Vikings OC Norv Turner had some nice things to say about WR Charles Johnson.

“CJ has picked up where he left off in December and he’s having a good spring,” Turner said.

Johnson won’t technically be labeled as the No. 1 receiver with the Vikings trading for Mike Wallace from the Dolphins, but he’s expected to have a big role in the offense. Johnson built a rapport with Teddy Bridgewater once he took over as the starting “X” receiver over Cordarrelle Paterson, and the chemistry continued throughout OTAs and minicamp this offseason.

Johnson started playing significant snaps in Week 11, and over the final seven games of the season, he averaged 3.6 catches for 59 yards and 0.29 touchdowns. He was the #31 fantasy receiver in that span. He should continue to have plenty of opportunity to grow in Norv Turner's offense despite the arrival of Mike Wallace.

With RB Adrian Peterson now returning to an offense stocked with pass-catching weapons and a promising young quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater, the Vikings don't plan to ask him to do it all alone in 2015.

"No question that the workload will be a lot more balanced than in the past because the organization has done an outstanding job of acquiring talent and other explosive pieces," Vikings running backs coach Kirby Wilson told Around The NFL on Thursday. "And just as the natural progression as an older back ages, the workload decreases anyway."

Wilson was quick to point out that Peterson has been "extremely explosive" in practice and "still has electric foot speed," saying: "I don't see any difference from the guy who left here X amount of months ago."

The Vikings, though, also love what they see in Jerick McKinnon, with Wilson emphasizing that the "sky's the limit" for the second-year back.

Throwing out his one-game season in 2014, Peterson never finished outside of the top 6 on a per game basis in standard formats (or outside the top 11 in PPR) in his previous seven seasons. He's now on the wrong side of 30, but his legs should be fresh after taking a full season off to deal with his criminal case. OC Norv Turner has a history of feeding the ball to his top running back; LaDainian Tomlinson averaged 20.9 touches per game from 2007-09 while he and Turner were in San Diego. That included 2.86 receptions per game, which would represent a career high 45-46 receptions for Peterson if he catches the ball at the same rate. It does sound like McKinnon will be involved, but when push comes to shove, we expect that Peterson will play the vast majority of snaps on game day.

The Vikings want to push the ball deep in Norv Turner's offense, and Mike Wallace, who was their top target at wide receiver this offseason, was the only one the team had interest in acquiring via a trade. He is playing flanker right now, but he said after the Vikings' organized team activity on Wednesday that he expects to move around the offense. Wherever he is, Wallace expects to feel more at home than he did in Miami.

"I think it's more so [like] my first four years," Wallace said. "It's a vertical offense, [rather] than a short, West Coast offense. You go down the field a lot more here, more what I'm accustomed to."

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said he has been spending extra time with Wallace each day, working on routes they ran in practice. The Vikings will use Wallace in a variety of ways -- coach Mike Zimmer has pointed out how dangerous Wallace can be on screen passes, too -- but his deep speed is probably the primary reason he's in Minnesota now.

Wallace will likely start opposite Charles Johnson with Cordarrelle Patterson and Jarius Wright battling for snaps as the team’s WR3. We're wary anytime a receiver changes teams, especially when he's not getting a promotion, which is the case with Wallace. He will have more opportunity to use his speed since OC Norv Turner likes the deep ball.

Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater made it halfway through an answer about the new guy, Mike Wallace, before interrupting himself to offer praise to Kyle Rudolph.

“I’ll tell you, what’s even a better addition is have Kyle Rudolph back healthy,” Bridgewater said. “He’s like a whole new player on the team.”

They expected big things from Rudolph last season, and the lucrative contract extension they gave him during training camp was proof of that.

“You see what my position is capable of in this offense,” Rudolph said. “I’ve proven that throughout the course of a 16-game season, when I’m out there every week, I’m one of the best players at my position.”

