Irv Smith Jr.

2022 Fantasy Upside
A popular breakout candidate in 2021, Irv Smith Jr. ended up suffering a season-ending knee injury leading up to Week 1 and did not get a chance to show his skills without Kyle Rudolph in the picture. Now Rudolph and Tyler Conklin have both left town, leaving Smith as the player projected to play the vast majority of TE snaps in Minnesota. Smith is a good athlete (he ran a 4.63 40-yard dash and posted a 71st percentile speed score entering the league), and showed flashes of his potential playing a part-time role in 2020 when he logged 12.2 yards per reception and five touchdowns. Given the current situation in Minnesota, Smith could finish amongst the leaders at TE in snap share and his target competition after Justin Jefferson is 30-year-old Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn. We haven't seen what Smith can do on a starter's workload yet, but the opportunity and talent are there for him to make serious noise in 2022.

2022 Fantasy Downside
Smith has an extremely limited track record as he's been a part-time player in both of the seasons he's been healthy for to this point in his career. He has yet to catch more than 36 balls or exceed 365 yards in a season. Smith will get more opportunity than ever before this season, but there is no guarantee he will take advantage of that. And while there is minimal TE competition, it is possible Smith and the other TEs take a backseat to Jefferson, Thielen, Osborn, and even RB Dalvin Cook in new Head Coach Kevin O'Connell's offensive system. Relying on Smith to be your TE1 requires having faith in both him as an unproven commodity, and the Vikings offense as a whole with a new Head Coach.

2022 Bottom Line
Smith is a very intriguing TE option in the later rounds of drafts. He has the physical profile of a player who could be a big-time receiving TE and will be the clear leader at that position on his team. TE always gets murky in the middle or later rounds, but Smith has multiple variables working in his favor that make him an exciting TE1 flier.