The Vikings have placed Adam Thielen on IR with an ankle injury, so he's done for the season. That makes K.J. Osborn someone who might have some value the next two weeks. Especially this one, with Minnesota likely to put up good passing numbers at Green Bay.
When these teams squared off in a shootout back in Week 11, Thielen caught 8 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. Justin Jefferson caught 8 passes for 169 yards and 2 TDs in that game. Green Bay will surely be trying to slow down Jefferson, and it will now be Osborn in that No. 2 role. He's been productive with Thielen out or limited the last four games.
From Weeks 13-16, Thielen missed two games entirely and played minimal snaps in the other two. Here are Osborn's numbers in those games.
| OSBORN WITH NO THIELEN | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Tgt | No | Yds | TD | |
| at Det. | 7 | 4 | 47 | 1 | |
| Pitt. | 9 | 3 | 83 | 1 | |
| @Chi. | 3 | 3 | 21 | 0 | |
| LAR | 7 | 5 | 68 | 1 | |
In one of those games, Osborn did nothing, but Kirk Cousins threw for just 87 yards in that run dominated game at Chicago. That's not going to happen at Green Bay, barring a weather issue. In the other three games, he saw at least 7 passes, and scored.
For me, I need to figure out which running back to leave out of a flex spot for Osborn. (My 2 wide receivers are Kupp and Tyreek, and they're not being benched for him.) But either Josh Jacobs or Devin Singletary is going to need to find a seat on the bench this week so Osborn can get into the lineup.
--Andy Richardson