2021 Fantasy Preview – Minnesota Vikings

Studs

• Justin Jefferson: What is there to say about Justin Jefferson? He’s only 22 and already has a 1400 yard season under his belt. He broke the NFL record for receiving yards by a rookie and franchise record for catches by a rookie in a season. It should be wheels up for Jefferson again in 2021 as an established alpha wide receiver from the start of the season. At such a young age, Jefferson is a stud in both redraft and dynasty formats. 
• Dalvin Cook: If Dalvin Cook can stay healthy, he is an absolute beast on the field and a locked-in top-end RB1. The past two seasons he has stayed relatively healthy, only missing two games each season. But his injury history looms over him, which is potentially unwarranted at this point in his career. He is a locked-in stud in redraft, but he is at the age of 25. Probably another couple of top-end years in store for Cook in those dynasty leagues.

Role Players

• Adam Thielen: Despite Justin Jefferson taking over the alpha wide receiver role last year, Thielen still produced a top 10 WR finish. He’s still a talented wide receiver and demands targets. At the age of 30, we could see some decline in his production, but he should still be a consistent high-end WR2 for fantasy teams. In dynasty, his value has tanked due to his age, but for contending teams he can be a valuable contributor.
• Kirk Cousins: Cousins isn’t the flashiest quarterback out there, but he has consistently put up fantasy numbers, being in the top 12 quarterbacks more often than not. It helps that he has two great wide receivers in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen to throw to now as well. At the age of 32, Cousins looks to have a few more years of fantasy relevance left in the tank. Look for Cousins to be a borderline QB1 this year in fantasy.
• Irv Smith Jr.: Smith is heading into his 3rd year in the NFL, generally a make-or-break year in terms of tight end breakouts. He’s shown flashes of his playmaking ability over the past two years. And he finally started taking over the pass-catching tight end role from Kyle Rudolph towards the end of last season. Now that Kyle Rudolph has moved on to another team, Irv Smith appears to have the TE1 role on lock. With the lack of consistent options at the tight end position, Irv projects to have a high ceiling with a usable fantasy floor. Plus he’s still only 22 for those dynasty managers.

Keep an eye on

• Alexander Mattison: Mattison has been considered a top-end handcuff to Dalvin Cook over the past two seasons. But those two seasons have been Dalvin Cook’s most healthy years. He is still a top-end handcuff and his contract is up in two years. We could see him on a new team following the completion of his contract and potentially in store for a bigger workload. He’s additionally worth a stash in dynasty leagues for that reason, because he is a very talented running back.

Dynasty Stashes

• Kellen Mond: Even though Cousins is in front of Mond for the next two years, Mond is a great stash for dynasty leagues. He is a mobile quarterback that flashed greatness in college, albeit inconsistently. Day 2 draft capital isn’t great for a quarterback, but it’s definitely enough to pay attention to. If Cousins can’t lead this team to the next step in the playoffs this season, the organization might be looking to their potential future quarterback sooner than later. 
• Ihmir Smith-Marsette: Smith-Marsette was a later-round versatile speedster wide receiver. His immediate impact isn’t very appealing without injuries to the wide receiver room, but there is an opportunity for him in the future. Despite Thielen’s long contract, the organization can drop it without much dead cap. Thielen is now 30 and not getting any younger. We could see Smith-Marsette create a role for himself in 3 wide sets and potentially start eating into Thielen’s role in the coming years. He’s a deeper dynasty league stash as his path to relevance requires a decent amount of projections and events to fall his way.