The Minnesota Vikings sat 33 players on Saturday night, doing everything they could to keep their key starters and depth guys healthy heading into Week 1 with the Green Bay Packers but they still ended up losing a potentially important piece to injury.
On Sunday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that receiver Bisi Johnson will miss the 2022 season with an ACL tear. He also missed last year with the same injury.
“It’s unfortunate because he’s had a really good training camp and done everything that we’ve asked of him at multiple spots,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said.
Between 2019 and 2020 Johnson proved to be a solid fill-in option, catching 45 passes on 62 targets for 483 yards and three touchdowns. After missing 2021 and seeing his team draft Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Jalen Nailor and sign veteran Albert Wilson it was unclear whether Johnson would make the team but he turned out to be their most reliable depth receiver during camp and preseason.
The Vikings are now left with a hole in their receiver room. Smith-Marsette has flashed impressive skill at times but does not have a track record like Johnson. The Vikings cut Wilson after he failed to gain traction during camp and Nailor left Saturday’s game with a concussion. The sixth-rounder from Michigan State largely spent time with the third team in camp. Trishton Jackson, who spent was on the practice squad in 2021, had a strong preseason and worked in with the second team during camp. He is a candidate to make the team with Johnson out but he does not yet have a regular season NFL appearance.
Last season the Vikings’ offense was slowed after losing Adam Thielen to an ankle injury and placing KJ Osborn into the No. 2 receiver spot. This year the team is putting even more emphasis on playing three wide receivers, making the No. 4 receiver’s job more valuable as the next man up.
Looking outside the building is a viable option with cutdown day coming on Tuesday but adding players who have been released has rarely been successful in recent years for the Vikings. In 2018 Aldrick Robinson caught 17 passes after being let loose by the 49ers in final cuts. The following year the Vikings picked up ex-Washington receiver Josh Doctson before Week 1. He did not register a reception and appeared in one game.
There are a handful of free agents still on the market, including Odell Beckham Jr. (who is coming off an ACL tear during the Super Bowl), Cole Beasley, Adam Humphries, DeSean Jackson and Will Fuller. Whether the Vikings would consider signing anyone else is unclear. According to OverTheCap.com they have $10.1 million in cap space.
Aside from the gap in the depth chart left by Johnson’s absence, his injury is particularly brutal because of his hard road to the NFL from being picked in the seventh round out of Colorado State to solidifying himself on the roster. His comeback from missing 2021 has now taken another detour.
