How Does New Viking Describe His Team? ‘Perfect.’
Can you hear that? It’s the honeymoon period for Minnesota Vikings rookie Jordan Addison, a wide receiver drafted by the club with the 23rd overall pick in April.
How Does New Viking Describe His Team? ‘Perfect.’
The Vikings hope to minimize the Sunday afternoons when opposing defensive coordinators decide to ‘take Justin Jefferson out of the game’ with stacked coverage, and that plan has a last name — Addison.
Minnesota had a pronounced need for defensive players in the draft after letting veterans Eric Kendricks, Dalvin Tomlinson, Patrick Peterson, Duke Shelley, Cameron Dantzler, and Chandon Sullivan depart in free agency but chose Addison, an offensive player, in Round 1 nevertheless. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah also traded Za’Darius Smith to the Cleveland Browns in May.
But if you ask Addison, his fit on the Vikings couldn’t be better. In fact, he called it perfect.
“It was just real special, I had the family there to support, and I just felt like I fell to the perfect organization,” Addison said on NFL Network’s Total Access this week.
The Vikings grabbed Addison as the fourth wide receiver off the board in April after Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks), Quentin Johnston (Chargers), and Zay Flowers (Ravens). Addison hopes to follow in A.J. Brown’s footsteps, who was also the fourth wideout off the board during the 2019 NFL Draft.
Addison also told the Total Access panel about his learning curve, “Oh, man, it’s just been all learning for me, not too much talking. Just out there on the field watching what he do and just trying to pick his brain to see why he wants to run his routes the way he do.”
The 21-year-old missed some of Minnesota’s organized team activities and all of mandatory minicamp with an injury that isn’t stressing out the coaching staff. Addison is expected to be ready for training camp on July 29th, where he’ll compete for a WR2 job against veteran incumbent K.J. Osborn.
The rookie was prolific in college, recording 3,134 receiving yards and 29 touchdowns in three seasons at Pittsburgh and USC. He also took note of Smith-Njigba, Johnston, and Flowers getting drafted before him a couple of months ago, telling Vikings coaches, “I’m so excited to be here. I’m ready to work. This is where I want to be at. I’m glad I’m here. Three receivers went before me. That’s all the fuel I needed. I’m ready to go.”
Addison also said to reporters about his skillset in April, “When I’m running my routes, I like to look at it like I’m an artist. And I’m going out there painting pictures.”
Fuel. An artist painting pictures. Vikings perfect for him. Aside from the recent injury, Addison is pretty damn stoked about his rookie campaign.
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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 Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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