Vikings draft rewatch: Jefferson falls

Looking back at the 2020 NFL Draft, which was the most unique in history and changed the Vikings franchise forever

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By Matthew Coller

Every draft night has its own vibe.

In 2024, it was all about the great quarterback debates getting resolved and the shock of the Atlanta Falcons picking Michael Penix Jr. right after they had signed Kirk Cousins. In some other years, a player’s shocking fall like Will Levis in 2023 or a wild unexpected trade (i.e. Mike Ditka trading his whole draft for Ricky Williams or Will Anderson going to the Texans) has dominated the conversation or a strange event like Johnny Manziel texting the Browns’ owner or Laremy Tunsil’s unforgettable “gasmask bong” incident stands out in our minds.

The 2020 draft had plenty of fascinating picks and surprising reaches/falls, including one that changed the Minnesota Vikings franchise forever, but the echo of that draft in all of our minds will be about the circumstances surrounding it.

(Watch the entire 2020 draft here)

Only weeks before the draft, the NFL gathered in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine. There were rumblings about a virus outbreak that some people in the league thought might be a serious concern. I remember legendary writer Peter King including a note in his column that some of his friends didn’t want to shake hands because they were nervous about this thing. A few weeks later, Rudy Gobert got COVID and the entire universe shut down within days

The NFL and ESPN had to scramble. Everything that was planned for the draft was suddenly impossible. All the players who expected to be there. All the fans. The teams. The commissioner. The broadcasters. It all had to be done without being near each other.

This draft was a little unnerving to rewatch because it brought back a flood of memories. Uncertainty, fear. What was the world going to look like going forward? We didn’t fully understand yet the impact COVID was going to have on society but it was clearly unprecedented.

It was also the final draft for me working at Hubbard Broadcasting. Only a few days after the 2020 draft, myself and several of my best friends/co-workers would be let go amidst “COVID cuts.” As I was co-hosting our coverage with my good friend Judd Zulgad, we both knew that the sports shutdown could mean bad things for the station. We tried to ignore the reality but the nervousness was palpable as we sprayed down our microphones and sat far apart from each other in the studio.

The opening to the ESPN broadcast reflected the shocking nature of entire cities turned silent. The establishing shot shows the word “hope” and then images of empty New York City subways and Time Square flash while Peyton Manning narrates a message that captures the seriousness of what was happening and attempts an air of resilience and togetherness. Anything else would have been tone deaf.

“This may look like separation but it’s actually solidarity,” Manning says, as we see doctors in masks, nurses looking overwhelmed and grandparents visiting their grandchild through a window. It hits like a Mack truck of emotions. At the 45 second mark, I’m really questioning whether I should have rewatched this. Maybe everything regarding the early part of 2020 should have been left as a distant memory.

“Hope is something we sports fans know all about,” Manning says. “The draft is where hope starts all over again.”

The intro transitions into fans cheering for draft picks and young players bursting into tears getting the call. Transitioning from hospitals and abandoned streets to the excitement of the draft was never going to be easy. They did the best they could.

“This year we are hoping for more than a future star… we are hoping to fill a deeper need… a future of full arenas full of voices with free reign to gather and feel the power of football together because that will mean life is back to normal,” Manning says. “So celebrate with these young men as they start their careers today.”

At that point, it still seemed very possible that we would wait out COVID for a few weeks and get back to normal by the time football season came around. Nobody was expecting empty stadiums. The idea was that if everybody stayed inside for a month or two, the thing would go away and burn out in the summer. That possibility made the uplifting feeling at the end of the introduction seem like the right tone.

Trey Wingo brings us in with live video of Las Vegas, where the draft was supposed to be held. It’s completely barren. One car drives down the strip. There is an ad for a Rod Stewart show that certainly had been canceled. It’s almost hard to believe that this was real just five years ago.

“We are still here to be part of one of the great communal experiences of all-time, the NFL Draft,” Wingo says while announcing that Todd McShay is not on the broadcast because he is battling COVID.

ESPN somehow got cameras into 60 households of projected draft picks. Now that would be pretty easy since we have all become Zoom masters with sweet web cams but back then it was no easy task.

We go to the commissioner inside of his basement. Imagine trying to explain this to someone 20 years from now who was born after the pandemic.

