Week 8 at Chargers | S Harrison Smith vs. TE Tyler Conklin
When you’re in your 14th NFL season, it’s not unlikely that you’ll run into familiar faces throughout the season.
Among Harrison Smith’s former Vikings teammates now suiting up for an opponent is tight end Tyler Conklin, who played for Minnesota from 2018-21. Conklin spent the past three seasons with the Jets but this spring joined the Chargers as a free agent.
Conklin has proven to be reliable both as a blocker and pass catcher, so it will be fun to see if he and Smith have any good matchups in the backfield. Last season with New York, Conklin had 51 catches for 449 yards and four touchdowns.
Smith and Conklin may share an affinity for Nicolas Cage movies, but they won’t be sharing a sideline this time around.
Week 10 vs. Ravens | QB J.J. McCarthy “vs.” QB Lamar Jackson
OK, I’m cheating a little bit with this one because of course the Vikings and Ravens quarterbacks won’t technically be going “against” each other; but it should be a fun game between Baltimore’s three-time All-Pro Lamar Jackson and McCarthy, who is expected to be Minnesota’s starter after losing his rookie campaign to a knee injury.
Jackson last year earned his fourth career Pro Bowl nod and second consecutive after starting all 17 regular-season games and racking up 4,172 passing yards and 41 touchdowns, which tied for the NFL’s second most.
Jackson’s completion percentage of 66.7 was nearly a career high, just behind the 67.2 percent he recorded in 2023. He threw just four interceptions, the lowest of any QB who played at least 15 games.
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