Frey’s Fantasy Focus: Projecting the Vikings
Josh Frey
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This week’s Vikings game brings a rematch with the Packers. In week one, Green Bay steamrolled to a win, and honestly, this game at Lambeau Field has little hope of going any differently.
Bye weeks normally allow teams to regroup, but this week has been anything but that for this Vikings group. With trade rumors surrounding everyone from Adam Thielen to Harrison Smith, it’s hard to say who might actually be on this team when gametime actually rolls around. That said, we still need to get the fantasy projections out for the team, so here is where I see some of the offense landing this Sunday.
Kirk Cousins
ESPN Projection: 15.6
Yahoo Projection: 17.58
Josh’s Projection: 18.2
Cousins has thrown an interception in five out of six games and multiple interceptions in three out of six. He more than doubled the Atlanta Falcons defensive interceptions two weeks ago, but he still had great fantasy numbers.
With Green Bay on an absolute tear this season, I expect them to get off to an early lead. This opens up the door for the garbage time touchdowns that we saw in week six. 250 yards, two garbage time touchdowns, and an interception is probably the floor this week for Cousins, which equates to at least 16 fantasy points.
Dalvin Cook
ESPN Projection: 15.8
Yahoo Projection: 14.97
Josh’s Projection 13.5
With Cook reported to be ready to go on Sunday, the Vikings should (hopefully) go back to what had worked for them in games against Tennessee, Houston, and Seattle and get him the ball as much as possible.
However, if Green Bay does jump out to an early lead, or if Minnesota understandably wants to protect him from reaggravating his injury, his touches may be limited. My guess would be that he hovers around 20 touches and ends up with 80-90 yards and a touchdown.
Adam Thielen
ESPN Projection: 11.1
Yahoo Projection: 11.13
Josh’s Projection: 12.8
After back-to-back double digit target games, Thielen was targeted just five times against Atlanta. His fantasy numbers were saved by a late game touchdown, and I feel like a similar thing could happen in this game. His targets probably go up to 10-12, and he probably gets around 90-100 yards with the possibility of a touchdown.
Justin Jefferson
ESPN Projection: 9.3
Yahoo Projection:9.77
Josh’s Projection: 14.5
Jefferson is a boom-or-bust type of fantasy player, with three games over 100 yards and three games with fewer than 50. I think this week will be a boom with his deep threat ability, and the amount of times I see Cousins throwing the ball. Cousins has the highest yards per completion average in the league, at 13.1, and that has a lot to do with the emergence of Jefferson.
This week, I think he gets seven or eight targets, but he will break 100 yards and get a touchdown.