Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah who was hired in January 2022 after the club parted ways with Rick Spielman. The Vikings finished 13-4 in Adofo-Mensah's first season as general manager.
It has been a turbulent offseason for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans. They had to say goodbye to a trio of longtime staples. Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Eric Kendricks were released following a down-year in 2022. The Vikings didn’t want to keep paying aging players a lot of money, so Adofo-Mensah pulled the trigger and moved on from the trio.
There is still some time left in the offseason, and the organization could hand out some more contract extensions to complete the 2023 offseason for the Minnesota Vikings. Field Yates (ESPN) suggests one move, and it is the obvious one, as the final offseason move. He wants the Vikings to extend the contract of wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
I thought about writing a bunch of words about this move, and then I decided to just watch Jefferson’s highlights on YouTube. He has arguably been the league’s’most prolific receiver through every season of his career. Pay him! And probably more than any other receiver ever.
Field Yates
It is indeed a waste of time to write a lot of words about the wideout because everything has already been written or said, but we’ll do it anyway. He is special, probably the best receiver in the league, and deserves every penny of a huge contract extension.
Four thousand eight hundred twenty-five yards through three seasons are the most any player has ever recorded, and it is the most yards of a player ever before turning 24. The best part? None of it was close. He’s also leading the league in receiving yards since his draft in 2020, also by a wide margin, and led the NFL in receptions and receiving yards in 2022 – as the youngest player ever to do that. Jefferson is the reigning Offensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for MVP.
Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill is the best-paid player at the position. He’s making $30 million per season. Jefferson is five years younger, and it can be argued that he is already better. For those two reasons alone, the Vikings must make their guy the top-paid WR ever. Only Aaron Donald also surpassed the $30 million mark. The defensive tackle has an average annual salary of $31.67 million and is the highest-paid non-quarterback ever. There is a good chance Jefferson intends to top that number.
The good news for the Vikings is that Jefferson is not a diva. He just wants to play football and get compensated fairly for it without making a big deal out of it. He recently downplayed the potential new contract’s impact on him and plans to be the same person going forward. He also mentioned participating in training camp no matter his contract situation.
Jefferson really is the holy grail of a superstar player. He is great on the field, charismatic, but still humble.
The Vikings also must decide about two other contracts. One of them is Danielle Hunter, who is rightfully unhappy with his current contract that pays him just $5.5 million in 2023 – an absurd number for a Pro Bowl pass-rusher. The Vikings can extend his contract or trade him.
Someone who should also be in line to sign a new agreement is tight end T.J. Hockenson. He is currently in the final year of his deal but certainly fits the description of a building block for the organization’s future. His contract status is somehow a forgotten one in Vikings’ circles, mainly because Hunter and Jefferson steal the spotlight.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt