Vikings Inactives

QB Taylor Heinicke
WR Stefon Diggs
CB Terence Newman
CB Marcus Sherels
T Rashon Hill
DT Sharrif Floyd
DE Stephen Weatherly

Related players: Adam Thielen, Cordarrelle Patterson, Adam Thielen

With Diggs out, Adam Thielen and Cordarrelle Patterson become startable. Thielen is especially appealing, since he's already playing starter's snaps and racked up 7-127-1 on eight targets with Diggs out in Week 5. Thielen has found the endzone in two straight games and has cleared 50 yards and/or scored a touchdown in five of his last six games. Patterson has become more involved in the offense since Week 4, posting WR4/WR5 numbers in that span. He has averaged 6.0 targets per game in the last seven games, and that was with Diggs in the lineup for six of those games. There are some rumblings that the team may use Patterson as a runner to kickstart an anemic running game. Laquon Treadwell will draw the start in Diggs' place, but it's hard to get excited about a player who has one catch through 10 games. TE Kyle Rudolph also gets a small bump since there are a few extra targets to go around.

Charles Johnson and Stefon Diggs, who spent most of the preseason as the top receivers in the Vikings' base offense, will start the season there, with Laquon Treadwell listed behind Johnson at one spot and Adam Thielen, Cordarrelle Patterson and Jarius Wright on the other side.

A league source told ESPN last week the Vikings were exploring the possibility of trading Wright, and it appears he could have to push to be active on game days. The ability of players like Thielen and Patterson to contribute on special teams should put them on the field Sunday against Tennessee.

We had a recent news story that Thielen could end up in the slot replacing Wright at some point this season. Also Treadwell is a guy who could also find the field a lot more than his spot on the depth chart indicates.

Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the Vikings aren’t shopping WR Jarius Wright. A largely overlooked slot player who has a modest history of making reliable catches in the clutch, Vensel suggested that Wright has lost the slot job to Adam Thielen. However, a source with knowledge of the inner workings of the organization tells PFT slightly otherwise.

Stefon Diggs quietly has become the team’s primary slot receiver. Although the plan this year is to move him around, the thinking is that he’ll fit best in the slot more often than not. So with Wright supplanted by Diggs and Thielen a key contributor on special teams, Thielen becomes more valuable to the overall roster.

Laquon Treadwell and Charles Johnson also will get plenty of reps on the outside, with Cordarrelle Patterson expected to do something more than return kicks this year. Then there’s rookie sixth-round Moritz Böhringer, who is widely expected to be waived today and then re-signed to the practice squad if he clears waivers.

Already a special teams leader, Vikings WR Adam Thielen has been a steady presence in the Vikings’ three-man receiver sets this summer.

Thielen, 25, has moved ahead of Jarius Wright on the Vikings’ unofficial depth chart. Wright, of course, has missed the first two preseason games because of a leg injury. But Thielen also is showing more versatility. Thielen is buried down our WR list but could be a name to keep in mind if he keeps his spot on the depth chart.

By all accounts, Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been impressive in workouts the past couple of months. And one reason, perhaps, is the “Teddy Two Gloves Passing Academy.”

That’s what Bridgewater’s teammates are calling their week together in April, when he brought in his top pass-catchers for workouts in Florida. In attendance were Vikings receivers Stefon Diggs, Jarius Wright, Charles Johnson, Cordarrelle Patterson and Adam Thielen, and tight ends Kyle Rudolph and MyCole Pruitt.

Coach Mike Zimmer said Bridgewater has shown plenty of improvement this spring, especially throwing the deep ball.

Zimmer says Bridgewater is winging it.

“I think we’re just focused on it a little more,” Zimmer said. “There was a play last week that kind of showed me the progression. … (Bridgewater) saw the safety bite a little bit and just hung it right down the middle of the field about 55 yards and a perfect strike. So those are the kind of things I see (that) two years ago or even early last year, I don’t think he would have done. … He just looks more comfortable and confident.”

Bridgewater played 16 games and finished #23 in QB scoring in his second season. If he has truly added a consistent deep ball to his arsenal, it will drastically improve his fantasy outlook.