EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- In two years with the Miami Dolphins, Mike Wallace caught 140 passes, or more than he's caught in any two-year stretch of his career. But because the Dolphins' lack of a deep passing game caused Wallace's yards-per-catch average to drop -- or, more pointedly, because he'd signed a contract that paid him $30 million guaranteed -- Wallace was seen as a disappointment.

Other than a drop in his yardage totals, though, Wallace's two seasons in Miami were very much in line with his career averages. The Minnesota Vikings plan to look for Wallace down the field a little more often than the Dolphins did, and if Wallace puts up his typical season, offensive coordinator Norv Turner said he'd be happy.

"He's played a lot better in the last two years than people give him credit for," Turner said. "If we get him to catch 65 balls and have 10 touchdowns or nine touchdowns, he'll make a great contribution and help our entire team."

The Vikings don't plan to have one receiver posting many more catches than that, thanks to an improved complement of skill-position players and a directive from Turner to spread the ball around. The team had eight receivers with more than 20 catches last year, but none with more than 59. Turner seemed to favor the same kind of egalitarian approach this year.

"We've got a lot of guys who have played and had production and made plays," Turner said. "Obviously, you can't play them all, but we're going to try and figure out what everyone does best and give them opportunities to do those things.

"I think you saw it last year with Jarius Wright; it took him a little while to really get a feel for what we're doing, but once he got going, he made a lot of plays that helped us. With this set of guys, I don't see one guy flashing unbelievable numbers. I see a lot of guys, on Sunday nights, saying, 'This guy, it was his turn, he had a big day and he was a big part of that win.'"