OTA’s Brings Competition at the Wide Receiver Position Part II
Joe Johnson
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The First Organized Team Activities of the pre-season began yesterday, and with it came a ton of new competition at the wide receiver position for the purple and gold. I covered the big name receivers in a piece yesterday that outlined how OTA’s, effectively, is/are going to impact each player and what they need to do to reach their goals in 2017. With Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Michael Floyd and even Laquon Treadwell off of the map we’re getting into some uncharted territory now with a lot of rookies and lesser known veterans. So, let’s hop right into it!
Jarius Wright
Considering the Vikings need at the wide receiver position in 2016 (Whether it be due to injury, a lack of development at the position, etc.) some were surprised to see the most tenured Vikings wide receiver, Jarius Wright, a healthy scratch for many games. Considering that he’s shown flashes of brilliance in his still young career, some found it odd that he just simply was no longer part of the game-plan. Perhaps that will change come 2017, but really the of any receiver that I’ll have talked about by the end of these pieces, perhaps Wright’s future will most be laid out by the end of OTA’s.
It’s not a skill issue, or an age issue. He’s still in his prime. It’s really just a matter of whether or not the Vikings have a need for a traditionally sized slot receiver anymore. If anything, the Vikings do have too many six foot or taller receivers on their roster (If there is such a thing), so maybe Wright is just the … WRONG guy for what new Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and company are looking for. The amount of time he gets on the field with the first team offense will let us know, as for now and at least on paper he should be the third receiver on the depth chart (Michael Floyd notwithstanding). That means we should see a lot of him with the first team offense this week. Whether or not that happens, is another story.
Moritz Boehringer
Now if people know anything about this site it’s that it’s run by a maniac. That maniac, me, loves him some Moritz Boehringer (I refuse to call him MoBo, despite just doing it) and still believes that he will one day evolve beyond a fun story-line/Brock Lesnar esque physical specimen/project. I know that he essentially has had to learn how to play football on the largest stage possible, but when you really look at his measurable’s you’ll see that he is a once in a lifetime talent that may require more than one off-season of patience before the full fruit is ready to be picked. While that metaphor makes me feel uncomfortable, it’s true, I’ve posted the results from Boehringer’s MockDraftable.com charts before and the reality is that on average (From drill to drill) he’s got no peer, with the closest player to him physically being Calvin Johnson.
So, while a lot of people are saying that there needs to be stark improvement from the German wunderkind for him to necessitate a roster spot, I really hope that’s not the case. He came from sub-Division III football in Germany and really just got by on his sheer physical prowess. The largest issue with him is and always is going to be his ability to comprehend the verbiage that comes from an NFL playbook. The terms they use are complex and a language in and of their own, so asking him to do that as an English as a second language player is asking a lot. Last season it felt like the Vikings were hiding Boehringer from the rest of the league, he got very, very (If any) playing time when the camera’s were rolling and because of that the Vikings were able to cut him and then stash him on their practice squad.
As he’s said recently, Boehringer wants to make the 53 man-roster. He’s been in Minnesota all off-season training and studying his playbook. If that familiarity allows him to get on the field AT ALL I have a strong feeling that he’ll end up being a Viking in 2017 as well. He’s really that good, think someone the size of Kyle Rudolph with the speed of Adrian Peterson. While both are a bit of a stretch (Rudolph is bigger, AP was faster), it’s not that much of a stretch. So, any action out of MoBo during this week’s/month’s OTAs will tell us a lot about where he is at developmentally while also letting us know whether or not the Vikings have given up on him already. I really don’t think that they will, as you don’t draft a long term project player and give up on him after one year. Look at how long Joe Webb got, and he wasn’t measuring out as the best wide receiver ever.
So, be patient, Vikings fans. I promise, he’s worth it.
Rodney Adams
The Vikings lost the best kick returner in the NFL when Cordarrelle Patterson signed with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders this off-season. While the NFL has done everything in it’s power to eliminate kick-offs, some of their moves have back-fired and made the kick return even more important than it once was. The Vikings are also the type of team that really needs to win the field position battle to win games, so you knew that they’d look for a replacement when the draft rolled around at the end of April. That’s where Rodney Adams (and perhaps Stacy Coley) comes in.
