Minnesota Vikings’ production underscores need for WR

[IIsweet]

Doctson solidified himself as a top-50 pick and likely moved into the first-round conversation with his performance in Indianapolis. At 6-foot-2 and 202 pounds, he has big hands (nearly 10 inches) and his arm length is just below average for wide receivers. While he didn't run in the 4.4s, his 4.50 40 is still faster than the five-year combine average for WRs. His lower-body explosiveness is evident when watching him win 50-50 balls on tape, and it showed up during the vertical jump (41 inches, tied for best among WRs) and the broad jump (10 feet 11 inches, second overall). Doctson showcased his outstanding ball skills during position drills, and he has the potential to develop into a vertical threat in the NFL.

Per NFL Insider

[halfgiz]

Johnson will almost certainly join Stefon Diggs and Jarius Wright as key components of the Vikings passing attack to return in 2016.

http://vikingsterritory.com/2016/injuri ... eem-likely

http://espn.go.com/espn/now?nowId=21-05 ... 58326247-4

[S197]

Johnson will almost certainly join Stefon Diggs and Jarius Wright as key components of the Vikings passing attack to return in 2016.

http://vikingsterritory.com/2016/injuri ... eem-likely

http://espn.go.com/espn/now?nowId=21-05 ... 58326247-4

Thanks for posting those. I sure hope that was the extent of the problem.

[Mothman]

Thanks for posting those. I sure hope that was the extent of the problem.

It doesn't seem like a very good explanation. The Vikings territory article refers to the news as an injury "revelation", as if we didn't already know about it. It was reported during the season that he was missing games due to the rib injury. He came back and made a huge play to help them win @Chicago and according to Ben Goessling's recent report, Johnson "said he didn't feel like he could really play while managing the injury until Nov. 1 against Chicago".

However, if I recall correctly, that big catch was his last catch of the season... and it came as he was getting better.

[S197]

It doesn't seem like a very good explanation. The Vikings territory article refers to the news as an injury "revelation", as if we didn't already know about it. It was reported during the season that he was missing games due to the rib injury. He came back and made a huge play to help them win @Chicago and according to Ben Goessling's recent report, Johnson "said he didn't feel like he could really play while managing the injury until Nov. 1 against Chicago".

However, if I recall correctly, that big catch was his last catch of the season... and it came as he was getting better.

Well we knew the injury but perhaps not the severity. If it's hard to breath, laugh, etc. then it's obviously a major impediment to playing at a competitive level. Only time will tell but if he can be a 600-700 yard receiver for us, that would be great.

[Mothman]

Well we knew the injury but perhaps not the severity. If it's hard to breath, laugh, etc. then it's obviously a major impediment to playing at a competitive level.

I understand and I agree, that would be a major impediment.

I don't think I made my point very well. Sorry about that. What I was trying to say was that if he injured the rib against San Diego on September 27th, and he felt it was manageable enough to play with on November 1st against Chicago, that covers a 5 week span from injury to playing again. They played 10 more games after that game at Soldier Field. Maybe it was a severe injury, where the rib was torn loose from the cartilage, and he was facing something like a 3 month recovery but if that was the case, it seems odd that he would have been on the field at all November 1st against the Bears. On the other hand, if he had bruised or fractured ribs, I think the recovery time for that is usually 6 weeks or so. His presence on the field after 5 suggests he may have had that kind of injury and in that case, the injury wouldn't really explain his absence from the lineup for the second half of the season.

In the end, I guess we really don't know what happened. I don't think details of the injury were released but it still seems odd to me that he basically disappeared from the offense after returning to the field and making a huge catch.

Only time will tell but if he can be a 600-700 yard receiver for us, that would be great.

I agree. After all, they only had one of those receivers last season!

[halfgiz]

Thanks for posting those. I sure hope that was the extent of the problem.

I'm not sure if that was the whole problem. We know that Wallace had to be on the field as the deep threat, "do to the money he was getting paid"
Once Diggs got the starting job there was no way the coaches were going to bench him.

The injury obviously put CJ behind and he could not catch up. And he ended up out of the lineup.
I don't know if we realized the extent of his injury. Zimmer is good about keeping that stuff hush.
Hopefully with CJ healthy we will see him competing at a high-level again.

That just my thoughts.

[halfgiz]

One thing that is puzzling is through out our history we have always had good receivers in the past.
Chris Carter, Randy Moss, AC, Jake Reed etc.
But in the last 10 years we really haven't had a dominate receiver. Any thoughts why we can't seem to find a dominate receiver...

[Mothman]

One thing that is puzzling is through out our history we have always had good receivers in the past.
Chris Carter, Randy Moss, AC, Jake Reed etc.
But in the last 10 years we really haven't had a dominate receiver. Any thoughts why we can't seem to find a dominate receiver...

Some of it's bad luck (Rice was a good prospect but couldn't stay healthy) and some of it's questionable judgment. For example, they drafted Harvin, who was very talented but wasn't a refined receiver and had a problematic history. Sure enough, that problematic history continued in the NFL and the Vikings traded him. They drafted Patterson who (as much as I like his natural playmaking ability) is another unrefined receiver, a project. I'd argue that most of the other WRs they've drafted in that time haven't really had "dominant WR" potential. They've thrown significant money at some free agents (Berrian, Jennings and Wallace) but none of them were likely to be truly dominant WRs for the Vikes either. Add in that the team hasn't been very good at QB for most of the past decade and we have another limiting factor.

That's the long answer. The short answer is it's been bad luck and questionable scouting/decision-making exacerbated by poor QB play (which makes things tough for all the receivers).

I'm not convinced Rick Spielman has what it takes to build a really good passing game.

[mosscarter]

a good passing game all starts with a good qb mothman; and you already know my views on bridgewater. he hasn't even been close to good. i would actually venture to say it has been much more of a qb problem than a receiver problem. aside from one year with favre we haven't had a good qb since culpepper. that is over a decade ago; how pathetic.

[Cliff]

I think Spielman has a history of taking athletic prospects and relies on the coaching staff to refine their game. I don't think that strategy works as well with wide receivers. Technique is so important and it seems to really help a WR transition.

Or perhaps it's a problem with coaching. Somehow, with all of the coaching turnover in the last decade, one of the positions where the Vikings have been nearly constantly weak hasn't had a new coach in that same time frame. Him lasting through so many head coaches has to say something about him but I wonder if change might be a good idea?

[Mothman]

I think Spielman has a history of taking athletic prospects and relies on the coaching staff to refine their game. I don't think that strategy works as well with wide receivers. Technique is so important and it seems to really help a WR transition.

Or perhaps it's a problem with coaching. Somehow, with all of the coaching turnover in the last decade, one of the positions where the Vikings have been nearly constantly weak hasn't had a new coach in that same time frame. Him lasting through so many head coaches has to say something about him but I wonder if change might be a good idea?

It's a fair question. Stewart's been around for a long time and he's a respected coach but he's been the Vikings WR coach for most of this past decade we're discussing.

[Superman]

With the volume of snaps Wallace got, we could have snagged Troy Williamson straight out of the optometrists office and recieved similar production over the course of an entire season.

[losperros]

With the volume of snaps Wallace got, we could have snagged Troy Williamson straight out of the optometrists office and recieved similar production over the course of an entire season.

Absolutely. Just as long as the Vikings used the same porous OL and had Teddy Bridgewater missing his deep throws.