Johnny

Mundt

He was a surprise DNP on Friday as well. Strange is still in his 21-day window so there’s no need to push it if he’s not going to play this week. Hunter Long (hip/knee) was also ruled out today, leaving Johnny Mundt as the primary Jaguars tight end in Week 11.

He broke a tackle from Myles Bryant on his lone reception and found a first down. Neither Hunter Long nor Brenton Strange should feel very threatened when they return from injury. Obviously, don’t use Mundt in fantasy football.

Entering his age-31 season, Mundt will look to establish the Grant Udinski culture in Jacksonville. Mundt had 55 receptions over three years in Minnesota and will be a fantasy non-factor. He’s being paid to block.

Mundt had a 30-yard gain called back by holding in the third quarter. He has been serving as the Vikings’ starting tight end with T.J. Hockenson on the PUP list, but that should come to an end with the latter likely to return in Week 7. Mundt should not be rostered in even the deepest of fantasy leagues.

You don’t need to roster him. Josh Oliver went catchless. The Vikings are on bye next week, and Mundt will be working on his blocking rather than his receiving.

Mundt caught a short touchdown from Sam Darnold between two defenders in the fourth quarter to put the game away for Minnesota. Mundt now has three targets in each of the Vikings’ three regular season games. He’s still splitting tight end snaps with Josh Oliver.

Mundt ran a route on 26 of Sam Darnold’s 31 drop backs, taking over the pass-catching role after splitting duties with Josh Oliver in Week 1 against the Giants. Oliver logged just eight routes in Week 2. Until TJ Hockenson returns from injury, it appears Mundt is the Vikings’ primary pass-catching tight end.

Mundt and Josh Oliver played to a standstill in T.J. Hockenson’s absence. For now, we haven’t seen enough to declare Mundt a TE2 streaming candidate.

Hockenson missing the first month of the regular season was widely expected following his late-season knee injury in 2023. ESPN has reported that the Vikings expect Hockenson to return to the team’s starting lineup sometime in the first half of the season. We might not see the star tight end at full health until well into the season’s second half. Robert Tonyan, Johnny Mundt, and Josh Oliver will likely rotate tight end snaps in Hockenson’s absence.

O’Connell stopped short of declaring an expected return-to-play date before saying the team wants Tonyan to “take part” in preseason play. Vikings coaches were undoubtedly hoping one of their veteran tight ends would establish himself as an early-season replacement for recovering starter T.J. Hockenson (ACL and MCL). Tonyan’s back issue leaves the team with Josh Oliver and Johnny Mundt for now. Both players respectably averaged 1.50 yards per route run last year while earning 18.0-plus-percent target rates. The competition’s winner could have streaming viability in September.