Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson‘s 2022 season hasn’t gone to plan after a breakout performance in Week 1.
Jefferson racked up a career-high 186 receiving yards in a 23-7 season-opening victory over the Green Bay Packers. Head coach Kevin O’Connell used pre-snap motion to get his star receiver open early and often, with Jefferson securing nine of 11 targets.
It was expected Jefferson’s season-opening performance was just the tip of the iceberg where, despite facing shadow assignments and double coverage often, he could thrive in the “Cooper Kupp role” of O’Connell’s offense.
But for the past two weeks, the Vikings’ competition has taken Jefferson away, forcing Minnesota to beat them with the offense’s other skill players. Jefferson has nine catches for 62 yards since the season opener.
Coming off a 28-24 win over the Detroit Lions, the Vikings capitalized by looking away from Jefferson, who turned in just three catches for 14 yards on six targets — the lowest yardage output in his career. Jefferson saw just two targets the entire second half and was thrown to once while Minnesota mounted a 14-point comeback in the final quarter.
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins while the Vikings are still finding their offensive identity that should revolve around Jefferson. O’Connell opened up about a sideline conversation he had with the star receiver, who admitted to frustrations on Sunday.
Justin Jefferson’s ‘Presence Was Felt,’ Kevin O’Connell Says
After the game, Jefferson, who faced double and triple coverage against the Lions, admitted to frustrations throughout the game.
“It is frustrating for sure. Just being the type of player that I am double and triple teams are going to come” Jefferson said in a September 25 postgame locker room interview, adding that his presence helped open up the field for the rest of the offense. “That is the luxury of having Adam [Thielen] and K.J. [Osborn] on the other side. Even when they want to double team me, I know that somebody will be open.”
The Athletic’s Alec Lewis reported that Jefferson and O’Connell had a “lengthy convo” on the sidelines during the game. O’Connell took responsibility for not getting Jefferson more looks but also credited Jefferson for being a significant part of the win despite not producing statistically.
“It’s one of those things with great, great players in this league and the coaching that goes on, they do things to try to take away what you do best. And the way we were able to run the football, the way we were able to get Adam [Thielen] and K.J. [Osborn] and some of these other guys ops in the passing game is because of Justin Jefferson dictating a lot of coverage, dictating how runs are fit, dictating how they play on the edges. Justin had a huge impact on this game. It just didn’t show up in the stat sheet,” O’Connell said in a September 25 postgame press conference. “But that’s not good enough. I have to do a better job giving Justin different aspects of lining up in different spots, different personnel groupings, whatever I need to do to help him because he’s an ultra-competitor, and we’ll get him going.”
O’Connell added that while Jefferson may be an “ultra competitor” he may be an even better teammate, celebrating K.J. Osborn‘s game-clinching touchdown with 40 seconds in regulation.
“The first guy celebrating with K.J. Osborn when he scores that touchdown is Justin Jefferson. He’s a great teammate. Although he doesn’t have a “C” on his chest, I know our guys view him as one of our leaders. And we relied on him today to maintain and just keep on pushing. And I have a lot of respect for how Justin handled today, but put it on me obviously to do a better job to get him going,” O’Connell said.
After the game, Jefferson touted his satisfaction with the win, tweeting “Great TEAM win!!!#SKOL.”
Great TEAM win!!!#SKOL
Vikings Need to Strike a Balance With Jefferson
The past two weeks have been telling for the Vikings who, in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles, could not overcome an early deficit but did so on Sunday against the Lions.
Minnesota kept trying to feed Jefferson the ball in Philadelphia. He was targeted 12 times, but reeled in just six catches for 48 yards with the Eagles keying on the star receiver.
The Lions did much of the same, but this time, Kirk Cousins shifted his focus to Adam Thielen and Osborn, who combined for 11 receptions and 134 of the Vikings’ 260 receiving yards.
Cousins, recounting the game-winning drive where he found for a 28-yard strike to set up the touchdown connection on the next play, credited Jefferson for helping make that happen.
“Certainly on the first catch [Osborn] had, I believe Justin was doubled, so you also realize that, ‘Hey, Justin here is allowing what’s happening to happen,’ ” Cousins said in a September 25 postgame press conference.
Jefferson appears optimistic he’ll get his chances in the new-look offense eventually and is reveling in the fact his team fought back from adversity.
“The game happened just like last week’s game, being down 14-0 and not having anything going at first,” Jefferson said. “This time we fought and had confidence that we were going to get more opportunities to score. Our defense did a phenomenal job holding them.”
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Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Breaks Silence on Long Talk With Justin Jefferson