The Vikings Should Start Aiming to Appease Young Star
Dustin Baker
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Through nine weeks of 2021, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson ranks 19th in the NFL for targets per game.
Sterling Shepard from the New York Giants is thrown the ball more than Jefferson.
While the Vikings are admittedly and unabashedly a run-first offense, the team must start to look down the road for ways to retain Jefferson. Talents like the 22-year-old are not easily replenishable – the Vikings were lucky when they seamlessly slid into Jefferson after the Stefon Diggs trade.
To be clear, no panic meter exists right now about Jefferson “leaving” or seeming upset. Instead, Minnesota’s offensive plans should revolve around its young players, particularly Jefferson.
The LSU alumnus will play for the Vikings until the end of the 2024 season – and we’re only in 2021. Yet, each transaction beginning in January should involve the foremost knowledge that Jefferson is the commodity to build around and appease.
Unless the Vikings shockingly conduct an about-face in the 2021 season, Mike Zimmer’s team will finish somewhere in the ballpark of 6-11 and 9-8, likely missing out on the postseason. Zimmer will be terminated, and fans will wait and see if general manager Rick Spielman remains the bossman.
If Spielman stays in charge, it is improbable that Minnesota “rips it down to the studs” to rebuild the team. He built the existing roster and probably believes somebody not named Zimmer can win with it. Then, any Jefferson-related fears are moot. Minnesota would essentially hire a new coach to lead the current core nucleus of men.
However, should Spielman join Zimmer in unemployment or Spielman personally opts for a full rebuild, things get dicey. The hypothetical rebuild will take multiple seasons to execute. And that entails losing – usually a lot of it. Unless 2021 quickly gets better, Jefferson will have encountered two losing seasons in 2020 and 2021 – with two or three more on the horizon amid a planned rebuild.
Why in the hell would Jefferson want to stay around a team for 4-5 consecutive losing seasons? No thanks.
Therefore, when Zimmer departs, Minnesota will be best served to hire a coach who prescribes a pass-happy brand of football – or at the very least, doesn’t bog down in offensive conservatism, the signature of 2021 Vikings football. The 19th-most targets per season spanned over multiple years will royally irk Jefferson. Now is the time to plan prevention.
Of course, the Vikings could always get rid of Jefferson, too, inside the rebuild, but what good does that do? Trading players that are good solely for the sake of starting over? Jefferson is young – he is a player to keep around for a foundational rebuild.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Vikings offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak can fix the here and now by getting the ball to Jefferson more often. He deserves more targets than Sterling Shepard, DeVante Parker, and Marquise Brown — all men Jefferson trails in the targets-per-game metric. The loudest criticism right now of Kubiak is “going to sleep in the middle of games.” The easy solution is to throw the ball at Jefferson in the middle of games. It’s a novel concept.
Feeding Jefferson the ball – you know, pushing the ball downfield – satisfies two needs. In theory, it should diminish the dink-and-dunkedness of Kubiak’s present offense. That should lead to winning more games.
And then fully committing to Jefferson as an offensive focal point paves the way for the rest of his rookie contract.
After the Diggs transaction, the Vikings should be well-versed in alienating young wide receivers. Perhaps not doing it again is wise.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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