Dropped Passes Have Been a Major Issue for the Vikings This Season

The Vikings lead the NFL in drops through six weeks.

Dropped passes have been a major issue for the 2023 Vikings, who lead the league in that category through six weeks, according to PFF. 

Kirk Cousins has had 17 passes officially charted as drops so far. Heading into Week 7, no other quarterback has more than 12 drops from their pass-catchers.

Here's how the Vikings' top weapons have fared when it comes to drops (per PFF):

• Alexander Mattison: 5 drops on 26 targets (19 percent)
• K.J. Osborn: 4 drops on 30 targets (13 percent)
• T.J. Hockenson: 4 drops on 46 targets (9 percent)
• Justin Jefferson: 1 drop on 52 targets (2 percent)
• Jordan Addison: 0 drops on 32 targets

C.J. Ham, Josh Oliver, and Brandon Powell also have one drop each. That 17 number doesn't even take into account a ball from Sunday's game against the Bears that Addison described as a drop.

Jordan Addison on this play, which would've picked up nearly 35 yards in the second quarter:

"Imma say that was a drop. I feel like I gotta keep running up under that. So I’ll take that one on me. It was a good rep, good release, but I gotta finish that." pic.twitter.com/JeViHzRXPN

— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 15, 2023

Mattison has been the biggest culprit, failing to secure a number of simple dump-off passes. Between that and his mostly inefficient rushing production, it's worth wondering if we'll see more playing time from Cam Akers (0 drops on 5 targets) moving forward.

Osborn has also had several drops. Plenty of fan ire has been directed at Hockenson, who has had a handful of plays — particularly over the past couple weeks — that have been tough, contested-catch situations he's failed to haul in. Individually, none of them have been too blatant. But when you're one of the league's highest-paid tight ends and the near-misses start to add up, that's an issue.

After a few last week, this is another one that T.J. Hockenson maybe could've caught. pic.twitter.com/sWs5O4ljaD

— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 15, 2023

Ironically, after being released by the Vikings this spring, Adam Thielen leads all players in targets (59) without a single drop this season. He's having a monster season with the Panthers at age 33.

There are some high-level schematic things you can point to when evaluating the Vikings' offense this season. But the biggest issues are obvious: Not only do the Vikings lead the league in drops, they also lead the league in fumbles lost (9) and total turnovers (13).

If they can simply catch the football and hold onto it at a normal rate, this offense could take big strides.

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