As Roger Goodell addresses the circumstances, there is more B-roll of medical personnel in masks.

“Let us dream of better days,” Goodell says, leading a moment of silence before sending it to the national anthem and more pandemic images and then a statement from Dr. Fauci. It’s pretty clear how much of this I had mentally blocked out. It’s also a reminder that there was a time before the pandemic crossed the lines between the NFL and politics. That came later in 2021.

OK finally the NFL Films music drops and we’re ready to draft some players. The screen shows 15 virtual boxes with Bengal fans in them, some already with Joe Burrow shirts on.

We go back to Goodell and he attempts to lighten the mood. Rog looks at his TV and they show a bunch of virtual fans booing him, as has become the tradition over the years. ESPN pipes in the booing noise and Rog taunts the TV.

“Even the virtual boos are good, yes I can hear you from my basement,” Goodell says stiffly. At the time there were probably eyerolls. Right now I’m thrilled that Rog is trying to lighten things up.

Off we go. ESPN goes to some graphics that look like The Sims showing how bad the Bengals have been. Digital fans with bags over their heads show that Cincy has the fifth worst win percentage in history. Again, corny, but very much needed comic relief. Then they show Burrow inside his house, sitting bored to tears alongside his parents on a big brown couch.

There was some thought that Burrow might pull an Eli Manning and attempt to force his way out of Cincinnati because the franchise had been so pathetic. Before that was disproven, we see another Sims graphic of Burrow fishing on the Bayou and catching the No. 1 pick. Our analysts are introduced in Zoom boxes. We have Mel Kiper Jr., Louis Riddick, Daniel Jeremiah, Kurt Warner, Michael Irvin and Booger McFarland on hand.

“I’d like to dispel that myth that Cincinnati is the worst place to go,” Kiper Jr. says in his typical energy and classic cadence. Now it’s starting to feel like a draft.

Finally, 22 minutes into the coverage, Goodell announces that Burrow is the guy. We look at him on the phone with his parents smiling. A pleasant moment. The broadcast compares him to Tony Romo, Tom Brady and Jared Goff. So often comparisons go sideways during the draft coverage but they absolutely nailed it with Burrow.

Suzy Kolber catches up with Burrow. He already has the Bengals hat.

“To jump up to No. 1 overall is crazy to me, but it’s a dream come true,” Burrow says.

Washington is on the clock. There was so much Burrow content that the panel didn’t have time to debate what Washington should do at No. 2 overall. The pick is clearly Chase Young as we see him on the phone with his family. There isn’t a lot of discussion about Washington passing on a quarterback. Tua Tagovailoa had been a presumptive top pick going into the year with the “Tank for Tua” movement and Justin Herbert had been a projected top-five QB for two years, yet Washington elects to go with a pass rusher. There isn’t a single mention of them picking a QB.

All’s well that ends well many years later for Washington with Jayden Daniels but skipping QB haunted them for years.

The circumstances didn’t really allow for much discussion or debate from the panel about whether they should have taken a quarterback. That might have happened if everyone was gathered together.

The next pick off the board is cornerback Jeff Okudah. He is now a Viking, which is crazy to think about considering the caliber of prospect he was coming out of college. Top CB in the high school recruiting class and superstar at Ohio State. Just a reminder of how difficult this drafting thing is. He seemed like the lock of all locks to be great. And maybe he still will be, who knows.

On we go to the New York Giants, who are excited about the hire of Joe Judge. They decide to go with left tackle Andrew Thomas. They needed pass protection for Daniel Jones. Thomas has become an elite left tackle but it hasn’t mattered much for the Giants. Jeremiah notes that he was the fourth tackle on his board.

Miami is up next. Brian Flores would eventually reveal that he was (allegedly) asked to lose games on purpose to draft Tagovailoa. He didn’t do that and the Dolphins end up with the fifth pick, but they still land the quarterback from Miami anyway. As you all know, Flores and Tagovailoa weren’t exactly a match made in heaven.

“This guy could be transcendent,” Warner says. Kiper Jr. suggests that during a normal year with the typical team visits, Tagovialoa might have gone higher because there were some injury concerns with his hip. It has been other injuries that have caused him problems in the NFL.

Herbert goes next to the Chargers, taking three of the five projected possible first-round picks off the board.

