Irv Smith Jr.

Smith's been hyped up the past couple of seasons, but the presence of Kyle Rudolph on the Vikings roster always kept him from getting the necessary targets to make an impact. With only Conklin behind him on the depth chart, there's a significant path for Smith to emerge as a viable weekly starter for fantasy football. While the majority of the targets are going to be funneled to Jefferson, Thielen, and Cook, there's enough left over for Smith to at least be in the low-end TE1 conversation. If he can emerge as a reliable target in the red zone, we could see him drastically outperform his ADP. There's a lot of projecting with Smith, but where you have to draft him this season, it's not going to kill your team if it doesn't work out. You can simply release him to the waiver wire and pick up someone else.

Irv Smith tagged as a breakout candidate for the Vikings, per beat writer

Arif Hasan of The Athletic writes Irv Smith has the talent and opportunity to become the No. 3 weapon in the Vikings' passing game.

Fantasy Impact

The tight end position has one of the longest learning curves coming out of the draft, but Smith is now entering his third season in the NFL. Kyle Rudolph is in New York and the third-year pro has a clear path to the starting role. The Vikings have a limited number of pass-catchers behind Justin Jefferson and an aging Adam Thielen, which presents a big opportunity for the former Crimson Tide to become the No. 3 option in the passing game. The Vikings routinely play with two tight ends on the field more than most, so he should have ample playing time. When Rudolph went down with an injury late last year, Smith had 15 catches for 183 yards and three touchdowns in weeks 14-17. During that time, he ranked as the TE4. It's a small sample size to be sure, but fantasy managers shouldn't be surprised if he breaks into the top-10 for tight ends. He's currently being drafted as the TE11, which is a nice spot for fantasy managers to target him.