Turns Out the Jordan Addison Suspension Might Be Overblown
The NFL suspended Jordan Addison for the first three games of the 2025 regular season on Tuesday, comeuppance for the Minnesota Vikings wide receiver’s “wet reckless” DUI-adjacent offence in California from July 2024.
Jordan Addison’s suspension is serious, but it may not be as damaging as it seems. Here’s why Vikings fans should stay calm about the three-game absence and avoid panic.
Addison will be on the shelf until Week 4, when the Vikings travel to Ireland for a meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers against Aaron Rodgers’s team.
And while Addison’s suspension is indeed a big deal, it’s not a doomsday scenario. Here’s why.
Don’t Panic Too Much about Jordan Addison’s Suspension
The case for reducing anxiety about Addison’s absence.
The Vikings Have Plenty of WRs
At this point on the NFL calendar, all NFL teams have approximately a dozen wide receivers on their roster, some three weeks before they trim depth charts from 90 men to 53. Minnesota is no different, meaning the coaching staff has plenty of options to tab for Addison’s temporary replacement.
Among several, Kevin O’Connell will turn to one or some of these players for the season’s first three weeks:
- Jalen Nailor
- Rondale Moore
- Tai Felton
- Lucky Jackson
- Silas Bolden
- Jeshaun Jones
And because the suspension is out in the open a full month for the Vikings’ go-live date of September 8th, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah could somewhat easily onboard a veteran free agent like Gabe Davis, Odell Beckham, or Nelson Agholor.
The takeaway? There are options. Between Nailor, Moore, Felton, Jackson, Bolden, and Jones, now is the perfect time for a hungry player to bubble to the surface. It’s how sports work. A player’s Eminem 8 Mile moment.
T.J. Hockenson as the WR2 or WR3
Although Minnesota’s TE1 is battling a groin tweak, Hockenson should be all systems go for Week 1. The handsomely paid pass-catcher usually fetches between 130 and 145 targets within an offense throughout a whole season.
Hockenson missed about half of 2024 recovering from a torn ACL. Per his normative target load, he’s a WR2-WR3 performer by himself.
Now is an appropriate time for Hockenson to resume his monster workload, and in fact, Addison will be “out of the way” for three games, enabling Hockenson to pursue his custom target share — and maybe even more.
The Vikings employ Hockenson at an expensive price tag for this very reason — to take the pressure off Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
The Opponents Don’t Have Gruesome Defenses
Minnesota’s first three opponents? The Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, and Cincinnati Bengals.
Here’s where those teams finished in 2024 per defensive EPA/Play:
Bears = 13th
Falcons = 20th
Bengals = 27th
The Vikings will not face the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles, and Los Angeles Chargers with Addison suspended, three of the NFL’s best defenses from last year. The schedule could be a whole lot tougher in terms of opposing defenses. Chicago, Atlanta, and Cincinnati offer stiff competition but not legendary defenses.
Vikings Planned for the Suspension … for Over a Year
Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have planned for this moment — sad to say — for 13 months. They were not blindsided by Addison’s skullduggery and discipline this week. The pair is a forward-thinking duo, and if it was caught off-guard by the three-game suspension — it was not — Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell failed to do their jobs.
From signing Rondale Moore to drafting Tai Felton to “knowing what they have” in Jackson, Bolden, and Jones, Minnesota has carefully readied itself for this three-game ordeal. It’s not breaking news.
Running the Football More Anyway
Adofo-Mensah also traded for Jordan Mason in March, sending a late-round draft pick, fruit of the Ed Ingram trade with Houston, to the San Francisco 49ers. In yet another consecutive offseason, everyone associated with the Vikings has vowed to a) run the ball more on offense b) run the ball more efficiently on offense.
The time is now to lean full-tilt into that strategy.
The Vikings will showcase McCarthy at quarterback, who won a National Championship at Michigan in a run-first offense. To start his career, O’Connell should trust Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason to the utmost. If there was ever a time to promote a “we want to run the ball more” slogan, it is now with Addison out for three games.
Use the trustworthy weaponry — Jones and Mason.
O’Connell said in April, “I think the things we’ve done in free agency, from a standpoint of the interior offensive and defensive lines, couple that with Aaron Jones being back and then acquiring a player like Jordan Mason, I think a physicality that I want to play with.”
“I want to run the football, I want to get back to the truest nature of where the foundation of this offense was, which is running the football, marrying the run and the pass, generating explosives that way, and trying to be an effective early-down offense that can sustain for 17-plus weeks.”
Do it.
Justin Jefferson Still Works Here
The best antidote to Addison’s absence? The best wide receiver in football.
Jefferson will recover from a mild hamstring tweak by Week 1, and at that time, O’Connell should tab his phenom playmaker for optimal production. Jefferson’s running mate, Addison, won’t factor into the operation for three weeks. Jefferson earns $35 million per season for a moment like this.
When you’re down and out, bemoaning the loss of an electric WR2, just rear back and throw the ball at the best pass-catcher in the league. It’s not that complicated.
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