With Jordan Addison suspended to open season, who will Vikings turn to for receiving help?

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell called Jordan Addison’s suspension “a temporary setback” and said nothing has changed about his expectations for the third-year receiver’s upcoming season.

“I’m expecting Jordan to have a great season with where he’s at in his career and his timeline and horizon here has led him to have a great season with the work he’s put in,” O’Connell said Wednesday at TCO Performance Center in Eagan.

Addison was handed a three-game suspension by the NFL on Tuesday for a violation of its substance abuse policies in July 2024 when he was arrested in Los Angeles on a drunken driving citation.

Addison pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of wet reckless driving in July, and he said after practice Wednesday that he will not appeal his suspension.

“I’m just gonna let it go as it is,” Addison said Wednesday. “Put it behind me. Keep coming out here with my teammates and just keep working.”

His first game of the season will be against the Steelers on Sept. 28 in Dublin.

Addison is allowed to participate in the rest of training camp and all three preseason games. He will not be allowed at TCO Performance Center for the first week of his suspension but can be in the building and around the team the second and third weeks.

The Vikings will need another couple of receivers — or at least receiving targets like the tight ends or a running back — to try to replicate Addison’s production with big games against the Bears, Falcons and Bengals to open the season.

Addison accounted for 875 of the Vikings’ receiving yards last year and nine receiving touchdowns.

“We’ve kind of been aware that this was a possibility, so we’ve had a competitive camp in place for the rest of the depth in that room,” O’Connell said.

Said Addison: “It’s a lot of talent out there. We’ve got a lot of great receivers in our room, so I feel like me being out, we’re gonna be good.”

The top of that depth starts with fourth-year receiver Jalen Nailor, who took the No. 3 receiver spot last season, finishing with 28 catches for 414 yards and six touchdowns.

Further down the depth chart are returners Lucky Jackson and Thayer Thomas, rookie Tai Felton and newly acquired veterans Rondale Moore and Tim Jones.

Based on training camp, Jackson seems to be in the lead to take on additional responsibilities while Addison is out. He has often been on the field with the ones during team drills alongside Addison and Nailor.

Thomas also seems to have taken a step up in the battle since having a few good plays during last week’s practices. He saw several first-team reps while Nailor was sidelined Wednesday afternoon.

Starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy expressed confidence in his chemistry with all the receivers behind Jefferson and Nailor, saying they’ve been putting work in since Day 1.

“Just being able to get these extra reps with them has been huge,” McCarthy said. “I trust every single one of those guys, and I trust K.O. and coach [Keenan] McCardell to make the right decision who’s that next guy up.”

Running back Aaron Jones, who averaged 3.7 targets per game last season, saw the ball come his way six times in each of the games Addison missed last year. It was a threefold increase over his targets in Week 1 and a high he matched only one other time, in the regular season finale against the Lions.

Of those 12 total targets, 10 became catches, and Jones logged 82 receiving yards and one touchdown in the pair of games.

While the Vikings could very well turn to Jones again for some help, they’ll also have tight end T.J. Hockenson, who missed the start of last season as he finished recovery from a knee injury suffered in 2023.

Hockenson participated in nearly all of Wednesday’s practice after missing Monday’s night practice with a lower-body injury.

Despite only 10 game appearances last season, Hockenson finished with the third-most receiving yards on the team (455). He was a frequent target over the middle of the field for then-quarterback Sam Darnold.

Jefferson does a lot of that work, too, but saw increased double teams last season. The Vikings will need Nailor or one of the other receivers to prove reliability in that area this preseason.

“We just gotta play good football. We gotta do the things that good offenses do both pre-snap and post-snap,” O’Connell said. “My anticipation is these guys will keep building on the camp they’ve had, and we’ll figure out exactly what that looks like for the opener as we shape this roster.”