A Sam Darnold renaissance highlights Minnesota Vikings' bold predictions on offense

The Minnesota Vikings will play the New York Giants this Sunday, September 8th , at noon CST. It's a huge game for both franchises, as their regimes enter their third seasons .

The Vikings are in a competitive rebuild under general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah but they have been 20-14 over those first two years. This year is the reset year where the team is still likely to be competitive but it's a semi-longshot to make the playoffs

Even so, there is still a lot of intrigue with this season and it could be one of the more fun teams in recent memory. The Vikings offense has a lot of talent on it, including wide receiver Justin Jefferson. I made four bold predictions about the Vikings offense.

Sam Darnold throws for 4,000 yards

This is quite an interesting one. When you think of Sam Darnold, great player nor great stats come to mind, but he's never been in a situation like this with the Vikings. For the first time, Darnold will have both a great infrastructure and a supporting cast to help him potentially become the next Geno Smith.

You can also take a look at the offense in which Darnold is going to run. It's one that you could consider somewhat QB-proof. Despite starting four different quarterbacks, the Vikings still managed to throw for over 4,300 yards. With Darnold's arm talent and the consistency of having one player under center, it will end up making a difference.

Justin Jefferson falls just short of 2,000 receiving yards

The 2023 season was primed to be the year where Jefferson finally broke 2,000 receiving yards but it wasn't meant to be. He pulled his hamstring against the Kansas City Chiefs and missed seven games. He did still amass 1,000 yards receiving yards, becoming the third player in NFL history to reach 1,000 receiving yards in 10 or fewer games played in a single season.

From a fantasy football perspective, Jefferson is being slightly undervalued. The thinking is that his production will see a dip based on who is playing quarterback. Last season, Jefferson played five games with Kirk Cousins and five games with three other quarterbacks. His splits were pretty similar across the board, which tells me that having a better quarterback than the backups the team started last season should have him continuing his historic levels of production.

Ty Chandler leads the team in rushing

The Vikings have a renewed focus on the running game this season. They brought in Aaron Jones and put Blake Brandel as the starting left guard over Ezra Cleveland who they traded last year before the trade deadline.

Chandler had an explosive game against the Cincinnati Bengals last year and the Vikings are very high on the 2022 fifth-round pick and they should be. He's got elite speed and explosiveness for a running back. Jones is going to be the lead back, but he's only played in every game during two of his seven seasons. That, along with an expected share in carries, will allow Chandler to take a step forward.

Ed Ingram allows less than 30 pressures

This one is not going to be popular but I seem to be one of the few that believes in Ingram. Last year, I predicted that Ed Ingram would cut his pressures in half. He didn't cut them in half, but did by a third going from 63 to 42. Going into his third season, Ingram has the potential to be a really good starting guard in the NFL. His biggest issue has been consistency. If he can get the consistency down, the sky is the limit.

Related: Ahead of Week 1 vs. Giants, Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell talks Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns