The Minnesota Vikings couldn’t have asked for much more from their wide receivers and tight ends than to guide their journeyman quarterback to over 4,300 yards, 35 touchdowns and a 102.5 quarterback rating.
With that said, there are plenty of takeaways from each wide receiver and tight end’s season and pending free agents so let’s break them all down…
Justin Jefferson
Stat line: 103 catches, 1,533 yards, 10 touchdowns
What else is there to say about Jefferson? In the first year of his long-term contract extension, he finished second in the NFL in receiving yards and had the fifth highest yards per catch among receivers with at least 100 targets and scored the fifth most touchdowns. When Sam Darnold tossed the pigskin in his direction, he had a 107.4 QB rating and he caught 17 of 31 contested catches (per PFF).
Related: The 10 best Minnesota Vikings of 2024
No matter who quarterbacks the Vikings into the future, he is going to be the driving force of the offense. Kevin O’Connell proved again this year that opposing defenses do not have an answer for Jefferson, no matter how many double teams or extra defenders they run in his direction.
However, to give the tiniest nitpick, there were a few games where it seemed opponents were able to play him physically at the line of scrimmage and the Vikings struggled to get him the ball quickly. He only ranked 22nd in yardage on throws between 0-9 yards through the air. His contemporary Ja’Marr Chase had 67 catches and 629 yards to Jefferson’s 41 catches for 339 yards on the quick game. In 2022, when he won Offensive Player of the Year, JJ had 55 receptions on short throws past the line of scrimmage.
That’s a small thing to think about. Aside from that, he also took full command of a leadership role and worked through times that opponents were taking him away. He and O’Connell will continue to shape the offense together going forward.
Jordan Addison
Stat line: 63 catches, 875 yards, 9 touchdowns
It was a rough start to the season for Addison when he was cited for DUI right before training camp and then he suffered two ankle injuries that slowed him at the beginning of the year. After he got back to full strength, we saw plenty of elite flashes from the 2023 first-round pick. In the final eight games of the season he played at a 17-game pace of 89 catches and over 1,200 yards.
As long as Addison is alongside Jefferson, his production is likely to swing up and down from week to week. That’s the reality of being the No. 2 option behind the top receiver in the world. But when he was called upon, he largely stepped up to the plate. When Darnold threw his way, the QB posted a 122.3 QB rating, which was the 6th highest in the NFL. He grabbed 10 of 17 contested catches.
The target depth question that applied to Jefferson also stands for Addison. He had the 11th highest percentage of targets that traveled over 20 yards and nearly 60% of the throws his way went at least 10 yards through the air. It was clearly an effective strategy when Darnold looked his way but there were still 30 receivers targeted more than him this season. Could they have gotten him the ball a little more underneath? There were 63 receivers with more quick-game yards than Addison (targets from 0-9 yards through the air).
Going forward, there aren’t many remaining questions about Addison’s talent. Teams are going to press him at the line of scrimmage but he grew in terms of beating the press this season. The only question is about his off-field behavior. There is a possibility that he faces a suspension next season already and he can’t afford another issue behind the wheel — not just for football purposes but his own safety and the safety of others as well. This is an important offseason for him in that regard.
Jalen Nailor
Stat line: 28 catches, 414 yards, 6 touchdowns
When Addison was out with an ankle injury early in the season, Nailor came up with three touchdowns and several other key grabs like a game-ending throw down the middle that he caught against the 49ers. But when Addison returned, he largely disappeared from the target share. Between Week 9 and Week 16, Nailor failed to register a multi-catch game. Even with the offense drawn up to target Jefferson and Addison, the Vikings needed more from their WR3.
He did arrive back on the scene late in the season though. He was massive against the Packers with five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown and was the only receiver who had a good day against the Lions and Rams (six catches for 86 yards combined).
For several years, O’Connell argued that Nailor was a quality player who just needed to stay healthy. Overall, he proved that to be true. The question going forward is how Nailor can build on this season and how much he should be used. He has speed and deep ability but hasn’t proven himself as a complete receiver yet.
Is he locked into the WR3 spot for next season? Or would the Vikings have more of a competition at that position with some of their developing young receivers? We’ll find that out down the road.
Trent Sherfield
Stat line: 8 catches, 83 yards, 1 touchdown
While he didn’t get a large target share, Sherfield brought physicality to the Vikings receiving corps. He was used on 115 plays as a run blocker and graded by PFF as the seventh best run blocking receiver.
Sherfield also received an 84.3 PFF grade as a special teamer. He was a stellar punt gunner, making eight tackles and several key plays to down the football inside opponent territory.
Sherfield is an unrestricted free agent. The Vikings should be interested in having him return because he excelled at his job, even if that job wasn’t pretty.