It has been a frustrating two years for Rudolph and his owners, as he’s missed 15 of a possible 32 games in that span. But he saw 17 targets in three games last season before going down with a sports hernia. Over the past three seasons, Rudolph has averaged 5.2 targets per game, which is about what Owen Daniels averaged in 2014. There’s some upside in OC Norv Turner’s TE-friendly offense if he can stay healthy. Granted, that’s a big “if.”

Vikings traded 5th-round pick to Miami for WR Mike Wallace and 7th-round pick, per league source.

Starting with the Dolphins, this news is good for Jarvis Landry and the newly acquired Kenny Stills and Jordan Cameron since Wallace's 7.2 targets per game are now up for grabs. In Minnesota, Wallace will likely start opposite Charles Johnson with Greg Jennings serving as the team's WR3. (Fantasy owners should not expect much from Cordarrelle Patterson in 2015.) We're wary any time a receiver changes teams, especially when he's not getting a promotion, which is the case here with Wallace. The acquisition is good news for Teddy Bridgewater, who averaged a solid 15.0 FP after his Week 10 bye. Those are QB2-type numbers, so with a year under his belt and Wallace in the mix, Bridgewater should be a good QBBC/streaming option in his second season.

Vikings WR Charles Johnson turns 26 on Feb. 27 and, unlike the feeling for Cordarrelle Patterson, the assumption by the team is Johnson will continue to improve. In just 12 games (six starts) this season, Johnson finished third in receiving yards (475) on 31 catches as he morphed from “who’s that guy?” to “he’s the No. 1 receiver on the team.” Johnson’s two touchdown receptions tied for second on the team, while his 15.3 average per catch was No. 1 among players with more than nine catches.

When the Vikings lost Adrian Peterson after Week 1, they struggled for weeks without an offensive identity. OC Norv Turner said it wasn’t until after the Nov. 16 Bears game that the Vikings established an identity with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater running a spread-it-out offense over the final six games.

“Part of that was we started playing Charles Johnson, which gave us a different guy on the outside to attack,” Turner said. “It created some differences in how people defended us. I think we became a much more efficient offensive football team and put ourselves in position to win games. We won some and there were some that a year from now, put in the same situation, we’ll be ready to handle it and be ready to win.”

“Next year will be my first year to actually get my first full year to play in the NFL and two years in a row of practicing and playing in the same system,” said Johnson, who was with Turner in Cleveland in 2013, but was rehabbing his knee the whole season. “Even Norv said the first season in this system is all right, but the second season is always better.”

Johnson also said he expects to be physically stronger and faster next season. And, remember, this was a guy who ran a 4.39 at the 2013 combine.

“I’m going to be a little bit more comfortable because I am coming off ACL surgery,” Johnson said. “I can say that I’m coming off ACL surgery and not fully confident in myself. training this offseason is going to be important for me. I look forward to it.”

Johnson started playing significant snaps in Week 11, and over the final seven games of the season, he averaged 3.6 catches for 59 yards and 0.29 touchdowns. He was the #31 fantasy receiver in that span. He should continue to have plenty of opportunity to grow in Turner's offense. His ADP will likely land in the 9th-12th rounds of 12-team leagues, depending on what the Vikings do at receiver this offseason.

If there was any doubt, consider it extinguished. Teddy Bridgewater will be the Vikings starting quarterback in 2015.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer made that clear, as part of his season-ending press conference Tuesday at the team's practice facility. Zimmer said the team was fortunate to learn as much as it did about Bridgewater, and his improvement throughout the year should be a sign of encouragement. Zimmer was asked if he'd talked to veteran Matt Cassel, who has one year remaining on his contract, about the possibility of taking a backup role.

He said that he hadn't, and then he gave the rookie his endorsement.

"Teddy is the quarterback, there's no doubt in my mind," Zimmer said.

Bridgewater finished with the third-highest completion percentage for a rookie quarterback, surpassing Russell Wilson's strong 2012 rookie season. Bridgewater also finished 10th in the NFL in deep-pass accuracy. And more than 75 percent of his passes found their target when he was under pressure this season, the best rate in the league. Bridgewater will be on the QB2 radar when 2015 drafts come around.