Let’s fast forward a bit.

The Panthers pick DT Derrick Brown. He turned out to be an excellent player who couldn’t save Matt Rhule’s job. The Cardinals take Isaiah Simmonds, who was supposed to be a game-changing hybrid LB/S. He never materialized into that role and has become a special teamer.

One thing that can help the Cardinals sleep at night with that pick is that the subsequent selections were nothing special either. The Jaguars take cornerback CJ Henderson. He didn’t work out. The Browns go with tackle Jedrick Wills. He didn’t work out. Mekhi Becton goes to the Jets. He didn’t work out until last year as a guard.

You know who’s still sitting on the board? All the wide receivers.

Finally one goes. The Raiders pick blazing fast ‘Bama receiver Henry Ruggs. After a decent start to his career, Ruggs pleaded guilty to DUI and vehicular manslaughter in a fatal car crash. He was sentenced to 3-to-10 years in prison and will never play in the NFL again.

Wingo throws it out to Adam Schefter, who announces that Tampa Bay is trading up for Tristian Wirfs. What a move. He would become an All-Pro player. Always draft the Iowa offensive lineman.

The 49ers then take Javon Kinlaw. His father throws himself off the couch when he gets picked. It wouldn’t work out for him in San Fran and he would eventually put together a decent season with the Jets last year.

The Broncos go for a wide receiver but they pick the wrong one. Jerry Jeudy was considered a route-running master. Wingo points out that Todd McShay claimed Jeudy was the best route runner of any college receiver he’d ever seen. At least we get some really fun hyperbole from McShay even if he isn’t on set. Apparently John Elway agreed. He is shown in his house chilling with his feet up. Jeudy had four seasons of ups and downs with the Broncos, who ultimately chose not to give him a contract extension. CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson still on the board.

Mock Draft Database lists Lamb 13th and Jefferson as the 18th overall player on consensus boards at the time of the 2020 draft.

Atlanta is up at No. 16. They take cornerback AJ Terrell. He has turned out to be one of the better corners in the league.

The Cowboys are on the clock at 17. The discussion, naturally, is about how long it has been since Dallas has been relevant. The more things change. Jerry Jones is in some sort of James Bond villain cave. The Dallas owner cackles as they select CeeDee Lamb, who has since become one of the best receivers in the NFL.

Jeremiah mentions that the Eagles are desperately in need of a wide receiver and might be getting anxious after Jeudy and Lamb went off the board. Foreshadowing!

Miami goes with tackle Austin Jackson.

Goodell waves the card at the fans and says, “We’ve got good news for Tua!”

It hasn’t exactly worked out that way.

The Raiders go with cornerback Damon Arnette. He is currently playing in the United Football league and was one of the picks that led to the downfall of GM Mike Mayock. Jeremiah questions how high Arnette was taken. It’s one of the first critical things said on the broadcast, which is probably fair considering the tone was meant to be overwhelmingly positive with the other things happening in the world.

The Raiders released Arnette midway through 2021, after a video surfaced of the cornerback brandishing firearms and making death threats.

The Vikings’ pick at 22 is getting closer and it seems to be an absolute certainty that they will draft a wide receiver or cornerback because of the fact they traded Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills and lost Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander to free agency.

They had to be getting nervous that the next teams on the board, Jacksonville and Philly could be looking at wide receivers. The 2019 Jaguars finished 26th in scoring and their top two receivers were DJ Chark and Dede Westbrook. Nothing to write home about there.

Kiper Jr.’s best available players: Safety Xavier McKinney, Justin Jefferson and LSU outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson, linebacker Kenneth Murray and QB Jordan Love. Kiper Jr. had Jefferson 16th overall.

“Jefferson had a phenomenal season at LSU, eliminated the drops and became much more consistent,” Kiper Jr. says, noting that it’s “no-man’s land” for quarterbacks.

We came to find out later that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had been campaigning for his team to go up and get Jefferson.

Anyhoo, the Jags go with Chaisson. In hindsight, a really rough pick considering the receivers that were still remaining on the board. Chaisson has 10.0 career sacks in five seasons and has played for three teams.

Now the Eagles are on the clock at No. 21.

