was utilized in Arizona as a speed-slot option, being sent on a lot of motions pre-snap and being tasked with going deep down-field to clear out other receivers for openings and soft spots underneath. He’s a versatile player, kind of like a poor man’s Deebo Samuel (or, to get closer to home, Percy Harvin), as he was given opportunities in both the receiving game and run game.
Arizona frequently handed the ball off to Moore on jet sweeps or end-arounds, leveraging his agility to attack the edge of the defense. This could be a wonderful fit in Kevin O’Connell’s offense, that has a habit of going vertical on long developing plays downfield.
Moore’s ability to stretch out defenses both horizontally and vertically could be a very welcome addition and add a few tricks in the sleeve of KOC and his offensive play-calling staff.
In the land of creating perfect hypotheticals in this Viking-biased noggin of mine, Rondale Moore could check the boxes of a lot of things the Vikings have been missing out of a wideout for a while. In the land of reality, Moore will be facing some challenges.
While Rondale Moore was traded to the Falcons to join forces with former Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, he never got to play a single snap as an Atlanta Falcon. He went down on the back side of a play during a joint practice between the Falcons and Miami Dolphins. He was carted off the field with an air cast on his right leg, prompting the teams to agree to end the practice early. It came out less than 24 hours later that Moore had suffered a season-ending knee injury.
The concern on top of his recovery from the knee injury goes back to before it; Rondale Moore hasn’t really been the model of durability. During his rookie year in 2021, he would miss the first three weeks of the season due to a hamstring injury. He would return in Week 4 of that year just to suffer a minor knee injury and leave for the game, as he did in Week 14 with a groin injury. He would appear in the Cardinals’ Wild Card Round matchup against the Rams, playing through an ankle injury that had him as “questionable” before the game kicked off.
In 2022, he only appeared in eight games because he missed the first three weeks of the season, again due to a hamstring injury, and then was ruled out for the season in Week 11 of that year after another, more severe groin strain. The next year, in 2023, he played all 17 games, though he had a career-low in receptions and receiving yards, as the Cardinals expanded upon his role as a rusher and increased his usage out of the backfield.
2024 was a contract year for Moore, and instead of adding a speedy weapon to a corps of Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Bijan Robinson, he would have to spend the entire season in which he should be earning a payday recovering on the sideline. The Vikings decided he was worth a shot, and Rondale Moore’s 2025 payday came to an overall disappointing fruition as a 1-year/$2 million deal.
Another factor against Rondale Moore is that he won’t really be able to stake his claim to the WR3 spot before the Vikings have a chance to draft one in the 2025 NFL Draft at the end of this month. Of course, it’s not a guarantee that they will, but he has no control over what the front office will decide what to do when they’re put on the clock.
The good thing for Moore is that the WR3 competition isn’t too intense; he really only has to outplay Jalen Nailor in camp. All due respect to Nailor, but that’s not an insurmountable task for a player with a high draft pedigree like Rondale Moore, especially if he’s able to bounce back from his season-ending injury.
Consider this for the resiliency and will to improve and win from Rondale Moore while he was at Purdue:
One of the best anecdotes I’ve seen about a player acquired by Minnesota this offseason was how Moore called a Purdue coach during the overnight hours after the Boilermakers upset the Buckeyes in 2018. The coach feared something was wrong, but the freshman just wanted to know why he missed a block—and apparently didn’t want to wait until the film session. In a game in which he had 12 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns, Moore was focused on what he wanted to improve.
Craig Peters, Vikings.com Senior Editor
Truthfully, Rondale Moore is “Moore” than capable of winning the WR3 job quite easily. Durability is simply the major question, just as it was with current and assumed WR3 Jalen Nailor in the first couple of years of his career as well. If nothing else, Moore could be featured as a WR4 and potential kick and punt returner, virtually making him a replacement for former Vikings WR Brandon Powell, who currently remains unsigned.
