Minnesota Vikings: Olabisi Johnson emerging as No. 3 receiver
While trying to find another option at wide receiver, the Minnesota Vikings might have a new option emerging at wideout with Olabisi Johnson.
The Minnesota Vikings might have found another option to add to their already impressive wide receiving group. Entering the sixth week of the 2019 NFL season at home against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Vikings have had a new wideout start to step up and fill in the whole as the No. 3 option in the wide receiver corps behind star wideouts Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.
That player is rookie wide receiver Olabisi Johnson. Johnson, a 22-year old wideout out of Colorado State, is in his inaugural season in the NFL after being drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round (247th overall pick) in 2019.
Throughout training camp and into the preseason, many around the Vikings organization raved about Johnson and the potential that the young wide receiver contains on the outside of the field. In the first three games of the regular season campaign, however, Johnson didn’t appear in a game for the Vikings while the team jumped out to a 2-1 start entering Week 4.
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On Sunday Night Football against NFC North rival the Chicago Bears in the fourth week of the year, however, Johnson had his breakout game of the season and has since put together a nice string of performances over the past couple of contests.
That, in return, has resulted in Johnson perhaps getting more opportunities moving forward within Minnesota’s offense and could even move him up to the third option at wide receiver on the team’s depth chart.
In the Week 4 loss against the Bears, Johnson finished with 35 total yards on four catches and a game-long reception of 16 yards for the Vikings. In Week 5 last Sunday against the Giants once again on the road, Johnson grabbed a season-best 43 yards receiving on four catches, averaging 10.8 yards per catch in the contest.
Overall this season, the rookie has totaled 78 receiving yards on eight receptions, averaging 9.8 yards per catch.
Johnson, a Colorado native, started to make a name for himself prior to the season and in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft. Johnson raised some eyebrows with a time of 6.88 seconds in the 3-cone drill, which was fifth-best among all wide receivers. He also finished with a 4.51-second time in the 40-yard dash, jumped 38 inches in the vertical jump and lifted 14 reps of 225 pounds in the bench press.
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The young wide receiver did enough in the pre-draft and preseason processes to put himself on the map. But now, through five weeks of the regular season and the wide receivers rookie campaign, Johnson might be establishing himself as a legitimate No. 3 option within Minnesota’s offense for the rest of this year and beyond.