Don’t forget about Bisi Johnson this summer

There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to the Minnesota Vikings’ wide receiver corps. The team has one of the best tandems in the league at the top of the depth chart in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborn just put up the best season for a Vikings’ WR3 in forever, and Ihmir Smith-Marsette started to emerge at the end of his rookie campaign.

But there’s one wide receiver that we shouldn’t be forgetting, and that’s Bisi Johnson.

Johnson entered last season as the presumptive #3 wide receiver for the Vikings before we saw Osborn’s emergence, but tore an ACL early in Training Camp and missed the entire 2021 season.

In his first two seasons with the Vikings, Johnson hauled in 45 passes for 483 yards and three touchdowns. He began the 2020 season as the starter but quickly gave way to Jefferson after a couple of games. Now, after missing a full season, he’s back on the field and, reportedly, getting some reps with the first-team offense in OTAs. He’s pretty happy to be back, as you would imagine.

“You kind of get stagnant, you know? You’re going through the same motions. You’re going to work every day. You’ve been practicing every Monday through Friday the last three years I’ve been in the league. You know, as much as I still loved it, I probably lost it a little,” Johnson told reporters after practice Tuesday. “And then I sat out a year and I’m like, ‘I really missed this. I really missed football.’”

It will be interesting to see how the Vikings are going to work Bisi Johnson back into the flow of things. I think he’s going to make the final roster this year, though he’ll face some stiff competition from sixth-round pick Jalen Nailor. But how prominently will he feature in an offense that’s already pretty solid at his position?

Just another thing for us to keep an eye on throughout OTAs and, ultimately, into the start of Training Camp.