The Minnesota Vikings are such an interesting team this year, and the majority of it is focused on the quarterback position and first-year starter J.J. McCarthy . It's completely fair to be skeptical with the VIkings offense as a whole, but not superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Our own Kyle Crabbs at A to Z Sports teamed up with Destin Adams to put together hot takes for each NFC North team, and Crabbs' hot take for the Vikings has to do with Jefferson, and it tracks.
Randy Moss finished his career with the Vikings with 9,316 yards before continuing his career elsewhere. It took him 113 games to get there. Hear me out — Justin Jefferson has played in 77 career games in Minnesota but is less than 2,000 yards behind Moss on the Vikings' all-time list. Jefferson, who has 7,432 receiving yards, needs 203 to move past Anthony Carter for third place on the all-time list. That's one good day at the office for Jefferson.Jefferson needs 1,885 yards to pass Moss for second place in Vikings history. He nearly did that in 2022 despite posting just five receptions for 53 yards across Minnesota's final two games that season.
Jefferson being that close to most receiving yards in history is somewhat surprising with Moss having played for the Vikings for just six seasons, plus the short return in 2010, but anytime you can pass him on a list, it speaks volumes about who you are as a player.
While Crabbs was spot on about Jefferson, his cohort Adams agrees, especially considering if Jefferson gets close.
I went back and forth on this, and the only doubt I have has nothing to do with Justin Jefferson himself, but rather the mystery surrounding QB J.J. McCarthy. Ultimately, even if McCarthy has his fair share of personal struggles during his first year as an NFL starter, I expect him to lean heavily on Jefferson, who has become one of the best in the NFL at getting open no matter the attention ddefens.s throw his way. So even with multiple talented options in the offense, if McCarthy relies on Jefferson as much as I think he will, him setting a new career high for targets and receptions doesn't seem out of the question. And if he starts to get close to passing Moss near the end of the year, that seems like the type of record the Vikings would start to make a conscious effort to have Jefferson pass him.
The one thing that stands out about Jefferson in comparison to other players in the National Football League is that his production hasn't dropped with different quarterbacks. He currently averages 96.5 yards per game, which is an NFL record by nine yards per game over his college teammate Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals, who sits at 87.5 yards per game.
Jefferson's two biggest seasons were in 2022, when Kirk Cousins was his quarterback, and 2023, when half of his games were Cousins and the other half were a combination of Josh Dobbs, Jaren Hall, and Nick Mullens.
Things shouldn't change much at all with McCarthy at quarterback, especially when you consider how perfect of a fit he is with the offense.
