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Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson looks like the consensus No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL after leading the league in receiving yards and winning Offensive Player of the Year last season.
It was just the sixth 1,800-yard season by a pass-catcher in league history. He also has the most receiving yards of any player in NFL history through their first three seasons.
A conversation could be had about what order you might place some of the league’s top receivers like Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams and Jefferson.
But he should be at the very least in the top-five conversation, right?
ESPN analyst and former New York Jets wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson doesn’t think so. Johnson revealed his wide receiver rankings on his radio show, “Keshawn, J-Will, and Max,” and excluded Jefferson from his top five, which goes: Hill, Adams, Ja’Marr Chase, Stefon Diggs and A.J. Brown.
Vikings Hall of Famer Cris Carter took to Twitter to respond to the rankings, tweeting “#CmonMan a top five wide receivers list in the @NFL and Justin Jefferson does not make the list @KeyJayandMax time to turn the channel.”
Ironically, fans won’t have to turn the channel. ESPN announced Johnson’s radio show would be dropped from the network among an upcoming string of layoffs. The announcement came before Johnson’s rankings, however, he did address the criticism from Carter on a later radio show.
“You can’t have everybody on the list,” Johnson said on June 26. “If I would’ve pushed it to six, then Jefferson’s on the list. But for my liking, I like these guys. Doesn’t mean that Justin Jefferson isn’t fire. It just means when I’m building a team and I’m looking at this, it’s what I’m looking for. That’s all.”
Justin Jefferson Explains Absence at Vikings OTAs
Jefferson’s absence at voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) this spring sparked some speculation surrounding some potential grievances with his ongoing contract talks with Minnesota.
He addressed his absence when he attended mandatory minicamps on June 13.
“I had a lot of stuff going on,” Jefferson said. “They didn’t really force me to come back, so it didn’t seem like I was missing too much. They definitely wanted me back here, definitely wanted to be back here, but had a lot of stuff going on … with marketing and endorsement deals, did a lot of endorsement stuff over the offseason.”
Jefferson is poised to become the highest-paid player at his position and potentially among all non-quarterbacks in the league with a contract that could exceed an average annual value of $30 million a year.
The 24-year-old is entering the fourth year of his rookie deal with a $4.2 million cap hit. The Vikings exercised his fifth-year option, which puts a $19.7 million cap hit on the books for the 2024 season.
Why Justin Jefferson May Not Re-Sign With Vikings This Offseason
While a generational star like Jefferson is not the type of player you want to leave hanging out to dry in contract talks, there isn’t as much urgency to re-sign even a star of Jefferson’s stature in the current era of the NFL.
Since the 2011 CBA introduced the fifth-year option, no wide receiver has ever signed a contract extension before their contract year, per Pro Football Rumors.
The last player to receive a new contract while their team has two years of control left on their rookie deal was Kyler Murray in 2019.
The Vikings getting a deal done this offseason would be a gesture of tremendous respect to Jefferson and also secure him before the wide receiver market takes another climb with many rising talents approaching eligibility for a new deal in the next two years.
It’s unclear where the snag in negotiations is, but with questions at quarterback after Kirk Cousins, Jefferson may be looking for a shorter deal to allow him to test the market again and have a potential out if the Vikings cannot find a serviceable replacement in the coming years.
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