Vikings Formally Linked to ex-Jaguars WR

DeDe Westbrook
Oct 27, 2019; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Dede Westbrook (12) enters the field prior to the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Jets at TIAA Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota Vikings free-agent chatter has moved from “the team should sign this guy” hubbub to a plausible possibility that the franchise may soon ink a notable WR3.

If Josina Anderson, formerly of ESPN, is correct, former Jacksonville Jaguars WR Dede Westbrook could soon join the Vikings, assuming WR3 duties in Klint Kubiak’s offense.

Minnesota must joust with two other AFC teams for Westbrook’s services in the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals.

Neither of those franchises possess Westbrook’s ex-WR coach, though. Earlier in 2021, the Vikings brass hired former WR Keenan McCardell to coach its wide receivers. McCardell, 51, coached Westbrook during his entire four-year career in Jacksonville. And that’s presumably why Westbrook-to-Minnesota should be considered a tangible reality.

The Vikings need a WR3. Indeed, rookie pass-catcher Ihmir Smith-Marsette could bust out of the 5th Round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but that is largely post-draft hype and hope at the moment. Late-round draft picks seldom pan out as keynote contributors. Vikings fans remember the success Stefon Diggs encountered immediately in his career — he was a 5th-Rounder, too — so the same pathway must be on the docket for Smith-Marsette. But that is severely optimistic thinking.

Signing Westbrook is a much more bonafide strategy. His 2020 season was plagued by a torn ACL, allowing for just 16 offensive snaps by the 27-year-old Westbrook. In 2019, he hauled in 717 receiving yards and five touchdowns from Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler. The year after that, Westbrook notched 660 yards via the air and three paydirts from Nick Foles and Gardner Minshew II.

Those numbers will not blow statheads away, but the Vikings do not need a target hog. The team already has those in Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson. The 600-700 yard range and 4-5 touchdowns per season arrangement for Westbrook with the Vikings would be delectable.

Why? Well, Minnesota hasn’t utilized a true-blue WR3 in a very long time. In fact, the last time that three Vikings wide receivers all had 500+ receiving yards in the same season was 2009 — the campaign spearheaded by Brett Favre.

It should be noted that the football was aerially distributed by Teddy Bridgewater in 2014 with some diversity — Greg Jennings (742 yards), Jarius Wright (588 yards) Charles Johnson (475), and Cordarrelle Patterson (312) — but that was due to lack of pass-catching stardom.

Ever since, the Vikings are content with employing players like Chad Beebe, Bisi Johnson, Laquon Treadwell, Aldrick Robinson, etc. at WR3 while getting running backs like Dalvin Cook involved in the passing game. Because of that, it feels like a “final frontier” of the Zimmer offense to find a battle-tested WR3 — and use him.

Whether that’s Dede Westbrook, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Larry Fitzgerald, Golden Tate, or Danny Amendola, a talented WR3 should be freed up plenty in opposing secondaries based on the attention that Thielen and Jefferson command.

But, hey, at least the team finally recognizes this and is talking to Westbrook.

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