“They might go wide receiver, we have seen some wide receivers go off the board,” Wingo says, showing a graphic with Greg Ward Jr., JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Deontay Burnett and Robert Davis as the Philly depth chart at receiver at the end of 2019. They didn’t always have a wildly stacked group of weapons like they do now.

Riddick suggests Brandon Aiyuk from Arizona State and offers that there are two good linebacker prospects on the board as well. The broadcast goes live to Justin Jefferson, who is on the phone as his family sits looking happy. His two brothers are pumping their fists. He must be the pick, right? How could he not be? He caught 111 passes from Joe Burrow.

Michael Irvin points out that 90% of Jefferson’s snaps came out of the slot but adds, “but he can make plays all over the field, I love watching him, he reminds me some of Keenan Allen. He’s the kind of guy you can’t stop no matter where he lines up.”

Playmaker knows ball.

Goodell announces the pick: “With the 21st pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select Jalen Reagor, wide receiver, TCU.”

Wingo points out that Reagor has been rising up a lot of draft boards.

It would be revealed in a video later that Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman were laughing and celebrating the moment the Eagles’ pick came in.

Irvin suggests Reagor is faster than his 4.47 40-yard dash. Kiper Jr. points out that Reagor is a good punt returner and that he is explosive.

Not a soul questions the pick despite Jefferson being higher on Kiper Jr.’s board. In other years we might have heard more critique. They move onto the a recap of the Vikings’ playoff win over the Saints.

We now see Zimmer sitting in front of the fire with deer mounted on his wall and Spielman with his kids and dog wandering around. Spielman has a big grin on his face.

Goodell is doing a SKOL chant with everybody on the Zoom call.

He announces Justin Jefferson as the selection.

Wingo says, “Justin we apologize, ESPN gave you zero stars coming out of high school, you were listed as the No. 308 receiver and didn’t even crack the top fifty in the state of Louisiana. Safe to say that you made up for it.”

Back to Irvin, who now bumps his number up to 99% out of the slot. Still, he’s pumped.

“This kid can flat-out play football,” he says, as they show a preposterous touchdown catch in the end zone.

“He reminds me so much of Keenan Allen and what he did in the slot,” Jeremiah says. “His ability to separate, he catches everything, he’s always where he’s supposed to be. He’s a pro.”

Funny, Jeremiah tells a story that Jefferson was running routes against Patrick Peterson as a teenager when P2 was at LSU and Jefferson’s brothers were there. They would play together one year later.

“I had a buddy who told me that this was Gary Kubiak’s favorite receiver in the draft, he’s going to catch a million balls in Minnesota,” Jeremiah said.

Thank you, Gary.

Kiper Jr. expresses his surprise, thinking JJ would go sooner.

On we go. The Patriots’ trade down is actually relevant to the current Vikings. They traded down from No. 23 to pick 37 and picked a third-round pick from the Chargers. If the Vikings in 2025 could get something like that in return for No. 24, it could be worth it.

Kenneth Murray goes to the Chargers. The Saints take Cesar Ruiz.

The Vikings owned the 25th pick but they elected to trade down with the 49ers, who moved up to select Brandon Aiyuk. Hey, I’m just saying, if the Vikings had taken Jefferson and Aiyuk… nevermind.

Now the Packers move up and are on the clock.

Mel’s Best Available: Xavier McKinney, Jordan Love, Patrick Queen, Antoine Winfield Jr., DeAndre Swift.

Kiper Jr. says they need someone at wide receiver to pair with Davante Adams or maybe a tight end. He thinks Tee Higgins would be a good fit. Cole Kmet is tossed around too.

Goodell announces Jordan Love.

“This is fascinating because Aaron Rodgers is the same age as Brett Favre was in 2005 when they selected Aaron Rodgers in the first round, stunning Brett Favre and you have to wonder how stunned Aaron Rodgers might be,” Wingo says.

A lot. They show Love. He seems stunned too. His family is celebrating while he sits in disbelief. If only they knew how similar the Favre-Rodgers stories would be.

Here’s Kurt Warner.

“I’m surprised, Aaron Rodgers wants to win now and wants weapons to give him the firepower to be successful but this worked out well for [the Packers] when they went out and got Rodgers when Favre had a couple years left,” Warner said.

Patrick Mahomes was already getting compared to everyone at that point as Warner mentions Love’s playmaking in the same vein.

