Heading into his third year with the Vikings, Justin Jefferson does not yet hold the team's single-season receiving yardage record. He fell 16 yards short when the team kneeled out the clock in its final game against the Bears.
He is not yet viewed as the best receiver in the league in most circles (sometimes by his own admission), and he will make $1.8 million this season, playing on a rookie deal that has him ranked 61st in the league at the position.
“I'll focus on contract after the season. The main thing is reaching to that goal, but I'm not really too fond of money. I'm really just trying to get that goal of being the best receiver.”
Jefferson, just 41 days removed from his 23rd birthday, talked about all of it before the Vikings' first training camp practice Wednesday with equanimity, like he's not in a rush for any of it to change. That might be because he knows if he continues to do what he's been doing, it all will change soon enough.
"I'm here to do whatever I've got to do," he said. "Whatever numbers I end up with, that's the numbers I end up with. It's mostly about having a winning season, getting to the playoffs and reaching the main goal that we're all trying to reach."
The two-time Pro Bowler, who caught 196 passes in his first two seasons as part of a run-heavy offense that targeted him a modest 292 times, could be on the precipice of even bigger things in 2022 in Kevin O'Connell's offense. The former Rams coordinator oversaw an attack that helped Cooper Kupp post a league-record 1,947 yards in the NFL's first 17-game regular season, before the Rams won Super Bowl LVI in their home stadium.
That Jefferson could mimic Kupp's production in the Vikings' offense is hardly a secret — to the Vikings, their coaches and the defensive coordinators who spent their summers studying how to stop Jefferson this fall.
But the receiver talked Wednesday about his growing connection with quarterback Kirk Cousins, whose locker is next to Jefferson's. He reiterated his excitement about O'Connell's offense, and the work the new coach did to build rapport among players this offseason.
It could all be a springboard for Jefferson, who'll soon become a contract extension candidate at a time where NFL receivers are being compensated more richly than ever.
This offseason, Kupp, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown and Stefon Diggs signed new deals worth at least $24 million per year. Jefferson, who'll be eligible for a new contract after this season, doesn't turn 25 until June 2024. He posted more receiving yards in his first two years than has any other player in NFL history; he could be even more prolific in his third season as the top target in O'Connell's offense.
A new deal for Jefferson could surpass the $30 million average that Hill got from the Dolphins this offseason. For his part, Jefferson continued to insist Tuesday he's not worried about the prospect of a big payday.
"I'll focus on contract after the season," he said. "The main thing is reaching to that goal, but I'm not really too fond of money. I'm really just trying to get that goal of being the best receiver."
You'll forgive Vikings executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski if he's not remaking the team's salary cap projections and forecasting a surplus based on Jefferson's modesty. Assuming the receiver continues to produce, the big payday is coming.
For now, though, he can rest in the knowledge that greater individual accolades are on the way. After a pair of nine-loss seasons with the Vikings — which followed a three-year career at LSU where he won a national championship and was part of just seven losses — the thing Jefferson says he can't abide is more losing.
"Just coming from a winning team and having a losing record was definitely difficult for me," he said. "But I'm ready to change things around. We're all ready to change things around, get back to that old Vikings team that they used to be, by getting to the playoffs and competing for that main goal that we're trying to reach."
