Vikings WR3. That’s it. That’s the joke.

Since the departure of Jarius Wright, the Vikings have been plug and play at the WR3 position and the results thus far have been next to terrible. Things weren’t as bad as they could have been with the emergence of both Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, as well as Justin Jefferson. Laquon Treadwell fell flat on his face, but there was some hope he could be a WR3 candidate and they could salvage a tiny bit of that 1st round pick, but again, failure. As we saw with Jarius Wright, when the Vikings needed a play on 3rd Down, they always went Jay Wright’s way. He had just 18 receptions in 2017 but 13 of them went for a fresh set of downs. (Jarius Wright Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com)

The apparent obsession with Chad Beebe

I don’t see Chad Beebe in practice, but given his apparent chances at playing, he must be somewhat close to Randy Moss. Don Beebe, was great. Spoiler alert – he’s not Don. The Vikings have spent a lot of time ignoring this position, and we have seen what the results are when the likes of Beebe and Bisi Johnson are relied upon. I’m not saying that Chad doesn’t belong on the roster but he has no business walking out on that field to replace Adam Thielen or Justin Jefferson.

Not the next Stefon Diggs, but….

The Vikings and late-round WR’s. At this point, the only thing Smith-Marsette and Diggs have in common is the 5th Round Pick tag. The Vikings do have options in-house when it comes to WR3, and for me, Smith-Marsette might just be the best of the bunch. Being a Gopher fan, and seeing him play in the Big 10, a lot of Minnesota fans are well aware of the potential, now it’s just a matter of reps, camp, and finally seeing these young guys on the field during Preseason.

Dede Westbrook tops my list for external candidates. The Vikings made a splash this off-season bringing in veteran WR Keenan McCardell as WR Coach. Guess where he coached last… Jacksonville, which just so happens to be where Dede Westbrook was. When it comes to being a 3rd down option he easily fits that mold. In 2018 he had 66 receptions and 40 of them went for 1st downs. He backed that up in 2019 with 66 receptions and 31 1st downs. We know what Thielen and Jefferson bring to the table, but after that there are a lot of questions. Westbrook could bring stability to that WR3 spot, and give Kirk Cousins a reliable safety net on 3rd downs opposed to trying to force it to 18/19. (Dede Westbrook Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com)

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