Like most teams, the Minnesota Vikings have been forced to navigate through injuries all season. After losing Dalvin Cook in Week 12, the Vikings’ injury report will now also feature Adam Thielen’s name. Let’s assess the impact these two players’ absences will have on the Vikings’ offense going forward for our fantasy football lineups.
Dalvin Cook’s injury
Update 12/09/21: Dalvin Cook is active for the Vikings’ game against the Steelers on Thursday Night Football.
In Week 12, Cook dislocated his shoulder and might have torn his labrum — we still don’t know for sure. The only thing we do know is Cook is not expected to play in Week 14. ESPN’s Adam Schefter advised us of this timeline shortly after Cook’s MRI results.
Just because Cook wasn’t ruled out for Week 15 doesn’t mean he is necessarily going to return. We can certainly hope, though.
Impact of Dalvin Cook’s injury on the Vikings’ offense
As has been the case since he was drafted, Alexander Mattison assumed 100% of Cook’s workload in Cook’s absence. Mattison has filled in for Cook three times this season. In those games, he’s averaging 24.3 carries, 6 targets, and 149.3 total yards. He is the rare handcuff that is literally just as valuable as the starter — an elite RB1.
Kene Nwangwu saw his biggest workload of the season as well. However, he was nothing more than the guy on the field when Mattison needed a breather. Nwangwu played 12% of the snaps, carried the ball twice for no yards, and caught 2 of his 3 targets for 4 yards. He is Mattison’s handcuff, nothing more.
Adam Thielen’s injury
Update 12/09/21: Adam Thielen is inactive for the Vikings’ game against the Steelers on Thursday Night Football.
The newest addition to the Vikings’ injury report is, unfortunately, Thielen. The prolific touchdown scorer (10 already this season) exited after just 6 snaps with an ankle injury. We later learned Thielen sustained the dreaded high-ankle sprain.
High-ankle sprains typically come with a 4-6 week timeline for return to play, but the ankle doesn’t fully heal for up to 4-6 months. It’s an incredibly debilitating injury, especially for a wide receiver that relies on sharp cuts to get open.
Jerry Jeudy missed six weeks with a high-ankle sprain earlier this season. Since his return, he’s looked pretty good, but it’s difficult to gauge his performance with the Broncos’ passing attack so anemic.
The biggest issue for Thielen is the timing of his injury. We’re already heading into Week 14. Even if he’s on the shorter end of the timeline, his best-case scenario would be a return to action in the fantasy championship, where he’d be a very risky start. Sadly, this likely marks the end of Thielen’s regular season.
Impact of Adam Thielen’s injury on the Vikings’ offense
This one is not as straightforward as Cook to Mattison. We know K.J. Osborn is the Vikings’ WR3 and will assume the WR2 role. What we don’t know is how productive he will be.
Osborn got off to a scorching start to the 2021 season and was a hot waiver addition after Weeks 1 and 2. He posted lines of 7-76 and 5-91-1 over the first two weeks.
Last week, with Thielen out essentially the entire game, Osborn played 92% of the offensive snaps and caught 4 of 7 targets for 47 yards and a touchdown. At a bare minimum, he needs to be on fantasy rosters. Osborn could be a weekly WR3 for the fantasy playoffs.
Another potential beneficiary is tight end Tyler Conklin. With Thielen out, Conklin played a season-high 95% of the snaps and saw a season-high 9 targets. He ran a route on just half his snaps, though. Regardless, Conklin remains a back-end TE1 with touchdown upside, albeit one with perhaps a higher floor without Thielen.
What should fantasy managers do with their Vikings on the injury report?
With Cook, fantasy managers have no choice but to hang onto him. We know he’s missing one more game. He might miss more or possibly the rest of the season. Until we know that for sure, both he and Mattison need to remain on fantasy rosters. Nwangwu is also worth a back-of-the-roster-bench stash in the event of a Mattison injury.
As for Thielen, this one is trickier. It’s premature to drop him now. Once we get a firmer timeline on Thielen’s ankle injury, he very well may be droppable. For now, wait and see while we gather information. In the meantime, fantasy managers should be putting in waiver claims for Osborn and Conklin.