Irv Smith Jr. returning has the Minnesota Vikings offense looking scarier than it’s ever been on paper. However, that reality hinges on the 23-year-old tight end’s health, which is shaky ground to stand on considering he’s coming off a season-ending meniscus injury.
If Smith goes down with an injury, the paper pipe dream gets wadded up and rainbowed right into the trash.
There will be no Tyler Conklin to step in and save the day at a tight end position that’s looking pretty barren at the moment. The safety net option that came up big for the team in 2021 signed a three-year, $21 million deal with the New York Jets in the offseason.
That leaves the Vikings with Johnny Mundt, Zach Davidson, Ben Ellefson and rookie Nick Muse as their backup options, if catastrophe strikes again.
Mundt has some familiarity with head coach Kevin O’Connell’s offensive play-calling from their time together with the Los Angeles Rams. So he’d be the next man up in an emergency glass case situation. Sure, there’s a lot of intrigue with him for the coaching staff, but the fact remains that he’s only caught 10 receptions for 93 yards in five NFL seasons.
He’s at his best on the field as a blocker, and it would be asking a lot of him to suddenly morph into a guy catching 40-plus passes for 400-plus yards. As for the other backups, it’s a bit of a stretch to think any of them would be ready to step into that starting role for the Vikings.
Granted, that doesn’t mean the offensive soiree in 2022 would be dead in the water if they lose their best playmaker at tight end. O’Connell is a mad scientist at work concocting different ways to use tight ends and even his running backs, particularly Dalvin Cook, as receivers.
But there’s no doubt that the Vikings are a far more scarier team to defend with Smith on the field. It essentially gives quarterback Kirk Cousins another high-end receiving weapon to punish opposing defenses with in games.
With training camp around the corner, the team will likely go in as currently constructed, but there’s always the possibility they could look to bring in an outside veteran as an insurance policy for Smith.
Some interesting options out there are Eric Ebron, Jared Cook, Jimmy Graham and former longtime Viking Kyle Rudolph. At the very least, one of those players would be a viable safety net for the Vikings to shield themselves from a sure-fire disaster at the tight end position.
They’ve invested too much into this win-now season to have it derailed by another injury.
