There isn’t a lot of buzz surrounding the Minnesota Vikings despite them having one of the more talented rosters in the league. Consecutive years of not making the playoffs will do that to a team, and of course, there are still holdouts abstaining from the sipping of the same Kool-Aid as those that believe Kirk Cousins is the quarterback to get them over the hump.
But you can count ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky as a believer.
When naming off one sleeper pick from each conference in 2022, he chose the spend-thrifty Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC and Vikings in the NFC.
Sleepers Teams in 2022–1 from each conference
NFC-Vikings
AFC-Jacksonville
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) March 31, 2022
The Vikings have so much untapped potential on the offensive side of the ball, and there’s hope that an offensive-minded head coach like Kevin O’Connell holds the keys to unlocking it.
His play-calling played a big role in the Los Angeles Rams going on a magical playoff run and winning Super Bowl LVI. The weapons are obviously there on offense with Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook, K.J. Osborn and a returning Irv Smith Jr.
So there’s top-10 potential at least on the offensive side of the ball.
Defense comes with more question marks, even though the team went out and got Za’Darius Smith on a three-year deal from the Green Bay Packers. The 2022 NFL Draft could set the stage for success or absolute failure for the Vikings.
But Orlovsky’s opinion of them being a sleeper is spot on. They still have a lot of work to do, but this clearly isn’t a team people should be underestimating.
