For just the third time since the start of the 2018 season, the Vikings' leading receiver on Sunday was not named Stefon Diggs, Kyle Rudolph or Adam Thielen.
It was a rookie tight end offering a three-catch sampler platter of what he can become in the team's offense.
On Sunday, second-round pick Irv Smith Jr. was one of three tight ends running a vertical route on the Vikings' first drive, hauling in a 20-yard completion from Kirk Cousins. The quarterback found Smith for 26 yards on a corner route in the second quarter, and Smith flowed behind the Vikings offensive line in the third quarter, on what looked like a backside block on a zone run, before releasing into the flat for a 26-yard catch and run that was called back because of Chad Beebe's illegal block.