Fantasy football: offensive coordinator breakdown – Minnesota Vikings
![Fantasy football: Vikings interim offensive coordinators Kevin Stefanski talked with Kirk Cousins in the forth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday December 16, 2018 in Minneapolis, MN.] The Minnesota Vikings beat the Miami Dolphins 41-17 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Jerry Holt • Jerry.holt@startribune.com(Photo By Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2Ffbd97a7feceb0c622e746f1938246ae441737a0b70fd29929be823c8197e4af6.jpg "Fantasy football: Vikings interim offensive coordinators Kevin Stefanski talked with Kirk Cousins in the forth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday December 16, 2018 in Minneapolis, MN.] The Minnesota Vikings beat the Miami Dolphins 41-17 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Jerry Holt • Jerry.holt@startribune.com(Photo By Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)")
Fantasy Football Passing Game Impact
The pieces are there in Minnesota for this passing offense to be one of the best in the league. The Vikings return two outstanding weapons at receiver in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen.
They went out and drafted athletic freak tight end Irv Smith while retaining Pro-Bowl tight end Kyle Rudolph. The major inconsistency in this offense has been the offensive line play, which is why they selected Garrett Bradbury in the first round and added Josh Kline in free agency.
The one thing that jumped out to me in the passing game during Kevin Stefanski’s three games that he called plays was the tight end usage. Kyle Rudolph finished 2nd, 1st, 2nd in team targets during that three game span and posted a massive 9 catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions.
The second thing that jumped out to me was Adam Thielen was only targeted 12 times, while Stefon Diggs saw 23 targets. I will note that Adam Thielen did have a calf issue during the middle to late portion of the season, but he was not listed on the injury reports during those final three games.
Fantasy Football Running Game Impact:
The running game in Minnesota has a chance to be very good if Dalvin Cook can stay on the field. Through his first two seasons that has not been the case as Cook has only played in 15 of 32 career NFL games.
He is now over a year and a half removed from the torn ACL in Week Four that derailed his lighting fast start his rookie season.
The good news for Vikings fans is that he is electric when he is on the field. In his 15 games he averages 4.7 yards per carry and caught 51 passes. If you took his average from his first four games of his rookie year, Cook would have had 296 carries for 1,421 yards and 8 touchdowns.
In his three games with Kevin Stefanski as offensive coordinator, Dalvin Cook averaged 15 carries per game and roughly 3.5 targets per game. With his inability to stay healthy, Cook getting around 15-18 touches a game seems like the model for the Vikings this year. He will have rookie Alexander Mattison backing him up.