Purple Rumor Mill: A Big Vikings Bet, Xavier Rhodes and Bills, a 2,000-Yard Season
Dustin Baker
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VikingsTerritory‘s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the July 3rd edition.
Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.
Rumor: A gambler wagered $2,000 on the Vikings to win the Super Bowl and will win $80,000 if it happens.
This one is correct.
A person in Illinois isn’t afraid to put the pedal to the medal and wager on the 2022 Vikings.
Very few first-year head coaches win a championship in Year One, but since the Vikings have such a long Super Bowl drought anyway, why not them?
If Minnesota is to reach or win the Super Bowl, the pass protection and defense must markedly improve — like fast.
Rumor: Xavier Rhodes could sign with the Buffalo Bills.
In the same Pro Football Focus article suggesting the Vikings should sign linebacker Alexander Johnson, formerly of the Denver Broncos, PFF believes Buffalo would be a good fit for Rhodes.
The Bills — a team considered the odds-on favorite to with the Super Bowl — don’t have ample cornerback depth. Rhodes would fix that instantly. His two stints in Indianapolis were significantly more successful than his last year with the Vikings. His final year in Minnesota stunk.
Rhodes to Bills checks out — and he’d reunite with Stefon Diggs and Case Keenum, plus Dalvin Cook’s little brother.
Rumor: Justin Jefferson could hit the 2,000-yard mark in 2022.
This one is all the craze, especially from fantasy football managers.
Jefferson should be targeted in the Vikings 2022 offense like Cooper Kupp in the Los Angeles Rams 2021 offense. If that comes true, Jefferson could assuredly top 2,000 yards.
Nobody has ever done it, though. Calvin Johnson fell 36 yards shy in 2012. Let’s see if Jefferson makes history. All he needs is the targets.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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