Vikings Don’t Even Bother with One Rookie
On April 25, 2025, the Minnesota Vikings used a 3rd-Round pick on wide receiver Tai Felton from Maryland, and six months later, they don’t even remotely entertain using him on offense.
Amid a terrible season, the Vikings don’t even have the time of day for one rookie — who they used a mid-round pick on about four months ago.
And that’s on a team that is going nowhere and should be all about playing its young players in a lost season. It’s yet another indictment of the Vikings’ failed draft processes over the last four years.
Vikings WR Tai Felton Not Even Considered on Offense
He’s a special teams guy, evidently.
3rd-Rounder Tai Felton Does Nothing on Offense
Third-round rookies play in their first year more often than not. It’s just the way it goes.
Felton, on the other hand, only plays special teams. He’s seen the field on offense just twice, a 37-blowout by the Vikings back in Week 3 when Minnesota still felt like a quasi-productive club and in a drubbing at the Los Angeles Chargers. The Vikings yanked starters down the stretch of those contests, and Felton saw action in garbage time for 18 snaps.
And then that was it. Felton only factors into special teams, and if the goal was to find a special teams ace, such players can be drafted in Round 7 or plucked off the undrafted free-agent wire. But for Minnesota in 2025, it used a 3rd-Round wideout for special teams duty.
Adam Thielen Deactivated — Still No Felton
On Monday morning, Minnesota shockingly released Adam Thielen, marking the end of a once-promising reunion. But before that transaction, the Vikings deactivated Thielen in Week 13, paving the way for a different wide receiver or two to pick up his workload.
That wasn’t Felton.
Minnesota lost by 26 points at Seattle, a game that became non-competitive — an utter joke — by the middle of the 3rd Quarter. It would’ve been prime time to give Felton some reps. No luck. On the bench. Only plays on special teams.
A Temporarily Wasted Draft Pick
These rookies were selected after Felton in April and represent an example of players already seeing significant action in the NFL:
- Elic Ayomanor
- Billy Bowman
- Cam Skattebo
- Bhayshul Tuten
- Deone Walker
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Of course, Minnesota could have a grand, long-term plan for Felton, but conventional logic suggests that he should at least have played a little bit on offense during meaningful game stretches. Felton does not.
For a general manager already infamous regarding draft busts, Felton has a long way to go to avoid the stigma. It cannot be overstated that 3rd-Round wide receivers — or any players at other positions — should have at least some impact on offense and defense.
That’s not allowed for Felton.
What’s Next for Felton?
Felton will just have to wait. That’s his only recourse. The Vikings’ season is so far down in the dumps and non-salvageable that the organization may have no choice but to put him on the field before too long. There’s not much left to lose with a 4-8 record through 13 weeks inside a season when the team was scheduled to compete for a Super Bowl or a postseason appearance at the very least.
Pro-Tai Felton fans will merely have to hope that he is a late-bloomer, fundamentally misunderstood by his coaches. It’s the only thing left because he has done virtually nothing on offense.
Late-bloomer = last resort for Felton
More on Thielen’s Release
Felton could see an increased role, in theory, after Minnesota waived Thielen on Monday.
The Athletic‘s Alec Lewis noted on the transaction, “In August, Minnesota traded a 2026 fifth-round draft pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick, a 2027 fifth-round pick and a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for Thielen.”
“At the time, the Vikings were looking for insurance for receiver Jalen Nailor, who was recovering from a hand injury. Thielen never played a meaningful role in a Vikings offense that resides among the NFL’s worst in almost every meaningful metric. This season, he caught eight passes for 69 yards and only played 185 offensive snaps.”
Without Thielen on the roster and without Felton factoring into the offense, Minnesota hosts the Washington Commanders this Sunday.
Lewis concluded, “Thielen, a native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., who attended Minnesota State, was signed by the Vikings after going undrafted in 2014. He spent his first nine NFL seasons in Minnesota, earning two Pro Bowl nods and compiling what was at the time the third-most receptions (534) in franchise history (after Cris Carter and Randy Moss). He spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the Panthers before his trade back to the Vikings.”
Felton ranked 113th on the Consensus Big Board before the draft. A 3rd or 4th-Rounder.
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