Which Vikings Player to Name Your Fantasy Team After

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We are only a month away from the NFL season, hopefully, kicking off. That means we are about three weeks from fantasy football drafts. Every year, I see a lot of very the same “Hooked On a Thielen’s” and I wanted to suggest some new players, and names to use.

Kirk Cousins

Kirk has officially garnered love from the Vikings fanbase after taking them to a solid 10-6 season and a playoff win over the New Orleans Saints. He also is a solid fantasy quarterback who puts up great stats, even in a “run first” offense. That means he’s a great candidate for you to use him as your team’s name inspiration.

You could use his last name and go with something like “Kissing Cousins,” but then you sound like a Packers fan. If you land him and one his targets, Cousins to X, X being the other player, isn’t terrible. However, I think it’s better to use either his nickname, Captain Kirk.

So might I’m going to suggest, “Captain Kirk’s Crew.” You can photoshop Kirks head on the body of William Shatner from the original Star Trek for your team logo. Or perhaps use the U.S.S. Enterprise itself as your logo.

Playing off of that, you could call your team the red shirts, of course that’s only if you’re okay with dying in the first five minutes of the season.

Dalvin Cook

Dalvin might be the Vikings most desirable fantasy player. He was already up there with Saquon Barkley last year for the top fantasy running back in a lot of mocks, and he had his best season as a pro staying mostly healthy.

Of course his contract extension is still looming, but many Vikings fans are smitten with their favorite team’s running back, with good reason. He makes defenders look silly in the open field and runs the screen game incredibly well. If the Vikings offensive line is as good or better than last season and Cook stays healthy, two HUGE ifs, we could be looking at close to 2000 yards from scrimmage and double digit touchdowns.

That means he should be on your early targets for fantasy running backs and a great candidate to name your team after. I myself named one of my teams “Dalvin is my Daddy” last season. Although I like that name, and the fatherly implication, I think I can do better.

“Can you smell what Dalvin is Cooking?” is one of my favorites here. Of course a reference to The Rock is always welcome, and you sneak in both first and last name. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite fantasy names ever. 

Irv Smith Jr

Irv should be set for a breakout season. He had a solid rookie campaign despite limited use in the passing game, often taking a backseat to Kyle Rudolph. However, when given chances he showed he was ready and we can assume he’ll take another leap forward with more time and NFL reps under his belt.

As such, he deserves consideration for your fantasy team. He should be available late in the draft, and if Cook, Thielen, and Cousins are gone, he would still be a great get as your favorite team’s representative. Now, it is a bit risky because you won’t necessarily want to play him every week, and if you don’t play the guy your team is named after, what’s the point of naming the team after them?

If you do take Irv, might I suggest using his nickname Swervin Irvin. Now, I think this name doesn’t lend itself to any great play on words, but you always have the option of just sticking and “s” on the end and being the Swervin Irvins.

Of course, you could always snage Kyle Rudolph too and call you team “Purple Double Tight.”

The Defense

If you can’t, or don’t want to, snag an offensive player, you can always target the Vikings defense. As a fantasy group, I don’t think they’re exceptional as they don’t create a ton of turnovers or return touchdowns, but they’re at least in the top half of the league.

Going the defensive route, you either pick a defensive player or you try to name your whole team after the unit. We’ve seen some great defense nickname suggestions in the last few years like “Purple Reign” and “the Zim Reapers.” If you go the unit route, picking one of those two is totally acceptable.

If it were me, I think I would target a particular defensive player. “The headHunters” in reference to Danielle Hunter is, I think, a good one. Otherwise, you can call your team “the Ants” and put Anthony Harris’ head on an ant’s body.

Dan Bailey

Now, Dan Bailey is not going to be anybody’s first choice for a fantasy kicker, despite a much smoother season in 2019. He doesn’t have a monster leg and Zimmer seems to either punt or go for it in those longer field goal situations. However, if you find yourself at the end of the draft with no Vikings on your team and no kicker, he’s a solid option.

You’re a bit limited with name choices here, but you can call your team “Baileys and Coffee” in reference to the fact that you spend most Sundays drinking to numb yourself to the heartbreak. Skol.

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