The booming wide receiver market has a new kingpin for the third time this offseason, but the position’s new financial pace-setter secured guarantee figures well north of the previous benchmarks. The Vikings are committed to Justin Jefferson, as their four-year, $140MM extension illustrates.
In guaranteeing the superstar wideout $110MM ($26MM north of the previous high) and fully guaranteeing him $88.7MM ($36MM higher than second place), the Vikings authorized player-friendly terms for a pass catcher on a stratospheric pace. Jefferson shattered Randy Moss‘ receiving yardage record through three seasons and managed a 1,074-yard showing despite missing seven games due to a hamstring injury.
The receiver market’s spike over the past three offseasons has brought a host of three- and four-year deals. Of the top 10 receiver contracts presently, only one (Davante Adams‘ Raiders pact) covered more than four years in length. (Though, Cooper Kupp‘s 2022 extension covered five seasons in total.) The Eagles’ recent A.J. Brown extension (three years, $96MM) brought a pivot point for the Vikings, per the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, as the receiver’s camp pushed for a deal that would allow him a chance at another payday before age 30.
“Obviously, on their side of it, they always want deal to be shorter: as much money as possible and shorter, and ours, longer,” Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “That [wide receiver] position has gotten shorter in terms, which is a unique dynamic in the market.”
Brown’s three-year deal, agreed to shortly before the draft, had set the AAV and guarantee standards at the position ($32MM, $84MM). The Vikings have been in talks with Jefferson since the 2023 offseason, proposing a deal just south of $30MM per year shortly before Week 1, but the Brown contract brought a short pause. This aligns with a Monday report that suggested the contract talks ramped up after the draft.
That same report pointed to multiple teams being prepared to offer multiple first-rounders for Jefferson and that the Vikes considered trading up (via the Chargers) to No. 5 for LSU’s Malik Nabers. The Bolts did not receive big offers, however, so it is unclear if a genuine consideration at rebooting around another rookie-deal wideout transpired on the Vikings’ part. No receiver has been traded for two first-round picks since 2000 (Joey Galloway, Keyshawn Johnson), but Adams fetching first- and second-round picks in 2022 would have made such a price logical for Jefferson, who turns 25 this month.
Adofo-Mensah pushed back on any notion of a trade, indicating the team had long committed to having the 2020 first-round pick tied to a second contract in Minnesota.
“This day was going to come,” Adofo-Mensah said. “There was never a second in my mind that we weren’t going to be here. We obviously have to navigate challenges and things like that, but this was always our purpose. … At the end of the day, you want to pay premier players who can produce while making other people’s jobs easier. That can come a lot of different ways, at a lot of different positions.”
In addition to Jefferson preferring a shorter-term accord, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes his camp sought to avoid the backloaded structures present in the Adams and Tyreek Hill deals. The Raiders have nonguaranteed $35.6MM and $36.6MM 2025 and ’26 salaries in Adams’ contract, producing a $28MM AAV, while the Dolphins included a nonguaranteed $43.9MM 2026 salary for Hill to create the $30MM AAV figure.
Despite having three years left on his contract, the latter is already angling for an adjustment. Jefferson’s camp wanting no phony numbers in the contract makes sense, and his guarantees will certainly impact other teams’ negotiations with top wideouts.
While Jefferson stumped for another Kirk Cousins contract, the Vikings passed and are set to roll with a low-cost arrangement at the position. J.J. McCarthy‘s rookie deal will be key for the Vikings during this Jefferson pact, and the team has already begun Christian Darrisaw extension talks. As for the Vikes’ post-Cousins QB outlook, Breer notes their top receiver believes in Kevin O’Connell‘s ability to coax quality QB play. Jefferson’s belief in the third-year HC effectively mitigated concerns about how the team’s passing game would look after Cousins’ Falcons defection.
Though Jefferson will be set for a transition post-Cousins, he has secured his payday and is now working with the Vikings’ new QBs at minicamp this week.
Handing out expensive player contract extensions beyond the length of the GMs own contract can sometimes lead to problems. We’ve seen that occur in the past but the Vikings should be fine with the deal they have Jefferson on currently.