Purple Rumor Mill: Zach Wilson Whispers, Jefferson & OPOY, Harrison Smith Injured?
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 January 8th 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.
Purple Rumor Mill: Zach Wilson Whispers, Jefferson & OPOY, Harrison Smith Injured?
Rumor: The Vikings could peek at Zach Wilson from the New York Jets if the price is right.
This is a “real rumor.” It just isn’t very loud.
The Jets are likely to move on from Zach Wilson because he evidently doesn’t have what it takes to be a QB1 on Robert Saleh’s team. His tenure in New York has been abysmal. He’s not trending in the right direction, and he only receives repeated attempts to get on the right track because he was the 2nd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Paul Burmeister from The 33rd Team was one of the first to link Wilson to the Vikings in an article from a week ago. He wrote about Wilson to the Vikings, “Wilson’s potential versus Nick Mullens’ experience would be a fair fight. If it clicked, who knows, maybe he could be a candidate down the road to replace Cousins, whose contract expires after next season.”
But we say no thanks. We’re good.
Rumor: Justin Jefferson is a shoo-in to win the 2022 Offensive Player of the Year award.
Jefferson will likely win the Offensive Player of the Year award even if Tyreek Hill has a mammoth Sunday in Week 18. The Dolphins have lost five straight, so any enthusiasm for Hill winning the award trended southward weeks ago.
Vegas oddsmakers have Jefferson labeled with -800 odds to take home the OPOY trophy. Jefferson is set to play Sunday against the Bears, and any receptions and touchdowns are more like icing on the cake.
Jefferson will win the award — a cool perk of the 2022 season.
Rumor: Harrison Smith is injured and will not play at the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
This is correct, but it is a precautionary thing. Smith is suffering from “knee soreness” and won’t play at Soldier Field. It’ll actually be the Vikings first game at Soldier Field without Smith since 2011.
Smith has sights set on the postseason, which begins next weekend, likely versus the New York Giants. Like any other veteran, if any nagging injuries are present, those players should sit out Week 18 as the game is rather meaningless. Unless the San Francisco 49ers have a stinker at home against the Arizona Cardinals, the Vikings are locked into the No. 3 seed.
Smith will be fine. It’s just not worth the risk to suit up at the Bears.
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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