Drafted out of Alabama with the number 50 pick in the 2019 college draft, the athletic skill of Vikings’ tight end Irv Smith Jr. is now allowing his quarterback, Kirk Cousins, to see the field in a different way.

With his first touchdown catch of the season, rookie tight end Irv Smith Jr. didn’t just beat a linebacker on his ten-yard seam route in the Denver Bronco end zone on Sunday, he slipped past cornerback Davontae Harris for the score.

Of course, Davontae Harris is not the Broncos’ best corner, Chris Harris is, but the point here is that Denver was smart enough to put a corner on Smith rather than facing an obvious mismatch with a linebacker.

In today’s NFL, there are very few tight ends that get that kind of attention.

Mr. Smith Comes To Minnesota

With 27 catches for 261 yards through 11 games, no one is rushing to vote for Smith as the 2019 Rookie–of-the-Year just yet, but there are plenty of folks that are taking notice of this tight end’s skill set as part of a newly diversified Minnesota Vikings’ offense.

One of them is Vikings’ offensive coordinator, Kevin Stefanski, who is dialing up options for Smith in the open field–with or without starting tight Kyle Rudolph in the formation.

On Sunday against Denver, it was more than obvious that Denver’s head coach and defensive supervisor Vic Fangio organized a gameplan aimed at keeping Vikings’ running back Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota ground game from controlling the clock and opening up the play-action game.

That plan worked perfectly–for two quarters. To open the second half, Stefanski and Cousins went to work on the road not taken by the Denver defense, the short zone vacated by their linebacker leaning into the run box.

With successive passes under ten yards, followed by a handful of runs, the Vikings drove to midfield where on first-and-ten Stefon Diggs got past single coverage to come down with a 44-yard throw by Cousins, setting up the short touchdown to Smith two plays later.

Tight End Tandems And Triumvirates

As Smith’s touchdown began the comeback on Sunday, making the game 20-7, it was his veteran partner in the tight end room, Kyle Rudolph, who was left wide open for the game-clinching 32-yard score in the game’s fourth quarter.

Is it a coincidence that as Smith has garnered more defensive attention, Rudolph has caught four crucial touchdowns in the last three games after scoring only one through the first eight of 2019?

No. Nor is it by chance that the Vikings’ number three tight end, Tyler Conklin, was open to make two decisive first-down catches in Sunday’s contest.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer likes what he sees in Smith:

“He’s a guy that we can use sometimes as a receiver, sometimes as a tight end so you’re not sure if you’re going to get nickel or the base defense when him and Kyle are in there together.”

No team in the NFL uses more two and three tight end sets as the Vikings have in 2019. Not only do these “big” packages facilitate their zone-run scheme, they force opposing defenses to keep an eye on Minnesota’s pass-catching linemen, Smith, Rudolph, and Conklin when deployed.

Passion For Improvement

Many rookies begin to see the bounce of the “wall” at this point of the professional season. College schedules usually go no further than 11 or 12 games and many young athletes find the learning curve of NFL endurance a tough one.

Not Mr. Irv Smith. After being on the field for 74% of the games’ total plays in what must have been exhausting comeback effort against the Broncos, the rookie tight end was euphoric, wanting more.

“This team has so much fight and so much heart. It was a special victory. We showed the world what we are capable of doing, ” he said after the contest.

It’s the type of charged spirit that helps lead a team headlong in the NFL playoff tournament. It also seems to be a spirit matched by Smith’s attention to the labor involved in taking this Vikings’ offense–and franchise–to another level.

“We know our time is coming,” Smith said.

It’s hard not believe him–and the fact that his teammates are behind his earnest zeal to face the next challenge before them.