Irv Smith Jr., a Minnesota Viking underdog, was operated on Wednesday morning to repair a meniscus injury and is likely to miss the season according to the 4-5 month recovery schedule, sources told Adam Schefter of ‘ESPN.
Smith suffered the injury in the team’s preseason final in Kansas City on Friday.
Smith was gearing up for a breakout season at the time of his injury, having climbed to the top of the Vikings’ depth chart in the narrow zone after Kyle Rudolph’s departure during free agency. During the last four games of the 2020 season, Smith scored three touchdowns on 20 goals and finished the year with 30 catches from 365 yards and five touchdowns.
The Vikings made a move to replace Smith on Tuesday, acquiring closed-end veteran Chris Herndon of the New York Jets.
Minnesota sent a 2022 fourth-round pick to New York in exchange for Herndon and a 2022 sixth-round pick.
Herndon will help play an important role among the narrow ends of the Vikings. Zimmer described the depth of the position as “poor” in light of Smith’s injury. Minnesota expects its No. 2 shutout, Tyler Conklin, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since Aug. 16, to be ready to practice completely Monday.
Herndon showed a lot of promise as a rookie in 2018, when he grabbed 39 passes for 502 yards and four touchdowns. Since then, the selection for the fourth round of 2018 has not been able to reproduce this production. Herndon was suspended in 2019 after a DUI arrest and suffered a hamstring injury while working to return to the field. In his first game in November 2019 against the New York Giants, Herndon broke a rib and placed himself on the injured reserve.
Last season, Herndon struggled with drops and disorders and moved on to one more blocking end. He bounced back in late 2020, recording 31 catches over 287 yards and three touchdowns.
This report used information from ESPN’s Courtney Cronin