Vikings less flashy signings could pay dividends

Big names dominated free agency for the Vikings but a couple second-wave players have a chance to give them much-needed depth

© Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

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By Matthew Coller

Rondale Moore. Where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah, when he scored a 77-yard touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in 2021.

Moore was a fascinating prospect coming out in the ‘21 draft. He had an absolutely bonkers freshman year with 114 receptions for 1,258 yards and 14 touchdowns. He ran the ball for over 200 yards and gained over 700 yards as a returner. And then Moore barely played any football for the rest of his career. In seven games during the next two seasons, he caught 64 passes — including a 15-catch game against the Minnesota Gophers — and then he left for the NFL.

At 5-foot-7, 180 pounds, it wasn’t easy to pinpoint whether he would be big enough to have the same type of play style that made him a dynamo at Purdue. The league would have loved to have seen his NFL Combine numbers but the event was cancelled in 2021. He ran an unofficial 4.29 40-yard dash at his pro day.

Here’s what NFL.com wrote about Moore in its scouting profile:

“Slightly undersized slot receiver who makes up for it with above-average strength and competitive fire that shows up throughout the tape. He can beat one-on-one coverage with speed but lacks the size and length to legitimately challenge NFL cornerbacks outside. He's difficult to press, elusive out of route breaks underneath and his ability after the catch could make him a priority target when it's time to move the sticks on third down. He lacks desired game experience on paper, but he's the same player week in and week out and teams know exactly what they will get with him. His football character and acumen are big pluses to go with his talent. Moore should become a good starting slot target with punt return potential.”

All of that was enough for the Arizona Cardinals to invest a second-round pick to pair him with quarterback Kyler Murray.

The Cards had a clear plan for Moore from the outset: Get the ball in his hands. As a rookie, Moore caught 54 passes with an average depth of target of 1.2 yards past the line of scrimmage. That was the lowest mark in the league by a mile with the next lowest being 4.9 ADOT. He was the definition of a gadget player.

It was a fairly successful role though. The lightning quick receiver had a 54.7% success rate, which was around the same ballpark as other underneath receivers like Stefon Diggs and Keenan Allen. It’s nearly identical to TJ Hockenson’s success rate last year.

Considering his lack of experience in college, Moore’s debut was pretty successful on a very good Cardinals team. And then it all went sideways in Arizona. The 2022 Cards went 4-13 after losing Murray to an ACL tear and Moore only played in eight games. He was on pace to have a pretty impressive season with five games topping six receptions and his yards per catch jumped to 10.1 and ADOT increased to 5.2. It looked like he was starting to become more of a real receiver.

But that never really materialized in 2023. New coach Jonathan Gannon took over, Murray missed half the season still recovering from his ACL injury and the Cards finished 26th in total passing yards. Moore ended the year with 40 catches for 352 yards and zero games with more than six catches or 50 yards.

With hopes of revitalizing his career, the former second-rounder signed with the Falcons but he suffered a season-ending injury in training camp.

Now the Vikings are the next team to take a swing at Moore. Last week they signed him to a contract with hopes that he can become a role player in an offense that is already stacked with talent.

Rather than the Vikings needing the speedster to be a key part of their offense, they will be looking for him to carve out a niche in the same way he did with the 2021 Cards that had DeAndre Hopkins, Christian Kirk and Zach Ertz. Moore ended up fifth in yards per game on that explosive offense but was still important in Kyler Murray’s best season to date.

Last year the Vikings got a lot out of their passing game with Sam Darnold but one area they lacked was underneath passing. Darnold finished 15th in passing yards on throws behind the line of scrimmage and ninth in yards on passes between 0-9 yards. He led the league by far on passes over 20 yards.

Kevin O’Connell can’t expect the same type of deep passing performance from JJ McCarthy in his first season. While he showed flashes last year in training camp of an improved deep ball from college, Darnold had seven more years to work on those deep outs and posts to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison than McCarthy has so far in the league. I’m sure O’Connell’s offense is still going to hunt those shots but any easy-button type plays like bubble screens to a speedy yards-after-catch specialist slot receiver will make his life easier.

Not to mention that teams aren’t likely to stop playing Jefferson with two deep safeties over the top, creating more space underneath for a playmaker. We have seen that play out at times with Hockenson, especially when he was fully healthy and playing with Kirk Cousins in 2023.

Because he was gone for a year and hasn’t really posted impressive numbers since 2022, we can’t just pencil in Moore as a guaranteed dynamo. He has to stay healthy and he has to fit into the offense. But taking a flier on a player that has flashed unique explosiveness and talent with the ball in his hands is easily worth the small investment. Even if the potential upside is a role like the one Jarius Wright held down in 2017 where he caught only a handful of passes but they were all seemingly important, that would be an upgrade from getting virtually nothing from the WR4 role last year.