For the Vikings, it's about what Jefferson's extension represents

The Vikings completing the final hurdle of the offseason had different meaning for Jefferson, Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The way NFL contracts are normally analyzed is simply through the facts of the matter. How many dollars? How many years? What are the cap hits? Is it really the length of the deal or is there funny money involved? How does the contract compare to the player’s peers?

That stuff is all interesting in the case of Justin Jefferson but what we learned on Tuesday at TCO Performance Center is that the meaning of this contract goes far beyond the numbers for everyone involved.

For Jefferson, it validates the work he put into reaching his goal. He was not highly recruited and not as highly drafted as expected after a prolific LSU career but he instantly proved that he was the best receiver in the 2020 draft by gaining 1,400 yards in his first season. Two years ago during minicamp he told the media that he wanted to be considered the best wide receiver in the NFL by the end of the 2022 season. Everyone in attendance was perplexed because he had already posted 1,616 yards the previous season. But he wanted there to be no debate. In 2022 he won Offensive Player of the Year and was an MVP finalist. The contract further locks in his spot at the top of the receiver mountain.

“I always preached, the money never was a big thing for me, it was mostly about solidifying myself as the top receiver in the league,” Jefferson said. “Of course, I want to be holding that gold jacket when my career is all over with.”

Jefferson views the extension as proof of commitment and belief in him as the centerpiece of the franchise. Anyone can say “I love you” but not everybody is willing to get down on one knee and present a ring. When the ring comes in the form of a contract that keeps him in purple through a 2028 at the highest amount of guaranteed money ever at the position, it means there is nobody else the team would rather have. In Jefferson’s mind that commitment means he can take on a true leadership position.

“This is something that I've been waiting for and now being the leader of this team and carrying myself a different way,” Jefferson said. “I'm gonna be on everyone, but I'm gonna be on everyone hard and I'm gonna make sure that I'm the leader of this team, and we're working to where we want to go, which is a world championship.”

While Jefferson’s role as a leader began last year when he was named a captain — notably after taking every practice rep during training camp as he negotiated with the team — the offense still very much belonged to veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. This is Jefferson’s show now.

“Having Kirk was a little bit easier with him being a veteran and me pretty much coming into the league with him as my quarterback, things were a lot easier,” Jefferson said. “But of course, things are not always going to be that type of way. There are things are going to change.”

One of those things that’s going to change is Jefferson taking responsibility for the success of rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy. He talked to McCarthy shortly after he got drafted and urged his young quarterback to have confidence in himself.

“I'm gonna be that main person in his ear and trying to teach him and trying to prepare him for what we're about to go through, I told him that this league is tough,” Jefferson said. “It's not an easy job to come out here and perform at the highest ability, especially as a rookie, but I will be that main person that he can lean on and help throughout the way.”

The extension ensures that Jefferson and McCarthy will go through the QB’s development process together. Signing the deal before seeing McCarthy play pretty clearly indicates that any suggestion he wouldn’t sign without Cousins under center was bogus. Jefferson has too much belief in his own ability to elevate everyone around him for that to be a factor.

“All the quarterback changes that happened, that really didn't really affect me that much,” Jefferson said. “I'm always confident in myself and confident in who's throwing the ball to give me those type of opportunities and let me just go make a play for the team.”

For Kevin O’Connell, extending Jefferson means that he has a minicamp and training camp without distractions.

“I think it just provides clarity for everyone,” O’Connell said. “Justin, joining the team this week, it gives him some great days to really gain some momentum…He's dialed in, picked up right where he left off, and now he can feel that much smoother about how he'll prepare and then enter training camp come the fall.”

O’Connell also has a partner in Jefferson going forward. Over the last two years the head coach and receiver have built trust and the head coach views Jefferson as an extension of his message in the locker room.

“The bond that we have has meant the absolute world to me from day one,” O’Connell said. “He means the world to that locker room. Even today, seeing him back around his teammates, yesterday, back around his teammates, he's a people changer, he's a culture changer, and he's everything we want this organization to be about.”

O’Connell noted that he was extra excited for Jefferson to have his family in attendance for the press conference because he didn’t get a draft celebration in 2020 due to COVID.

O’Connell’s excitement also came from the fact that he can draw up just about anything from an X’s and O’s perspective for the foreseeable future and Jefferson will be able to make it work. Over his 27 games with O’Connell at the helm Jefferson has averaged 107 yards per game and has been targeted more than 10 times per game. He’s graded over 90 by PFF on throws targeting the intermediate and deep areas of the field. Everything can continue to start with Jefferson for a long time to come.

“Overcoming some adversity together side by side and watching him still achieve the feat of being a thousand yard receiver despite so many circumstances stacked against him last year only made us all stronger,” O’Connell said. “Justin, I know it's only going to make you stronger as we continue to build together. And with that together, we will bring out the best in each other, man.”

For Adofo-Mensah, signing Jefferson to his four-year extension is a culmination of the last two-and-a-half years of roster building.

The Vikings’ GM said on Tuesday that when he and O’Connell arrived they made a list on a physical piece of paper of all the things that they wanted to accomplish. Extending Jefferson was a box that still needed to be checked until this week.

“Big picture we set ourselves up where we have a young roster with a lot of players who are before their prime or entering their prime at positions that matter and other places where we have players developing and growing and pieces that fit complimentary football wise and in terms of culture we’re building it the right way,” Adofo-Mensah said. “In that sense I feel like we did a great job this offseason.”

“This was planned,” he added.

The negotiation as a while was a learning experience for Adofo-Mensah. Early in his tenure he joked with Jefferson in the hallway that it would be easy to negotiate with the receiver. It turned out to be much more of a challenge to get to the finish line than he projected as the two sides began talking last summer and finally signed on the dotted line this June. He worked through the push and pull of which side is taking risk and how the term of the deal is viewed by both sides.

“Just learning the market dynamics and dealing with the agent and the things that they have to deal with, they are dealing with family and expectations, it was a great learning lesson for me,” Adofo-Mensah said.

Now Jefferson’s contract means that the Vikings GM will need to work effectively around the contract in order to create a roster that can compete for a championship. But the price tag and cap hits are balanced out by the fact that Adofo-Mensah isn’t searching for the key piece, rather looking for ways to compliment Jefferson.

“Getting that core piece and knowing what it will be and knowing how defenses play us helps me fill out the roster,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We talk about other sports all the time, the Timberwolves know what Anthony Edwards is and what you need to compliment him, it’s no different. Knowing [Jefferson’s] skillset and know what we have him the fold allows us to build around his specific skill sets is really helpful.”

Tuesday at TCO Performance Center ended up being the organizational celebration that the GM had predicted in his post-draft comments. O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah both shared their favorite plays by Jefferson — his fumble recovery against Detroit for KAM and his catch against Buffalo for KOC. Following Jefferson’s comments to the media, hugs and handshakes were had between his family and the Vikings’ brass. While there will always be hardcore analysis when it comes to contracts, there are few things that can replace the feeling of agreeing on a long term relationship with a player who is now the heart and soul of the organization.

“We're just getting started, and we have a lot of work to do,” Jefferson said.

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