Jordan Addison’s “Report Card” Is Beautiful
Minnesota Vikings playmaker Jordan Addison was the fourth wide receiver off the board last April in the 2024 NFL Draft and is the most productive of the 1st-Round foursome to date.
Minnesota has a long history of rookie wideout majesty, and Addison is merely the latest example.
Jordan Addison’s “Report Card” Is Beautiful
Addison has served as the club’s defacto WR1 during Justin Jefferson’s absence after the NFL’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year was injured in Week 5. Jefferson has missed four straight games and likely a fifth this weekend.
Oddly, the Vikings started winning games the moment Jefferson hit the shelf, an unexplainable phenomenon that only really happens in Vikings culture and to the team’s fans. The team should have, in theory, rolled over and died, but it did the opposite. When the Vikings should zig, they often zag, a longstanding occurrence in franchise history.
And men like Addison are responsible for the four-game streak, accompanied by a suddenly hot Brian Flores-led defense. When Jefferson hit IR, the Vikings were 1-4 with laughable aspirations of reaching the playoffs. Now, the club is 5-4, in the NFC’s No. 7 seed, 0.5 games out of the fifth seed, and 1.5 back of the Detroit Lions in the NFC North.
Meanwhile, the NFL body politic has taken notice of Addison’s stardom. The man shattered the San Francisco 49ers defense on Monday Night Football two and a half weeks ago, establishing Addison as one of the NFL’s best young wideouts and plopping him into the mainstream.
This week, Bleacher Report assigned “grades” for all 1st-Round rookies, and Addison led the way with an A+.
BR‘s Ryan Fowler wrote, “First among all rookies in receiving touchdowns (7) and second in yards (533), Jordan Addison has kicked into another gear the last five weeks. He’s scored in all but one game, hauled in 28 of his 37 targets and totaled 348 yards receiving since Minnesota’s Week 4 win over the Carolina Panthers. He’s been outstanding all campaign, with his 123-yard, two-TD performance against the 49ers being a highlight.”
Addison is fourth in line per oddsmakers to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award behind C.J. Stroud (QB, Houston Texans), Puka Nucua (WR, Los Angeles Rams), and Jahmyr Gibbs (RB, Detroit Lions).
“Addison has continued to show up and produce for a team that’s operated without the services of Justin Jefferson for weeks and recently lost Kirk Cousins for the season,” Fowler concluded about Addison’s remarkable rookie campaign.
Addison’s 7 receiving touchdowns are the eighth most in NFL history by players in his first 10 games. Vikings Hall of Famer Randy Moss also tallied 7 receiving touchdowns in his first 10 games.
Other rookies receiving an A+ from Bleacher Report? Only the aforementioned Stroud.
The Vikings host the New Orleans Saints this weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium.
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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