I see that Kevin O’Connell is talking up Irv Smith. The Vikings need a third option behind Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, and Smith should be the guy, I think.
Smith was supposed to be that guy last year, but he underwent a knee surgery prior to the season, missing the entire year.
At 6-foot-2 and 242 pounds, Smith is a smaller tight end. One of those guys like Evan Engram who’s almost like a wide receiver – a guy you’re tending to flex out as a pass catcher rather than putting on the end of the line of scrimmage.
Smith was a second-round pick in 2019 (putting him in a contract year). In the final four games of the 2020 season, the Vikings deactivated Kyle Rudolph, moving Smith into a larger role. He was pretty good in those final four, catching 15 passes and 3 TDs.
“I know there were a lot of folks excited about him last fall before that injury,” O’Connell said, as reported by Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “He’s going to be a major part of what we do.”
“I think for Irv, this whole spring is a great example of a player figuring out where he is coming off of his injury,” O’Connell said. “But also understanding that he can really get a lot out of every day knowing he’s preparing himself for when he’s 100 percent and ready to go.”
This all good, but I can’t help but pointing out that O’Connell comes over from the Rams. They’ve had some decent tight ends in recent years – Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett – but they haven’t done all that much with them. Matthew Stafford threw 50 touchdowns last year, and Higbee caught for them.
Looking at last year’s stats, I see that both the Rams and the Vikings finished in the top 10 in passing, but both finished in the bottom 10 in production by tight ends. There were nine teams that completed fewer than 70 passes to tight ends, and the Rams and Vikings were among them.
I’m not trying to scare folks off from Smith, but I think expectations should be modest. To me, he looks like a second tight end in a typical fantasy league. You’ve got a guy you’re expecting to be your main tight end, and then Smith would make sense as a second tight end who might develop into something. I could see selecting him about 15 tight ends into a draft.
| RECEPTIONS BY TIGHT ENDS (2021) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Tgt | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Miami | 174 | 122 | 1,271 | 10.4 | 2 |
| Baltimore | 171 | 118 | 1,436 | 12.2 | 9 |
| Kansas City | 162 | 113 | 1,295 | 11.5 | 12 |
| Denver | 142 | 109 | 1,047 | 9.6 | 7 |
| Atlanta | 158 | 108 | 1,355 | 12.5 | 5 |
| Tampa Bay | 168 | 100 | 1,182 | 11.8 | 11 |
| Dallas | 130 | 96 | 962 | 10.0 | 11 |
| Cleveland | 142 | 95 | 1,053 | 11.1 | 10 |
| Pittsburgh | 125 | 93 | 756 | 8.1 | 8 |
| LA Chargers | 137 | 90 | 964 | 10.7 | 8 |
| Las Vegas | 141 | 88 | 1,050 | 11.9 | 5 |
| Philadelphia | 121 | 83 | 1,074 | 12.9 | 7 |
| Chicago | 127 | 83 | 862 | 10.4 | 6 |
| Tennessee | 107 | 82 | 677 | 8.3 | 8 |
| San Francisco | 105 | 80 | 1,013 | 12.7 | 7 |
| Detroit | 113 | 80 | 777 | 9.7 | 6 |
| New England | 120 | 78 | 897 | 11.5 | 10 |
| NY Giants | 121 | 78 | 715 | 9.2 | 5 |
| Arizona | 108 | 76 | 777 | 10.2 | 4 |
| Jacksonville | 109 | 74 | 750 | 10.1 | 2 |
| Seattle | 97 | 74 | 742 | 10.0 | 5 |
| Green Bay | 99 | 72 | 732 | 10.2 | 4 |
| Houston | 100 | 72 | 610 | 8.5 | 4 |
| Washington | 99 | 68 | 716 | 10.5 | 6 |
| Minnesota | 97 | 67 | 645 | 9.6 | 4 |
| LA Rams | 94 | 67 | 615 | 9.2 | 5 |
| Indianapolis | 103 | 64 | 724 | 11.3 | 7 |
| Cincinnati | 83 | 63 | 590 | 9.4 | 5 |
| Buffalo | 83 | 58 | 631 | 10.9 | 10 |
| New Orleans | 86 | 55 | 602 | 10.9 | 7 |
| NY Jets | 77 | 50 | 534 | 10.7 | 3 |
| Carolina | 78 | 45 | 452 | 10.0 | 1 |