Aug 27, 2017; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman talks with San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch prior to the game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
As I find a way to shoehorn into every episode of our weekly KDLM Sports radio show, The VikingsTerritory Breakdown, I love me some Big Ten players. I wholeheartedly believe that players from the best power conference make better professional players, especially offensive linemen. Why? Well, in the O-line instance it should be obvious to anyone who has ever seen Wisconsin’s line.
Because of that, I had my eyes set on Ohio State guard Wyatt Davis as Steve Hutchinson 2.0 for a long time and said as much on the aforementioned radio show since the start of the 2020 season.
But he isn’t actually the steal of the Draft topic tonight. Instead, I’m talking about Iowa receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
As many Vikings fans know, the team has struggled to find a reliable third receiving option behind back-to-back best 1-2 punch in the NFL duos Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen as well as Justin Jefferson and Thielen. While Bisi Johnson appears to be reliable enough, Smith-Marsette’s ceiling makes the Johnson ceiling look like a shoebox diorama of a FEMA trailer.
I’ll give you a couple of numbers to explain my reasoning. First, Smith-Marsette (or as the TikTok crowd is not calling him, S&M) ran a 4.43 40-yard-dash before the Draft.
You know who else ran exactly that 40?
That’s right. Frank Stallone.
“Never Do a Joke About Frank Stallone Again” – Sylvester Stallone – YouTube
Justin Jefferson.
Beyond that? S&M scored a touchdown on 12.5% of his catches. That’s amazing but even more astounding considering that he never played with a QB that averaged above 60% completions for a full season during his time in Iowa.
We should also check his full measurements:
That reminds me of someone…
Hmm…
But he can’t be that big of a playmaker, right?
Wrong…
With the Vikings (finally) shoring up the interior of their offensive line with the back-to-back drafting of Wyatt Davis and Ezra Cleveland, while hopefully finding their left tackle of the future in Christian Darrisaw, and ALSO hoping that the improved guard play of Davis/Cleveland will help former first round pick Garrett Bradbury steer away from bustville?
Told you I was now on the Hopeful Vikings Fan Bandwagon!
We all saw what Justin Jefferson and company could do with limited time last season for play to develop down field. Now imagine that offense with time, and a true playmaker behind Jefferson, Thielen and emerging star tight end Irv Smith jr? Oh, and little known but perhaps diamond in the rough running back Dalvin Cook improving each season?
The Vikings now not only have the definition of a pick your poison offense, but they also potentially have the offensive line to take full advantage of what is a nigh uncoverable group of skill position players.
S&M will be single covered on most passing plays which is something that any Iowa fan knows is something that should keep any opposing offensive coordinator awake Saturday nights.
While the Vikings may not call his number often, if he develops into what his potential implies it may be hard to not increasingly include him in the game plan. From all apparent metrics that seems like it’ll be the case. So, I’ll be adding an UFFda! Sports brand of Melatonin/Tylenol PM that we made in our bathtub for any NFL defensive coordinator who buys in at the $5/month level on our Patreon while you should welcome Smith-Marsette to Minnesota!
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If anyone, I would guess Zach Davidson
I think that cousins performance will be much less sporadic now with the interior offensive line fixed up. When u face pressure up the gut, its not easy to get rid of the ball. Zimmers famous blitz packages are all based on interior pressure, see the two defensive tackles hes signed the last two seasons compared to the edge opposite Daniele Hunter. Zimmer knows that if those two tackles can eat up the three blockers, kendricks and barr can come up the middle freely, the quarterback then has to choose to eat the pressure and throw a errant pass, or step out of the pocket and take off. Usually zimmer times this well studying habbits and brings the heat off the side the quarterback usually runs too.. see russel wilson 2015 nfcwc.. When this happens, the entire defense starts to look like pro bowlers because turnovers become much easier to create. So if Kirk Cousins can fake a hand off , turn around against Chicago, and not have backers bearing down on him as he always has had against Chicago, it gives him a chance to take a shot when they bring that run blitz at him almost every single play. Im not very excited, but i am quite aware that swapping Reiff for Darrisaw, and then aquiring mason cole, and wyatt davis will make this team about 7 points better, as well as a couple minutes time of possession better, and a much more effective wear them out and run on them in the 4th quarter team. Barring injury, they should beable to score 30 points most games. With the defense pieced back together, 21 should be the magic number to win.