The hamstring injury Justin Jefferson suffered in Week 5 will sideline him for an extended stretch. The Vikings wideout will be placed on injured reserve, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. 
As a result of the move, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year will be shut down for at least the next four weeks. The Vikings will use the IR designation to ensure Jefferson has a sufficient period to heal in full and avoid a rushed recovery which could lead to a setback. Still, the news marks a crippling blow to the 1-4 team’s offense and overall prospects for the season.
“We’re going to have to medically make a good decision and help almost protect him from himself a little bit in a way where we’ve got to take care of him and get him back to 100 percent,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said, via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, when asked about Jefferson’s prognosis and how the team would proceed with his recovery.
The 24-year-old, as expected, has had a highly productive start to the 2023 season. Jefferson currently ranks seventh in the NFL in catches (36) and third in yards (571) through five contests. He will now be sidelined for the first time in his career, after availability during his first three seasons helped him break the all-time record for the most receiving yards during that opening stretch of a player’s pro tenure. Replacing the LSU product will be a notable challenge for Minnesota.
Jefferson has drawn the fourth-most targets in the league (53), and O’Connell admitted the team’s offense is founded in very large part on the former first-rounder. With Jefferson no longer in the picture for the time being, the workload for first-round rookie Jordan Addison and former fifth-rounder K.J. Osborn will increase. The former has posted a 19-243-3 statline so far despite seeing the field for only 67% of offensive snaps. An uptick in playing time should yield a continuation of his encouraging start in the NFL. Of course, recently-extended tight end T.J. Hockenson will also be in line to see more targets in his first full campaign in Minnesota.
The Vikings have expressed confidence in their ability to rebound from an 0-3 start, making it clear that a seller’s status ahead of the October 31 trade deadline was not in the cards. As a result, consideration has not been given to finding a deal for quarterback Kirk Cousins to be sent elsewhere (something which would require the 35-year-old, who is in the final year of his contract, waiving his no-trade clause). It will be interesting to see if that mindset changes as the team now faces a stretch of three out of four games on the road – the lone exception being against the 5-0 49ers.
For Jefferson, an extended layoff could have an effect on his bargaining position in the offseason. He and the Vikings held extension talks in the offseason, but a deal – one which will likely make him the league’s highest-paid receiver – could not be finalized. Negotiations are now on hold until the spring, and having a signficant injury on his resume could hurt Jefferson’s leverage to a degree. The 2025 fifth-year option is in place for him, in any event, and his historic production when on the field will no doubt still land him a massive second contract. For the time being, though, he will be absent as the Vikings look to find a new recipe for offensive production.
KC should go after him. Send their 1st round pick. After that, Minny should trade their DE that’s in his last year of the deal, let Kirk walk, & be loaded with picks and a new era of Vikings football.
JJ is s stud, but who is throwing to him next year up north?
Contract notwithstanding, Jefferson is worth more than the ~30th pick in the draft. MIN 100% should blow it up now, but Jefferson is who they should be building around.
I get he’s worth more than 1 pick. But KC could put a package together. All teams always make cap room when they have to.
If you don’t have a QB, a legit #1 doesn’t mean much. D Adams is saying that. Same for Terry McLaurin. Great WR but no one can get him the ball. 2 examples right there.
This year of rookie QB’s shows it’s a crap shoot. Carolina’s isn’t good, Houston’s is, & Indy’s is always missing time. The guy in Tenn can’t even beat out an average Tannehill.
They’re on track for the number one pick in the draft, so he’ll very likely have a new QB throwing to him next year. The Vikings would be crazy to trade him away when they could quickly retool without Cousins’ cap hit weighing them down.
Bears are on track for the #1 pick, thanks to Carolina. Like I say, Justin is a stud, nothing against him. I don’t like ‘soft rebuilds’. If you’re going to rebuild, do it through the draft & clear cap space for a few years.
Everyone said Trevor was a ‘generational QB’ coming out. He’s been ok to good; but nothing like Mahomes, right? You never know how the draft will play out.
KC just actively traded tyreke over $$$ so I doubt they are entertaining bringing in a WR whose going to reset the WR market
Most likely true. But they need help on the outside. Especially w/ Kelce hurting.
Some team should offer a trade for JJ. Minny Should load up on picks. Because that D is awful & the O can use some help as well.
Carolina is a great example as to why Minnesota shouldn’t trade Justin Jefferson. So many of these teams select a rookie QB, toss them out on the field with little talent around them, and people generally expect these young QBs to be good. That’s hard, dude. That’s really, really hard. When you look at the best QBs in the league, how many of those could even win you 10 games on their own?
If I’m the Minnesota GM, I’m keeping Jefferson unless someone offers me an entire draft full of selections.
What about Atlanta wasting their 8th pick London, and 4th pick Pitts, being wasted because of bad QB play? It’s a QB league not a WR league. Yes, a QB needs a WR, but w/o a QB you can have Jefferson & D Adams together and they wouldn’t do much.
