Vikings Open Camp With Surprise Wide Receiver Lineup

The Minnesota Vikings used the No. 22 overall pick on LSU Tigers standout wide receiver Justin Jefferson. Conventional wisdom suggested he'd be starting alongside Adam Thielen from day one, but that may not be the case.

In a surprise move, Olabisi Johnson has opened training camp as Minnesota's No. 2 starter, while Jefferson is running with the second team.

Jefferson is also currently behind Chad Beebe in the slot. The rookie thrived in the slot at LSU, so it's definitely surprising to see him behind Beebe, who has 109 combined receiving yards across six career games with Minnesota.

Of course, it's still really early in camp. Starting Johnson over Jefferson could be a motivational ploy. It could also be a way to help get Jefferson acclimated to the NFL without putting too much pressure on the rookie. Or perhaps Jefferson is still learning the playbook. Either way, it's realistically only a matter of time until Jefferson wins the starting job.

Johnson never managed to put up more than 35 receiving yards in any of his six games as a starter in 2019, averaging 20.5 per game in that time. Jefferson, meanwhile, is coming off a prolific junior year at LSU that saw him put up 1,540 receiving yards and 18 scores on 111 catches.

The wait may be a little longer than expected, but Vikings fans should get to see Jefferson starting in the not-too-distant future.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.