Seahawks’ Pete Carroll Delivers Strong Message on Vikings’ Justin Jefferson

Vikings rookie Justin Jefferson caught some major praise from Seahawks coach Pete Carroll approaching the two team’s primetime matchup on Sunday Night Football this week.

The legendary USC and Seahawks coach was not shy about giving Jefferson credit for his historic start to the season, calling Jefferson an “instant star.”

“He’s just an instant star, so I would think the Vikings fans and coaches and everybody is really fired up about having him,” Carroll said, per Chris Tomasson.

Jefferson has the fourth-most receiving yards (348) of any rookie wide receiver since 1970 and is currently eighth in the league despite playing in a limited capacity in his first two NFL games.

Jefferson is currently averaging 21.8 yards per catch, good for the second-most in the league behind only Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf’s 25.2 yards per catch as both young wide receivers have shined early this season.

Carroll clearly has plenty of respect for Jefferson as his comments indicate he’s not overlooking Jefferson in his gameplan for Sunday.

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Carroll Praises Dalvin Cook

Carroll also spoke on Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, who currently leads the NFL in rushing yards (424) and rushing touchdowns (6).

“He’s a great player. He’s so explosive and so creative with his movement and his vision,” Carroll said, per Tomasson. “You can see him burst, bounce the ball outside, bring the ball totally against the grain of the play, break tackles.”

Cook was largely a non-factor in last year’s 37-30 loss to the Seahawks — he was held to nine carries for 29 yards before leaving the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter.

The Seahawks have pulled out all the stops to slowing Cook this week by signing veteran nose tackle Damon Harrison on Wednesday.

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Carroll Nearly Played Quarterback For the Vikings

During the 1987 players strike, the Vikings were desperate for a quarterback to play that season. Carroll, who was the Vikings defensive backs coach from 1985-89, was a prime candidate to play under center that season, Tomasson reported.

Carroll, 36 at the time, hadn’t played since high school, but former Vikings assistant Paul Wiggin said they were ready to make Carroll the starting QB.

“I went home that night, and I was taking snaps out in the cul de sac until after midnight trying to get ready to go,” Carroll said. The next day they were going to make the call on it. So, it was real for a little bit.”

“Pete was going to be our quarterback if we couldn’t get anybody else,” Wiggin told Tomasson in 2017. “So that’s how our situation was. He wasn’t a quarterback, but he was a heck of an athlete and he could throw. He was willing to be our quarterback, and he probably could have done it.”

Carroll never got his chance as Tony Adams answered the call and was named quarterback for the three replacement games before the strike ended. The Vikings went 0-3 under Adams, leaving it to speculation if Carroll could have done a better job.

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  Trevor Squire is a Heavy contributor covering the Minnesota Vikings and journalism graduate from the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities. Connect with him on Twitter @trevordsquire and join our Vikings community at Heavy on Vikings on Facebook. 

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