AJ Brown was–at best– average in Tenn because of Tannehill, hence the trade. Now with a good QB, he is in the conversation as a top 5 WR.
I’m going to push back on the idea that AJ Brown was average in Tennessee, and I can support it. He has had two pro bowl seasons; one in TEN, and one in PHI. Last year he was targeted 145 times, catching 88 of those for Philadelphia. In 2020, he was targeted only 106 time, catching 70 of those passes for Tennessee. Derrick Henry was also just absolutely going off in ’20, rushing for 2,027 yards on 378 attempts. Brown wasn’t average in Tennessee, the offense just flowed heavily through Henry.
As for it being a QB league, yes, it is. You need a competent one, no question. The QB position and the WR position go hand-in-hand though. You neglect either, the other suffers. And Minnesota will be in a good position to do something at QB; regardless of if that’s retaining Cousins, signing a FA or drafting one. You don’t need to move Jefferson to do any of those things, so why would you?
T Hill, D Adams, & Brown- all studs & signed huge deals- were all traded in the same offseason. How is my theory of trading JJ any different from them? Between those 3, the big difference is AJ & Hill have a legit QB throwing to them. Whereas Adams wants out of Vegas (1 year later no less) because D knows the FO, HC, & M Davis have no idea what a QB should be.
Again, I think the world of JJ. But w/o knowing who the QB will be, or where you will draft; take the draft capital now.
If they trade JJ, Cousins would accept a trade. Then you’re guaranteed multiple high draft slots, & can start over. 2023 is a tank job for the Vikes. They’re 1-4 w/ Cousins and JJ with them anyways.
Everyone is raving about the QB’s coming out this year. Most mock drafts have 5-7 WR’s going in the first round. Or you can do what Chicago did, trade back but demand a high end WR in the package.
I wouldn’t sign a mercurial WR (many high profile ones are known to be) to a huge deal w/o knowing who is throwing him the ball. Bad business.
And if the Vikings absolutely love Justin, then why didn’t their GM sign him? This is his quote this offseason on JJ
“Jefferson’s next contract is ‘champagne problem’”. So why did he let the contract linger for another year?
I bet if Jefferson was traded, Cousins would waive his no trade clause. Kirk could be traded as well. Then Minny is loaded w/ picks from the 1st to 3rd rounds for a real rebuild.
Minny had no problem trading S Diggs right? Young, in his prime bona fide #1 WR.
If Jefferson were to be traded, it probably is very likely Cousins would waive his NTC. Trading the best WR in the league, who is still young, to try to force out a QB on an expiring deal seems counterproductive to me, though. If you want to clear the books of Cousin, you simply don’t extend him.
You’re building all of this around likely get the last pick of the 1st round, plus a few other future dates, for Jefferson. You *might* get a 3rd for Cousins. The whole idea is fantastic if you’re a Chiefs fan or a sports writer, but it just doesn’t make sense if you’re Minnesota.
We’re both correct. Keeping Justin makes sense. I understand your argument. He’s a stud.
If they draft a bust Like Fields, Mac, Young, Darnold, Baker…..You’re going to have one highly expensive P.O. player that isn’t able to get catches. What good does that do?
I have no confidence in the ability of the Raiders FO & HC, but they would be better off w/ the 1st & 2nd round picks (on rookie salaries for years) rather than looking to trade Adams (top 5 paid WR) w/in 18 months, right?
These ‘soft rebuilds’ just don’t work. Did you agree w/ Tenn that they were 1 WR away from winning (Hopkins)? I didn’t; thought it was a waste of money. Since they are and will be a 500 team, it was. Same for Beckham. Who has a whopping 7 catches for 70 yards at $15m. Bad business decision.
It’s painful to bottom out, but better to do that for a year rather than being stuck in mediocrity like Minny has been forever.
Just saw this article. What if JJ’s hammy just can’t quite heal up? He was promised a contract by the GM all offseason, didn’t happen. What’s his incentive to rush back on the field?
link to fansided.com
Chiefs’ fans are so delusional!
NFL needs KC to win it all! Received every single call on Sunday. They don’t need JJ the script has them winning without him.
Take about 3 1st rounders plus a 2nd to get Jefferson…..a high 20’s or low 30’s pick isnt worth anywhere enough.
He’ll still have 1500 receiving yards
I know it’s been reported that they’re not shopping him, but it would make a ton of sense for the Vikings to trade Cousins now
Trade to who?
Jets , falcons , and Steelers. Steelers make
A lot of sense it’s their bye week. Could of given cousins two weeks to prepare. They just beat the ravens.
Cousins and Hunter should be gone in a week.
Get draft capital , save some $$$ to throw at JJ’s next monster contract and re-tool faster than NOT trading them.
It’s so simple that I’m sure they won’t do it. They will play .500 ball from here on out , miss the playoff or be a 1 and done AGAIN , let Cousins go for nothing and end up worse.