With three years of service time under his belt, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is now eligible for an extension. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, Jefferson has been staying away from the club during offseason workouts as part of his efforts to land what could be the richest WR contract in league history.
The Dolphins made Tyreek Hill the first (and currently only) $30MM/year wideout, though that number is inflated by an untenable $43.9MM salary in 2026, the final year of Hill’s contract. At that time, there will be no guaranteed money left on the deal, so player and team will either have to agree to an extension/restructure, or Hill will simply be released.
Given Jefferson’s age (he will turn 24 this month) and remarkable production over the first three seasons of his professional career, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year has grounds to demand a contract featuring a “legitimate” $30MM AAV. He also has a good chance to top the $75MM of practical guarantees that the Rams authorized for Cooper Kupp almost exactly one year ago.
The problem, according to Florio, is that Minnesota generally prefers to include in its contracts injury guarantees that do not become fully guaranteed until the year the money is due. In other words, as long as the player stays healthy, the Vikings can extricate themselves from the deal with relative ease.
Of course, given the importance of the quarterback position, Minnesota made an exception for Kirk Cousins. It stands to reason that the team would do the same for Jefferson, who not only plays a premium position, but who is arguably the best player at that position despite his youth. Florio asked a source involved in the Jefferson negotiations if the Vikings’ structural preferences would become an issue, and the source simply replied, “we’ll see.”
At this point, there is no reason to think that the two sides will ultimately fail to reach an accord. It just may take awhile to get there, which is often the case with highly-lucrative contracts, especially those that could set a new benchmark at a certain position.
Indeed, while a Jefferson extension is reportedly a top agenda item for the Vikings, head coach Kevin O’Connell recently suggested that there is still a great deal of work to be done.
“I don’t know if I’d put a timeline on it,” O’Connell said last month. “I just know that, you know, we very much are looking forward to having Justin play here for a really long time. … I look forward to when we get that done and we can move forward knowing that Justin’s going to be here for the long term and we will get that done. Justin knows, his representation knows exactly how we feel about him.”
In 2022, Jefferson led the league in receptions (128) and yards (1,809). He also tallied eight receiving touchdowns and threw in a rushing score for good measure. He finished fifth in MVP voting.
This is one guy they can’t let get away.
but they signed Lucky Jackson..
He’s earned it! Dude is a beast on the field. I just don’t understand their GM’s logic, not extending Kirk (I agree with that), but not drafting a QB this year. What’s the plan next season under center?
Prove it year for Kirk Cousins… so maybe re-sign him? Tough spot if it doesn’t work out.
Besides stats, what has he proven in 5 years there? 1 playoff win I think.
He’s been a top league quarterback. The Vikings won 13 games, including multiple comebacks, and it wasn’t due to their terrible defense. How is Minnesota’s lack of deep playoff success solely the quarterback’s fault? I just don’t get that there’s a refusal to give any credit to certain players. Can you upgrade fromCousins? Sure, absolutely. But how practical is that?
At the very least, Cousins is a lock to be top ten in terms of production any given year that he isn’t injured, and more likely to be closer to top five. Minnesota could upgrade, but it’s more likely that they could downgrade. Having Cousins play until Minnesota is certain that they have an upgrade makes sense.
Sorry I was wrong. Kirk’s career playoff record is 1-4. That’s over 11 years. If you think that’s good to great football, ok.
At some point you have to look at Kirk’s production, rather than covering for him.
I think that a QB’s playoff record is much than the result of that QB’s individual play. You asked what Cousins has proven. He’s proven that he is a quality NFL quarterback, even if he is not its best. The list of QBs with a worse playoff record is longer than the list with a better one; the list of QBs with none at all is even longer.
Kirk is 77-66-2 for a winning percentage of 53%. If that’s a ‘proven winner’ in your eyes, ok. That tells me he’s average.
Kirk Cousins in playoff games for Minnesota:
2019
2 games
40 completions, 60 attempts, 414 yards, 2 TDs, 1 int, 8 sacks, 90.6 QBR
2022
1 game
31 completions, 39 attempts, 273 yards, 2 TDs, 0 int, 0 sacks, 112.9 QBR
If the Vikings cut Dalvin Cook, teams will double team Jefferson more, likely leading to a reduction in performance.
“I just know that, you know, we very much are looking forward to having Justin play here for a really long time”.
I think the Vikes said something very similar about Diggs…then dealt him to Buffalo when they saw the cost of a contract extension.
You are correct, but to be fair to Minnesota, Diggs’ attitude at the time was very pertinent to the trade. Right now at least, Jefferson is not wanting out. I think it’s a bit early to be boycotting the team, but Jefferson doesn’t appear malcontent yet.
This is also the consideration that Adofo-Mensah would go about Jefferson’s deal differently than Spielman did. He may be more conciliatory. He may be even more aggressive. The Vikes also did just push Theilen out and drafted a replacement with a high pick (despite the most obvious need at CB where there were a few good value options). Is that move directly tied to Theilen, who was jettisoned for age, or directly related to the strategy of keeping young players in the pipeline to ease the need for veteran payouts? As we see more of Adofo-Mensah in the years to come, we’ll see more how he thinks, but you have to think that the Vikings wouldn’t want a generational talent like Jefferson to get loose. I mean, the guy should have been MVP last year, at least in my opinion, and we may not se that again from a WR in our generation.
Given all the problems the Vikes have on defense, Jefferson probably has more leverage than Diggs did and will get a very lucrative extension. As you pointed out, this GM is something of a mystery so we don’t know what will happen for sure.
if the vikes cheap out they are going to lose him
One of these years GM’s are going to figure out there’s a limit to how much quarterbacks and receivers should be paid. But until they do many GM’s and fans of their teams will continue under this mistaken notion that quarterbacks and receivers are the only players on the team, or at least, the only ones that matter. Football is still a team game. I’ve never seen a quarterback block for himself or tackle an opposing running back.