Brandon Powell
Stat line: 7 catches, 71 yards, 0 touchdowns
In 2023, Powell was one of the players who stepped up when Justin Jefferson went out for nearly half the season with an injury. He caught 29 passes for 324 yards and a game-winning touchdown against the Falcons. He also worked as a solid punt returner.
This year, he just did not see the field very often. That is certainly because the receivers remained healthy and Sherfield carved out his run-blocking role but even when Powell was on the field he was rarely a target.
In terms of punt returning, his longest was only 15 yards and the Vikings ranked 32nd in yards per return. As much as Powell is liked by the coaching staff, there has to be some strong consideration for other punt returning options and receiver depth for next year.
Other receivers:
The Vikings signed Jeshaun Jones to a futures contract. He stood out at times in camp last year. Thayer Thomas will be going into his third year after spending two seasons on the practice squad. Lucky Jackson has also become a PS vet. They do not have a developing receiver that appears to have a chance to challenge for WR3 next season.
Options
Clearly the Vikings will not be big spenders in free agency but they do need to make decisions on Sherfield and Powell and possibly look to upgrade their depth in case of injury in 2025.
If they are only hunting players who can punt return and have some experience at receiver (at the cheapest prices), veterans like Dante Pettis, KC’s Mecole Hardman, Baltimore’s Tylan Wallace, Cleveland’s James Proche or Indy’s Ashton Dulin could be of interest.
If the Vikings are looking for a little bit more than that, there will be third tier type options.
Washington free agents Dyami Brown (30 catches), Olamide Zaccheaus (45 catches) and Noah Brown (35 catches) might all come at reasonable prices and be potential upgrades over Nailor. They could also look at Rams receivers TuTu Atwell (42 catches) and Tyler Johnson (26 catches) or an older veteran trying to hang on like Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Nelson Agholor or Brandin Cooks.
That might depend on how much cap space they have to spend.
TJ Hockenson
Stat line: 41 catches, 455 yards, 0 TD
Coming off an ACL injury, Hockenson got off to a pretty good start when he returned mid-season, catching 20 passes for 266 yards in his first four games, including a tremendous 7-catch, 114-yard showing against the Bears. But he only gained 229 yards the rest of the way and never seemed to catch on with Sam Darnold the same way that he did previously with Kirk Cousins.
Hockenson still ended the year with a 17-game pace of 105 targets, 70 receptions and 774 yards and had a 74.0 PFF grade with 10 contested catches in 16 chances but that isn’t quite at the standard he set in 2022 and 2023 with 86 and 95 receptions, respectively.
One notable detail is that his average depth of target blew away any other year of his career, meaning that he wasn’t getting the same number of checkdowns and rather Darnold was throwing to him more downfield. Whether that was the plan or not in comparison to the last two seasons or if it was Darnold’s choices with the ball is not totally clear.
In previous years, the former Lion was close to average as a run blocker and was asked to block on over 32% of his snaps in each season of his career. This year he only blocked on 23% and he ranked 68th of 81 tight ends in run blocking.
The expectation will be that Hockenson will return to his usual form next season. Even if it wasn’t up to his par, still performing at a high level after missing half the season was a plus for the Vikings offense.
Josh Oliver
The No. 1 run blocking tight end in the league by PFF was also a solid contributor in the passing game for the second straight year, catching 22 balls for 258 yards and three touchdowns. Those numbers took just 26 targets, which is an 84.6% completion percentage when Darnold was tossing the ball his way.
After two seasons of quality play, the Vikings have to be pleased with their decision to sign Oliver to a three-year, $21 million deal. However, next year that contract becomes more expensive at $9.2 million on the cap. That is set to make him the 17th highest paid tight end in terms of cap hit. It is unlikely that they will release him but they may need to either restructure his deal or give him an extension to lower that cap hit.
Johnny Mundt
During the early part of the season, Mundt played a high number of snaps with Hockenson still recovering from surgery. He played over 30 offensive snaps in six of the first seven games but did not have much impact on the offense, catching 14 passes at just 6.6 yards per reception. As a run blocker, Mundt ranked 46th of 86, which was a big drop from where he was last year at 11th.
The Vikings have spent several years developing young TE Nick Muse. It is probably time for them to move him up into the TE3 slot rather than re-signing Mundt.
The bottom line
If you were to do a ranking of the best performances by receivers/tight ends in the NFL in 2024, the Vikings would have to be in the top five. Jefferson continuing his excellence over to another quarterback and Addison building on his rookie year is enough to push the Vikings into the top 10 as a passing attack. However, there is still room for improvement. A full season of Hockenson next year and more depth at receiver could offer even more opportunities for whichever QB is under center to thrive.