Justin Jefferson is patient and wonderful, now throw him the ball
It's time to stop making the best receiver in the NFL into a mascot
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — Over the past six weeks, we have stacked up a lot of evidence that Justin Jefferson is a complete player and a really good leader.
Against the Chicago Bears, he had a terrific block on a Jordan Mason touchdown that helped get the Minnesota Vikings back in the game. Last week, amidst a two-catch, 11-yard game against Washington, he could be seen on the All-22 tape pumping his fist in celebration and pointing back to JJ McCarthy encouragingly after a 21-yard completion to Jordan Addison.
“It was a good ball and I just feel like, positive feedback is something that goes very, very a long way,” Jefferson said of his positive body language. “And just seeing him make that type of throw, to flatten [Addison] off on that corner and just seeing the progression and just reading the defense, it was a great throw.”
The biggest amount of praise for Jefferson’s game from the 31-0 win over Washington in which McCarthy did not turn the ball over and completed 70% of his passes was a route that he effectively sold by the end zone to allow TJ Hockenson to score.
“The fourth-and-2 touchdown to [T.J.] Hockenson, the second Justin breaks the huddle… Justin understands, ‘I’m going to have to outside release this corner and take him four or five yards in the end zone to open up the window for T.J.,’” head coach Kevin O’Connell explained.
These are examples of how Jefferson has continued to play like a franchise player despite issues with getting him the football. He is currently 16th in receiving yards — an unfathomable spot for him based on his history considering he’s played in every game this season — yet he has been able to contain his frustration and avoid being critical of his young quarterback.
“The hardest thing about being a leader is being a leader when you’re losing, being the leader when, things aren’t going well,” Jefferson said. “To continue on having that leadership, continue on being that vocal person and having to get energy around, and getting everybody motivated to continue on to the next week and the next week and the next week…I am still that leader on the sidelines, not really exploding or showing my emotions or just doing things I feel like typical receivers do nowadays. Just understanding the circumstances, understanding my role on this team and just going out there and with that smile on my face still and just trying to make a play and being that that leader for us.”
If there was a Madden rating for character, Jefferson has shown his to be 99 this year. People often show their truest colors when things get tough and that’s been the case with him in the best way possible.
Everyone from the organization to his teammates to fans to his youthful QB should be thrilled by how he’s taken on the challenges of a 5-8 season where he isn’t getting the football like he has in years past.
But enough already. Get him the football.
Last week McCarthy completed two passes for 11 yards to Jefferson. On the year, he’s only connected with the star receiver 30 times for 329 yards.
There is no world where this should be happening.
Jefferson’s two 100-yards games came with Carson Wentz under center. Last year he had five 100+ games, one with 99 yards, two with 92 yards and three more in the 80s. When Jefferson played three games with career backup Nick Mullens at the end of the 2023 season, he had 84, 141 and 192 yards.
His average yards per game — prepare yourself for this — is 91.2, which is the best in NFL history.
As the Vikings go into the final four games of the season and face two of the worst passing defenses in the NFL in the next two weeks, there is no way we can talk about signs of progress from McCarthy until he has Jefferson in triple digits in terms of receiving yards.
The entire offense from Day 1 when O’Connell arrived in Minnesota was designed to get Jefferson open. One of the most often praised things about O’Connell’s scheme and play calling has been his ability to use a lot of clever details to combat the fact that defenses play Jefferson differently than most other receivers in the league. On a weekly basis you will see tons of bracket coverages, lots of different disguises that look like he might be getting man-to-man and then still end up with two defenders in Jefferson’s area and sometimes it looks like the entire coverage unit just wants to stop him.
But that hasn’t kept any other quarterback except McCarthy from getting him the ball. Whether it’s motions, formations, alignments (like the time he was in the backfield vs. Cleveland) or concepts that put defenders “in conflict,” the Vikings have always found ways to get the football into Jefferson’s mitts.
It’s time for McCarthy to figure it out.
Particularly with Philip Rivers returning to the league at 44, there is a big conversation going on around the NFL right now about young quarterbacks and the environment that they are stepping into against great pass rushes and complex defenses. A lot of the league’s young QBs have struggled this year. But Cam Ward, Tyler Shough and Shedeur Sanders do not have Justin Jefferson.
It can’t entirely be a young QB thing. In Atlanta, Drake London had games of 110, 158 104 and 119 yards before Michael Penix Jr. suffered an ACL injury. Bryce Young has rookie Tetairoa McMillan over 800 yards. Chris Olave is ahead of Jefferson with Spencer Rattler and Shough throwing him the ball. How hard can this possibly be?
It’s absolutely true that McCarthy is only playing his eighth NFL game but he has also been a Viking for 85 weeks. He’s been learning KOC’s offense since Day 1. He’s been getting coaching on his throwing technique since Day 1. And while injuries have certainly set him back, the Vikings can’t sit around forever to wait until he finally understands how to throw an anticipation ball over the middle to Jefferson.
The final four games will tell a story about where McCarthy stands going into 2026. If he can make significant strides and connect with his No. 1 target consistently, then there could be optimism toward where he’s going into the future. But the Vikings can’t ask Jefferson to wait around until 2027 in order to get his Hall of Fame numbers back on track and — as we’ve seen — you’re not going to win many football games 31-0 against a Washington team that was bumbling around US Bank Stadium.
Though, very few teams are as poor in the secondary as the Dallas Cowboys. McCarthy should have every opportunity to get Jefferson the football. This is a great week to start getting Jefferson on track toward 1,000 yards (which he said was “very important” to him earlier this week).
To summarize: The offense is designed to have Jefferson as its main target. If the ball isn’t going his way, the offense isn’t working the way it’s supposed to work with McCarthy under center. While patience is fine with a young QB, the clearest true sign of progress is whether he can connect with Jefferson. And there are still plenty of chances to do that with four games still remaining. However, if McCarthy can’t get that done, it’s really hard to say that they can buy into him as the presumptive QB1 in 2026, even if he has some otherwise solid-to-good games. That is, unless they plan to trade Jefferson and run 34 times per game every week.
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