Dede Westbrook is in Minnesota for a Vikings visit Saturday, but he is still considering interest from other teams. If the Vikings are unable to sign Westbrook, he will pay a visit to the Seahawks, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets. Westbrook plans to visit the Seahawks on Sunday, veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson tweets.
The former Heisman finalist and Jaguars starter said the 49ers and Bengals are also in the mix; both teams expressed interest in Westbrook earlier this offseason. While both teams and Seattle appear to be on Westbrook’s radar, the Vikings have an edge and appear to be the favorites.
In addition to a need alongside Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson, the Vikes employ ex-Jaguars receivers coach Keenan McCardell. The former Jags Pro Bowler and recent Vikings hire coached Westbrook in each of his four Jacksonville seasons and convinced the veteran wideout to visit the Vikings before the Seahawks, Tomasson adds (via Twitter). Seattle initially appeared first on Westbrook’s travel itinerary, but the Vikings now have the first crack at signing him.
“I was kind of set on Seattle and he was like ‘Darn you’re not even going to come out and give me a chance? I coached you the past four years and you’re just going to fly out to Seattle and not give Minnesota a shot?’” Westbrook said of a conversation with McCardell (via Tomasson, on Twitter). “... I love everything about the Vikings. I like their offensive scheme; I like the things that they’re doing as far as gidget-gadgets that they have going on. … Just their whole offensive scheme and I think I can fit in perfectly.”
Westbrook, 27, is coming off an ACL tear. That certainly slowed his market. He intimated that if the Vikings and/or Seahawks do not land him, workouts with the Bengals and 49ers may follow.
The Vikings’ need for a No. 3 wide receiver appears clearer than the Seahawks’. They drafted D’Wayne Eskridge with their top pick (and only pick on the draft’s first two days). The 49ers, however, have a void behind Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. Cincinnati features no such vacancy, with its Ja’Marr Chase–Tee Higgins–Tyler Boyd trio essentially locked in. Auden Tate remains on the team as well. The Bengals did lose A.J. Green and John Ross this offseason.
Love to see him on a team with an actual QB. Hasn’t had that yet. Seahawks and Bengals would be awesome.
I’m just curious how many targets he thinks he can get in Cincinnati. Top 4-5 WR are very much set, and they plan on utilizing Mixon more in the passing game.
He did well with Bortles, actually. Westbrook and Bortles had a much better connection than he did with Minshew, despite Minshew’s admirable production.
I’d love to see the Lions get in on this guy. If he can stay healthy, I think he’d be a steal for someone.
Vikings will get Westbrook, Lions will get Gurley
It looks like he’s almost a sure thing to the Vikings, but dang I was really hoping he’d go to the 49ers.
Kyle and Jimmy G./Trey Lance could really use him as 3rd/4th WR. However, weapon wise, he would be behind Kittle, Aiyuk, Deebo, and competing with Juice, Mostert/Sermon, Sanu, James, and possibly Jalen Hurd, if healthy, as the 4th/5th weapon for the 49ers offense.
Even still, I think Westbrook could fit in great, and think the 49ers would be his best chance to join a contender and get some serious targets.
If anything were to happen to Samuel or Aiyuk, Westbrook would instantly be bumped into the starting lineup..
Westbrook would be great in that offense. I think he’d be a good fit with Seattle or Minnesota too, even though Seattle has a similar receiver skill wise in Tyler Lockett.
San Fran’s love of RAC oriented receivers suits Westbrook’s skill set very well. I figure that that preference would get even stronger with the mobile Trey Lance as quarterback, who figures to play outside the pocket more than Jimmy G, and as such take advantage of quick receivers running horizontal routes ahead of him and quick hitters when playing inside the pocket. I agree with your assessment. Unlike Samuel or Aiyuk, Westbrook is not built heavily, which would give the 9ers another RAC receiver, but one is more oriented towards quickness than strength.
Regardless of Westbrook, having one of Austin Watkins/Kevin White/Jalen Hurd make a leap would be huge. What QB wouldn’t love to have a 6’3 WR alongside a healthy Deebo, a 6’1(w/6’9 wingspan) Aiyuk to go with *ahem* the best TE in football. Add that with a 4 headed backfield monster of Mostert/Wilson/Sermon/Juice. And our rebuilt o-line with Trent/Laken/Mack/Brunskill/McGlinchey should be top 5. Brunskill destroyed Aaron Donald in the “Jason Verrett game”-Brunskill is a below average center for sure, but he’s a solid RG, and perhaps he moves to RT if McGlinchey cant improve in pass protection-saving the Niners about $5m off his deal. Maaaaaaan if Kaep had HALF the talent of our receiving core… SMH
I seriously hope the Bengals don’t do it..I keep saying Auden Tate is way better than ppl seem to realize!! Thankfully, I agree with most here, he’s probably bound for Minnesota..
Tee Higgins is nice too. I love teams that seem to have a philosophy behind drafting big receivers. In a league where the average height of a CB is around 5’11, having a 6’5 dude really opens things up for young QB’s. “Throw it up there”.