Justin Jefferson Addresses Silly Rumors
The Minnesota Vikings lost to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night in the playoffs, prematurely ending a 14-win season and kicking off an eight-month-long offseason.
Justin Jefferson Addresses Silly Rumors
And because Minnesota’s quarterback play was so poor in the last two games, many national onlookers decided that wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s career was getting wasted in the Twin Cities, suggesting that he could or should be traded.
A silly theory indeed, but that’s the price of a playoff one-and-done — outrageous offseason talkers.
Reporters asked Jefferson this week if he was fully committed to the franchise and ready for 2025. The phenom playmaker didn’t hesitate with his reply: “I have a new contract, 3 or 4 more years on that contract. I’m locked in, it’s going to be here for those years. Just looking forward to what we have coming up.”
Sam Darnold quarterbacked the Vikings this season, delivering 4,319 passing yards, 36 total touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. The man performed astoundingly well for 16 games but faded in the season’s two most important contests.
“I’m looking forward to the new team we’re gonna have, the new players we’re gonna have. It’s just crazy, though, how it all just comes to an ending,” Jefferson added.
Jefferson signed an extension last offseason, connecting him to Minnesota for the next four years or the end of 2028. He ain’t going anywhere. Jefferson held up a “peace sign” to someone in the stands as he walked off the field in Arizona on Monday night, and eager social media users used the hand gesture to indicate that he was “gone.” Of course, the theory held no merit.
Too, reporters asked Jefferson, the Vikings’ best player, about his quarterback preference after Monday’s loss. He was largely indifferent. “I didn’t know who my quarterback was going to be after last season, and I really didn’t care,” Jefferson said via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
Folks didn’t know if Kirk Cousins would re-sign in Minnesota last offseason, and Jefferson, although buddies with Cousins, didn’t endorse either scenario last January and February. He let it all play out.
Jefferson added, “At the end of the day, I’ll always say that I’m confident in myself to perform the same way I’ve been performing. But it’s not my job to say who is going to be the quarterback or who do I want to be the quarterback. At the end of the day, they’re going to figure it out, and whoever they decide to go with, we can work with that.”
The Vikings may have a new quarterback in 2025 — probably rookie J.J. McCarthy — and Jefferson will be locked in this September. From the man’s lips.
Jefferson will turn 26 in June.
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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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