The Vikings are still shopping for help at receiver, even after bringing in Odell Beckham Jr. last week.
Minnesota worked out JuJu Smith-Schuster on Monday, according to The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero, as the team keeps looking for answers while Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison deal with injuries.
Smith-Schuster once looked like he was headed for stardom after catching 111 passes for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns in his second season. He made the Pro Bowl in 2018, but he hasn’t topped 1,000 receiving yards again since then, and he has scored seven touchdowns over the last five seasons.
His career has taken him from five seasons with the Steelers to a Super Bowl title with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022. He then spent one year with the New England Patriots before going back to Kansas City, where he finished with 345 receiving yards last season.
The Giants gave Smith-Schuster a one-year deal in the offseason, but they released him in August before giving an active roster spot to Beckham. New York later moved on from Beckham too, cutting the franchise icon after he went three games without a catch.
Minnesota signed Beckham to the practice squad last week and elevated him for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. He did not play in the Vikings’ 23-13 win.
Jefferson returned from a Week 4 ankle injury and posted 79 yards and a touchdown at the Superdome, while Addison missed Week 5 with a hamstring injury.
Even with a 5-0 start, the Vikings are only 29th in passing offense, and they may still be looking for another dependable target behind their top playmakers.
Minnesota is on a Week 6 bye before facing the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 25.
In Other News...
Vikings Could Catch A Break As Colts Injuries Start Looming
The Colts second injury report of the week gave Minnesota a little more to monitor heading into Sundays game at U.S. Bank Stadium. The reports, which track participation from Wednesday through Friday and note designations like IR-OUT and limited work, showed a handful of Indianapolis starters dealing with availability concerns as the weekend draws closer.
Sauce Gardner, Tyler Warren and Rigoberto Sanchez were among the Colts players who were not on the field Thursday, leaving their status worth watching as the week moves along. Indianapolis did have some players move in the right direction on the report, but with no final game designations out yet, the Vikings still have to wait for the last word before knowing exactly who theyll be facing. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Fans May Have Blamed The Wrong Coach For Last Season
The frustration around last seasons finish still lingers in Minnesota, and it is easy to see why special teams keeps coming up in the discussion. A single kickoff return, along with a handful of other key moments across the year, fed the belief that the Vikings let a playoff spot slip through their hands. But when you zoom out from one play to the broader arc of the season, the blame gets harder to pin on any one coach or unit alone.
Matt Daniels has remained a central figure on that side of the ball, and his work has continued to matter for both special teams and player development. The bigger lesson for the Vikings is that the seasons disappointment was built from more than one breakdown, from quarterback play to coaching decisions to late-game execution, which is why the aftermath still feels unfinished. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Herbert Is Suddenly At Center Of A Chargers Debate
The quarterback market keeps a Minnesota angle in view, even after the Vikings made their own offseason choice by bringing in Kyler Murray and letting Sam Darnold walk. Justin Herbert has been productive across his first six seasons with the Chargers, and the questions around his future have only sharpened the intrigue for teams that are always watching from the edge of a franchise-altering move.
For the Vikings, any Herbert talk is less about immediate need than about the kind of rare opening that can reshape a contender in a hurry. Nothing official has been confirmed, and Los Angeles has given no clear answer on where it stands, but the uncertainty alone is enough to keep Minnesota in the conversation as long as Herbert's status remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]