Bleacher Report Has Grim Warning for Vikings
They might waste a year of Justin Jefferson’s career.
Bleacher Report Has Grim Warning for Vikings
That’s the word on the Minnesota Vikings from Bleacher Report last week, an outfit that is evidently not high on Kevin O’Connell’s team this season.
“A lot of late-summer changes put the Vikings in a tough spot to start the season,” BR’s Brad Gagnon wrote. “If they fall to the Giants on the road next Sunday, they could be in big trouble with the 49ers and Texans coming to town in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively. Could be a bit of a wasted season for the league’s best receiver, Justin Jefferson.”
The Vikings are scheduled to win about six or seven games in 2024, according to oddsmakers, facing a difficult schedule and quarterback uncertainty with Sam Darnold at the helm. In April, Minnesota drafted Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, and he quickly dazzled this summer at training camp and in the preseason. However, basically right away, McCarthy tore his meniscus in the first preseason game, sidelining the 21-year-old for all of his rookie season.
Therefore, Darnold will take over at QB1 with Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien waiting in the wings if he falters. Some believe Darnold is capable of a reclamation season, not unlike Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023. If so, Jefferson will be paramount.
For the most part, Jefferson may be “quarterback-proof.” That is — it may not matter who throws him the ball on Sunday, perhaps dampening the depressing forecast from Bleacher Report. But in terms of wins and losses, indeed, a 7-10 or 8-9 season, for example, would “waste” a season of Jefferson’s career — along with 52 other players.
Jefferson nailed down a contract extension in June, inking a four-year, $140 million deal and making the phenom playmaker the richest non-quarterback in NFL history while solidifying his spot on Minnesota’s roster through the end of the 2028 season. His new agreement attaches him to the Vikings in exact alignment with the aforementioned McCarthy. Both have contracts set to expire after the 2028 campaign.
Last month, the phenom playmaker preached health as his primary goal in 2024 after missing seven games last year. “I’m so scared for it to happen again that I’ve been overly cautious about it. Just trying to take care of my body in the right way, just trying to find new things that I can implement in my day-to-day life that can better help me throughout the season,” Jefferson told reporters in early August.
The 25-year-old added about his health goal, “I’ve definitely been working on my hamstrings a little bit more, making sure that I’m injury-proof.”
Let it be known, though, per Bleacher Report, the Vikings are playing with fire by possibly wasting Jefferson’s prime years.
The J.J. McCarthy Rumor Is … Bittersweet
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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