Does Justin Jefferson’s Price Tag Even Matter?
The Minnesota Vikings are ultimately going to pay Justin Jefferson. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah isn’t crazy enough to be the general manager who moved on from the best wide receiver in football, and Kevin O’Connell doesn’t want to move forward on offense without a weapon like that. Does the price matter, though?
Does Justin Jefferson’s Price Tag Even Matter?
The short answer is yes, but only kind of. The longer answer is a bit nuanced, though. Justin Jefferson clearly wants a payday of monumental proportions. He absolutely should be looking for it, and there’s no reason for Minnesota not to pay him. If they don’t, someone else will, and the market will be set regardless.
If Jefferson simply wanted to top the deal given to Tyreek Hill, the Vikings and their wide receiver would have had that done already. The more likely reality is that he seeks to be the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. While that price tag and reality could be potentially jarring, it’s not that far-fetched.
You can argue that a left tackle or edge rusher is more impactful to a franchise than a wide receiver, but that’s about where the talking points end. Running backs have been all but filtered out of the game from a reliance standpoint, and offenses have turned to the wide receiver position. Jefferson is not only the best in the league currently, but his skill set profiles him as among the best ever to do it. That’s a massive amount of talent to let walk out the door.
Minnesota can’t let the contract shake out like quarterback deals given to either Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson, but short of something that hits lunacy levels, Jefferson essentially deserves a blank check. The sides will and should continue to discuss what that looks like, but splitting relative hairs over the final amount should never enter the conversation.
Through his first few seasons as a professional, Jefferson has gotten off to a pace we have quite literally never seen before. His athleticism puts him on a pedestal that should continue the elite levels of production well into the future, and for a franchise looking to develop a quarterback of the future, giving that player the best option possible seems like a no-brainer.
When the dust settles, it seems almost certain that the Vikings will get their man in purple for the long term. It will be for a gaudy amount and have cap ramifications, but they have been paying a boatload for a quarterback much worse by relative standards at his position for years.
Get it done.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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