Where Jordan Addison stands in development with Minnesota Vikings

By landing former USC wide receiver Jordan Addison, the Minnesota Vikings bolstered their wide receiver corps with a former Biletnikoff Award winner. However, he hasn’t been on the field much lately due to an injury.

Still, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said Addison is still engaged.

Minnesota selected Addison with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, adding to a wide receiver room that includes Justin Jefferson. Addison won the Biletnikoff at Pitt before transferring to USC ahead of the 2022 season and emerged as Caleb Williams’ top target during his Heisman Trophy-winning season.

But after rookie minicamp, Addison went down with an injury. That hasn’t stopped him from staying engaged during meetings, though, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.

“Addison participated in rookie minicamp two weeks after the draft, displaying the versatility the Vikings hope he can bring to their offense as a playmaker at both outside positions as well as in the slot,” Seifert wrote. “But Addison was sidelined for the remainder of the offseason program because of what coach Kevin O’Connell called a minor injury. He is expected to be fully recovered by the start of training camp.

“In the interim, O’Connell said that Addison ‘has been phenomenal in meetings and out here asking great questions when they come up.'”

With USC, Addison had 875 yards and eight touchdowns across 11 games as he dealt with an ankle injury toward the end of the season. That didn’t stop him from impressing during the pre-draft process, though. He ran a 4.49 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, which put him among the top wide receivers in the event, and became the fourth wide receiver off the board in April.

As for how Addison will come back from the injury, O’Connell didn’t seem too concerned about his status for training camp. While the Vikings are being cautious, O’Connell said there’s a track for him to get him ready to go as the team prepares to open camp toward the end of July.

“We’ve had a plan in place for him and continuing to kind of build up to where he’ll be,” O’Connell said, via CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell. “He’ll be spending quite a bit of time continuing his playbook. He’s been phenomenal in meetings and out here asking great questions when they come up. My expectation is that Jordan will be full when we get going in late July.”