NFL Fantasy Preview: Minnesota Vikings

Dalvin Cook (Nathan Tran, All-Pro Reels/Wikimedia Commons)

In a 32-part series leading up to the start of the 2021 National Football League season, we will take a look at each NFL franchise from a fantasy perspective. The 21st team we will review is the Minnesota Vikings.

You could make the sound argument that the Minnesota Vikings were one of the biggest disappointments of 2020. The reason? They were simply unable to get their defense going. With 475 points against, they gave up the second-most points in the NFC. Only the Detroit Lions at 519 points against gave up more.

The 475 points against is also a surprise when you consider the fact that Mike Zimmer has a huge resume when it comes to being a defensive coordinator. A Super Bowl champion with the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX in 1996, Zimmer has made it his career to make it difficult for opposing offenses.

But on Christmas Day last year, the Vikings showed the football world just how horrendous their defense was. They gave up 52 points to the New Orleans, including 155 yards and six touchdowns to Alvin Kamara. The moral of the story is, stay away from the Vikings defense until you see some improvement.

The Vikings offense in 2020 was productive, despite a losing record of seven wins and nine losses. The focal point of the Vikings offense was running back Dalvin Cook, who was third among fantasy football running backs with 293.8 fantasy points. Last year Cook had 312 rushes for 1557 yards and 16 touchdowns, along with 44 catches for 361 yards and another major score.

At quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 349 passes in 516 attempts for 4265 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He also had 32 rushes for 156 yards, and one touchdown. The reason why Cousins had so many pass attempts in 2020, is because Minnesota found themselves in passing situations frequently due to their inept defense. As long as this trend continues, it actually boosts Cousins’s fantasy value considerably. He is currently ranked 12th among my fantasy rankings.

At wide receiver, you cannot go wrong with two of the most exciting wide receivers in the game–in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. Jefferson, who is ranked sixth, had 88 catches for 1400 yards and seven touchdowns in an outstanding rookie season after being selected in the first round by the Vikings in the 2020 NFL Draft out of LSU. Thielen, who is ranked seventh, had 74 catches for 925 yards and a career-high 14 touchdowns in 2020. Only Davante Adams of the Green Bay Packers (18 touchdowns), and Tyreek Hill of the Kansas City Chiefs (15 touchdowns), had more touchdown catches than Thielen.

Finally, Irv Smith Jr. is worth considering as a backup tight end. Currently 17th in my tight end rankings, last year he had 30 catches for 365 yards and five touchdowns.

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