3 hidden gems on the Minnesota Vikings roster

1. TE Tyler Conklin

With the departure of Kyle Rudolph, Irv Smith Jr. is lined up to breakout this year. But Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer put a bit of a damper on that with some recent comments. Instead, he noted a bigger role coming for Conklin.

"Honestly, I don’t think it’s any bigger role for him whatsoever,” Zimmer said. “I think it’s a bigger role for Tyler Conklin. He’s kind of emerged as a guy that’s moving upward and with those two guys, we have a lot of weapons there. Irv always has been able to do what he’s been able to do whether Kyle was here or not. We’re excited about these two young tight ends that we have.”"

Conklin was a fifth-round pick by the Vikings in 2018 out of Central Michigan. He’s an intriguing combination of big (6-foot-3, 254 pounds) and athletic. Over the last four games of last season, when Rudolph was out due to a foot injury, he had 15 receptions for 168 yards and a touchdown on 21 targets. Over the same span, Smith had 15 catches for 183 yards and three touchdowns on 20 targets. The snap counts for the two young tight ends over that span were nearly equal (Smith-203, Conklin-202).

According to Sharp Football, the Vikings had multiple tight ends on the field a little over 42 percent of the time in 2020. So there’s a serious void to fill with Rudolph gone, and Conklin is clearly first in line to fill it.

Smith will be the Vikings’ No. 1 tight end this year, and he’s in line to be akin to their No. 3 pass catcher. But there will also be an opportunity for Conklin, and he’s a name that’s not widely known right now.