Beyond the return game, if anyone is going to make Wright’s job dispensable as the slot receiver, it’ll be Adams. He’s a lot bigger than Wright, at nearly 6’2″ and 190 lbs. He’s also a lot more versatile just thanks to the nature of being bigger, taller and longer. He’s got blazing fast speed for a slot guy too (Slot guys tend to be quick, not fast, there’s a difference (Just ask Stacy Coley)), running a 4.44 – 40 yard dash (Which makes him perhaps the fastest receiver on the Vikings roster not named Boehringer or Coley). He’s also sure handed, something the Vikings don’t have a lot of suddenly. So, why did he drop to the fifth round? I guess you could say it’s for the same reason that a guy of his size and speed is being talked about like a slot receiver.
Apparently Adams struggles against press coverage, which means he gets over-powered by physical corners. Considering he’s nearly 6’2″ and only 190 lbs, that makes sense. Perhaps that’s something that’ll come as he ages and puts on muscle, but for now it’s looking like he’s going to mainly be looking at slot and kick return work. The latter is where I’m excited to see what he does this month in OTA’s. He has shown the ability to turn short passes into long gains in his college career, that’s something that should translate well into the kick-return game. Considering that’s why the Vikings brought him in, keep an eye on him there along with his draft-mate…
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Stacy Coley
Coley was one of the many seventh round picks that the Vikings added this year. While that used to mean that you didn’t have the best chance of making the team, Coley may just be too talented to pass-up. Now, while he’s no-where as intriguing of a prospect as Boehringer, he does have the recency factor in his corner (Teams typically move to the most recent project when making these sorts of decisions). Coley though, despite having nearly all of the physical tools needed to succeed as a deep threat in the NFL, apparently lacks a passion for the game that is necessary to succeed exactly as that. So, I figure the Vikings will spend the OTA’s and camp testing Coley to see if he’s worth the roster spot of someone who is willing to work that much harder for their spot.
So, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings receiving coaches have read Coley’s psych profile a few times this week, in attempts to find what discourages him in an attempt to exploit it. Even when it comes to seventh round picks, teams can’t afford to make mistakes like letting potential future hall of fame receivers (Boehringer!) go. So, knowing that Coley really has all the physical tools that you’d like, that could be the one things that they work on this week and beyond. Beyond that, he also apparently struggles with his routes (Sound familiar?), so I’d expect the Vikings brass to be coaching him up as much as possible in an attempt to see if the game is too complex for him as well.
While I’d love for a guy of his talent to make the team, I just really don’t know if you can teach passion to a player who’s relationship with the game just changed. If he didn’t love it in college, despite the money, I really don’t think he’s going to love it in the NFL. It’s just so much work, so much pain, so just pressure. I could be wrong, but there’s a reason why the best receivers in league history all are walking personality disorders. It’s because it requires that part of your personality (Narcissism), to want to be great, and if someone doesn’t have that by now I really don’t know if they’re going to get it.
Bucky Hodges
Some other sites have covered recently drafted tight end Bucky Hodges as a receiver based mostly on where he lined up with and on his strengths/weaknesses. Sure, Hodges is a physical specimen, but he’s still a tight end… That can’t block. So, I don’t expect him to really take the spot of one of the aforementioned receivers when it comes down to cut day, even if I think that the opposite may be true (Perhaps Boehringer could take his spot? On the depth chart, not on the team). I did want to name him just because the idea of an end like Hodges playing for the Vikings makes me extremely excited. While he’s still really, really raw he should be nearly uncoverable in the end-zone, so while he’s not a WR, neither was Jimmy Graham back when people used to talk about him all the time.
So, if anything, these past two articles should show you that after an especially terrible year in 2016, the Vikings passing offense is officially back and is something that we all should be excited about. So, let us know which receiver you’re most looking forward to watching this off-season!