The Minnesota Vikings are staying true to their passing attack, which should bode well for Irv Smith Jr. The 24-year-old tight end caught four of his five targets in the team’s Week 5 win over the Chicago Bears. It was his fourth consecutive game with at least four targets, and he’s bound to play a consistent role moving forward.
Fantasy Football analysis: Vikings TE Irv Smith Jr.
Smith was expected to play a huge role in the passing game before the 2022-23 season, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case. He’s the overall TE17 in fantasy points thus far, and only has one touchdown from Kirk Cousins.
On the bright side for the young pass catcher, he’s come a long way since his catch-less Week 1 performance against the Green Bay Packers. Smith has secured an average of 3.5 receptions on 5.75 targets for 33.25 yards in that span, and his yards per target has improved from 4.5 to 8.4 between Week 2 to Week 5.
Start or sit in Week 6?
There’s not a whole lot of upside for Smith at this point in the season, but he is a solid fill-in play as the No. 1 tight end on one of the NFL’s best pass offenses.