During the leadup to this weekend’s NFL Draft, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell met with reporters and answered questions.
One of them was about whether the Vikings subscribed to the traditional way of looking at NFL receivers, i.e. they should be tall and sturdy.
“We have these conversations often in a way that we have to have an opinion on it, but we don’t think we know more than we know,” Adofo-Mensah said.
If that wasn’t exactly clear, the Vikings made their feelings on the debate clearer on Thursday night when they used the 23rd pick on Jordan Addison, Southern Cal’s 5-foot-11, 175-pound leading receiver last season.
The Vikings already have a prototype NFL receiver in 6-1, 195-pound Justin Jefferson, the NFL’s 2022 Offensive Player of Year after catching 128 passes for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns. By spending their first-round collateral on Addison, Minnesota has come out hard on the smaller-can-be-better side.
The team officially introduced Addison on Friday afternoon at its TCO Performance Center headquarters in Eagan.
“Excited to get Jordan to that (receivers) room,” Adofo-Mensah said. “He’s got the work ethic, the character, attention to detail that fits in that room.”
Addison is from Fredericksburg, Md., and said he moved from quarterback to receiver when he started high school because of a local receiver named Stefon Diggs, who starred at Maryland before becoming a pro star in Minnesota and Buffalo.
“Just the way he ran routes and his mindset about everything just kind of shifted my perspective,” Addison said.
As a sophomore in 2021, Addison caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns at Pittsburgh, and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver, before transferring to USC for his junior season. Bothered by a nagging left ankle injury, he was limited to 11 games and caught 59 passes for 875 yards and eight touchdowns.
“When I’m running my routes, I like to look at it like I’m an artist and I’m going out there painting pictures,” he said. “I just fell in love with the craft, and I feel like that’s what’s helping me succeed.”
Adofo-Mensah called Addison “an impact player” after the Vikings picked him on Thursday. If that’s true, he will line up with Jefferson and K.J. Osborn as the Vikings’ primary receivers in 2023. As for his size, Addison said it can be an asset when opponents try to outmuscle him.
“That’s something that a lot of people tried to do, just eyeing me up from the first point,” he said, “but I just tried to use that as their weakness. Some people just tried to get overaggressive, and I just used that to my advantage.”
He does, however, plan to do some weight training to prepare for his rookie season.
“I’m comfortable at this weight,” he said, “but I feel like all I need to do is just get stronger.”
Long wait ahead
The Vikings sent this year’s second-round pick to Detroit when they acquired tight end T.J. Hockenson from the Lions during last season, so when Friday’s portion of the draft — second and third rounds — began they had a long wait ahead before they could spend the 87th overall pick.
The draft will conclude Saturday with Rounds 4 through 7.
ADDISON BY YEAR
Jordan Addison was taken with the 23rd overall pick in the NFL Draft on Thursday night after three productive college seasons with two schools:
Year/School G Rec. Yds. TDs
2020 Pittsburgh 10 60 666 4
2021 Pittsburgh 14 100 1,593 17
2022 USC 11 59 875 8
