Vikings to Decline Option on Former First-Round Pick: Report

The futures of a handful of Minnesota Vikings players are up in the air as the offseason nears, and circumstances just got a lot muddier for one of the team’s wide receivers.

Wideout Jalen Reagor, famously drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles one selection ahead of Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson in the first round back in 2020, is not going to get his money — not from Minnesota, at least.

With one year remaining on his rookie deal, Reagor will be back in a Vikings uniform come 2023 unless he’s traded or cut in the preseason. But Minnesota is not poised to pick up the receiver’s fifth-year option for 2024, after Reagor has proven to be a chronic underachiever since entering the NFL.

Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported the news on Thursday, February 9.

“The fifth-year option figure for #Vikings WR Jalen Reagor, who was taken by Philadelphia with the No. 21 pick in 2020 before being traded last year to Minnesota, has been set at $12.987 million for 2024,” Tomasson wrote. “However, Vikings are not expected to pick his option up by May 1 deadline.”

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Reagor’s Fresh Start With Vikings Didn’t Pan Out Last Season

The Vikings dealt a seventh-round pick and a conditional fourth-rounder in return for Reagor last August in hopes that the receiver could revitalize his career by starting fresh in Minnesota.

Philadelphia is a tough sports town, particularly for players who don’t live up to expectations. It didn’t take long before Reagor was widely reviled in the somewhat ironically nicknamed “City of Brotherly Love” simply for not being who the franchise had hoped he would be.

Reagor caught just 64 passes for 695 yards and three touchdowns across 28 games played, including 24 games started, during his first two seasons with the Eagles. He arrived in Minnesota in 2022 not as a starter but as a backup. Reagor appeared in all 17 of the team’s regular season contests but was targeted just 13 times in the passing game. He caught eight passes for a total of 104 receiving yards and scored one touchdown, per Pro Football Reference.

Much of Reagor’s regular work came on special teams. He returned 26 punts for the Vikings last year, amassing a total of 167 punt return yards. However, he also fumbled the ball four times.

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Jefferson in Line For Record-Setting Pay Day From Vikings After Fifth-Year Option

Based on his collective body of work, Reagor no longer possesses anything close to first-round value, which is why he won’t be getting the fifth-year pay day that many first-rounders do.

Jefferson, for instance, is going to earn nearly $20 million in his fifth season. His number is so much higher than Reagor’s due to the league’s pay scale for fifth-year options on former first-round selections, which factors in snaps played and Pro-Bowls made.

Paying Jefferson that money is both a no-brainer and a foregone conclusion, as the All-Pro will discuss a long-term contract extension with the Vikings this offseason that is likely to set the market at the position somewhere north of $30 million annually.

Minnesota’s decision not to pick up Reagor’s option doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be with the team in 2024, though it makes that outcome far less likely. Reagor’s best chance to rehabilitate his career is to improve his ball security and up his game on special teams for the Vikings, or wherever he plays, next year and take advantage of more opportunities to get involved in the passing game should Minnesota decide to move on from the likes of Adam Thielen this offseason.

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