1 Vikings Free Agent Has Been Overlooked
The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of free agents in the upcoming free agency period. Besides them, the roster could undergo severe changes in the next two weeks. The organization must be under the salary cap on March 15, when the new league year begins. Currently, the team is roughly $24 million over the cap.
To achieve that, they could release some veterans. Candidates, among others, are linebackers Eric Kendricks, Jordan Hicks, wideout Adam Thielen, and running back Dalvin Cook. Kirk Cousins and his contract will play a big role in the next two weeks. The Vikings could save a lot of cap space by extending his deal, but they could also plan to move on from him after the upcoming season.
1 Vikings Free Agent Has Been Overlooked
Some of the Vikings’ free agents are often talked about, like center Garrett Bradbury after his breakout campaign and Dalvin Tomlinson and his voiding contract. Others are overlooked. Tight end Irv Smith Jr. is expected to depart from Minnesota after four years with the team, but no one seems to care.
Smith was a second-round selection in the 2019 draft coming out of Alabama. He was viewed as an excellent athlete at the position and a possible great receiving threat. However, his time in Minnesota started in a committee with veteran Kyle Rudolph.
One of the most surprising moves happened after the draft when the Vikings extended Rudolph’s contract despite investing a valuable pick for Smith. Of course, the team wanted to play with both tight ends on the field, but it was a strange move at the time.
Smith had to share the snaps with Rudolph in an offense that heavily featured the running game around Dalvin Cook and two top-level wideouts, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. The tight end played in all 16 games as a rookie, including seven starts. He caught 36 passes for 311 yards and two scores. His average yards per catch was extremely low, at only 8.6.
In his second year, the duo still split the tight end duties, and Smith had to miss some time with an injury. He played in 13 games and caught 30 passes for 365 yards and five scores. Importantly, his yards per catch improved a lot to 12.2.
After the 2020 campaign, the Vikings moved on from Kyle Rudolph, and it was supposed to be the Smith show from that time on. That’s why they drafted him, to be the tight end of the future and the franchise tight end for a long time.
A series of injuries prevented that from happening. He was named the breakout player by everyone in the 2021 off-season, but he had to sit out the entire season after suffering a torn meniscus and had to undergo surgery. His backup Tyler Conklin stepped up and earned himself a big payday while Smith had to watch from the sidelines.
After Conklin’s departure, it was once again expected to be Smith’s breakout season. Before the season started in training camp, Smith broke his thumb and had a slow start to the season. He sprained his ankle in Week 7 against the Cardinals and had to be placed on injured reserve. He came back in Week 17. All those injuries were why the Vikings elected to trade for T.J. Hockenson right before the trade deadline.
Hockenson overtook Smith on the depth chart and became a huge part of the passing attack. Smith was limited to eight games and recorded only 182 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite all the injuries and the disappointing production, Smith could be in line for a big payday himself. Spotrac set Smith’s market value at $10.2 million. There are only a handful of really good tight ends and another dozen reliable ones. Fantasy managers know the struggles. The other teams lack a really good player at the position, so they overpay for the available players.
The Vikings are unlikely to re-sign Smith. Hockenson is their top guy at the position, and the team seems to love Johnny Mundt. Smith’s time in Minnesota is over unless his market surprisingly doesn’t exist, and they can get him on a cheap deal.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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