Week 14
It took just 1 play for Osborn to pay off on Thursday night. He split the Steelers secondary and hauled in a perfectly thrown deep ball from QB Kirk Cousins for a 62-yard TD in the 4th quarter.

The Cousins-to-Osborn battery struggled otherwise, connecting on just 2 of their other 8 attempts. But those 9 targets -- 2nd on the team and a big 29% share -- are encouraging. So is that fact that Osborn ran a route on 89% of Minnesota’s pass plays.

That usage makes Osborn a WR3 with upside for as long as Adam Thielen remains out with his high-ankle sprain.

Week 2
A WIDE-open catch went for a 64-yard TD on Minnesota’s opening drive in Week 2 and made Osborn’s day statistically. But his involvement didn’t end there.

Osborn ultimately drew 6 targets among Kirk Cousins’ 32 attempts, a healthy 18.75% target share. That’s an especially healthy number when you’re trailing Justin Jefferson (10 targets in Week 2) and Adam Thielen (9).

We’ll see whether Osborn settles in as close to the Vikings’ top 2 wideouts in targets as he has opened this season, or if the pass offense goes back to being more concentrated. But Osborn looks the part early and certainly finds himself in a spot with room for a 3rd target to emerge.

He should be rostered in all leagues of more than 12 teams and in many 12-team outfits. Osborn just might be fighting his way into regular fantasy-lineup consideration.

Week 1
It’s not time to start Osborn in your fantasy lineup yet, but he’s worth getting to know.

Osborn emerged from summer as Minnesota’s #3 wideout. In Week 1, he tied Justin Jefferson for 2nd on the team with 9 targets. Osborn caught 7 of those for 76 yards, ranking 2nd on the team in each category. He also checked in only slightly short of Jefferson and Adam Thielen in route rate. They tied at 95.1% (of Kirk Cousins dropbacks), while Osborn ran a route on 88.5%.

That’s especially noteworthy because Minnesota increased it’s situation-neutral pass rate over last year in Week 1 by roughly 6 percentage points. We’re not going to overrate that and decree that the Vikings are set to pass more. But we’ll be watching to see whether that’s a trend as opposed to an outlier.

For now, Osborn looks only like an add for deep leagues -- especially where he’s available in dynasty. Osborn combines solid size (6 feet, 203 pounds) with above average speed (72nd percentile 40 time) and is in just his 2nd pro season.