Of course, it turned out to be the absolute right move for the Packers. Kiper Jr. calls him a “developmental quarterback” and notes that he’s going to need time to learn the ropes. When he eventually took over amidst a messy divorce with Rodgers and the Packers, Love took his team to the playoffs in back-to-back years.

We see Packers head coach Matt LaFleur smiling. You can bet Rodgers was not feeling the same.

“When you study this kid, he has more talent than any other passer in the draft,” Jeremiah says.

It strikes me that if this draft was taking place with Chris Berman in charge, he would have been going bananas over this decision. Maybe if it had been live in Vegas the energy would have been a lot different and analysts would have been hooting and hollering about the Packers’ bold move. Instead you would have thought it was uncontroversial. No matter how digital our world becomes, people are meant to be together.

One of the over-arching themes of this draft was also the personal tragedies that were suffered by many of the players. Wingo tells the story of Love’s father, who took his own life and how the family believed it was blood pressure medication that caused him to commit suicide. I can’t imagine the challenge of the producers on a broadcast like this going back and forth between wanting to present what the players have overcome along with celebrating their success. There was a lot of criticism for ESPN, with some accusing them of tugging for the heart strings but it might have been such a sensitive and heavy time that nobody wanted anything more depressing in front of them that night.

Down the back stretch, the Seahawks and Ravens pick linebackers, the Titans take one of the worst selections of all time in tackle Isaiah Wilson and Brian Flores’s Dolphins pick defensive back Noah Igbinoghene.

Back in the Hubbard Broadcast studios, two talk radio hosts beg the Vikings to pick Antoine Winfield Jr.

In the lead up to the draft, I had ESPN analyst Ryan Clark on the show to talk about Winfield Jr. and his confidence was through the roof that the son of the former Viking was going to be an elite, dynamic defensive back. He wasn’t being hyperbolic considering everyone in Minnesota had seen dominance out of Winfield Jr. with the Gophers.

You don’t have to make this hard, Vikings. Just take the kid. You already know the DNA that he’s made of and he played right down the dang street.

Instead Goodell announces Jeff Gladney from TCU as the pick.

Riddick breaks it down.

“This is a guy who has a lot of upside, a lot of potential, a lot of speed but he has to develop his ability to make plays on the football,” he says.

The thing about picking Gladney is that the Vikings were desperate for a corner and there wasn’t another one taken until late in the second round. The bad news about that is the two guys in the second were Jaylon Johnson and Trevon Diggs.

Jeremiah thinks it’s Gladney’s toughness that will endear him to Vikings fans. Kiper Jr. says Gladney’s smarts will make him a starter right away.

“I think the Vikings did a really good job with their first two picks,” he says.

If someone ever tells you that the draft isn’t random, show them the graphic with the Vikings picking Justin Jefferson and Jeff Gladney back to back.

While the radio jockeys wanted Winfield Jr., the Gladney pick made a ton of sense. He was undersized but physical and seemed to have an edge to him that would fit.

Gladney was released by the Vikings after a domestic violence charge after his rookie year. He would later die in a car crash with excessive speed as a factor before the 2022 season.

You just don’t know how things are going to go once someone gets to the NFL. We don’t know if there were ever indications that Gladney had demons when he was in college. Every time we speak to the college coach of a draft picks, it’s always flowers and rainbows because they want to tout players who were drafted.

As the night comes to a close, Wingo sends it to Goodell for a statement. He reminds everyone to participate in the draft-a-thon and notes how much the NFL has contributed for COVID relief efforts.

“We’ve only just begun, so keep the donations coming and keep the boos coming too,” he says.

The attempted joke was the perfect encapsulation of the 2020 draft. From the opening until the end, ESPN tried to weave together one of the most catastrophic and earth-shifting events in modern history along with the fun and joy of the NFL Draft. There was no possible way to make it make sense. The feeling of hopefulness still existed enough at that point to make the commish’s crack feel appropriate rather than callous because we expected to reach the other side of the pandemic much, much quicker than we actually did.

The big takeaway from the Vikings’ night is just how quickly a team can transition from genius to fool or the other way around when it comes to the draft. The Eagles made an all-time blunder. Jefferson breaks record after record every year to the point we can’t even keep track of his excellence. He’s also become the true face of the franchise in the way he carries himself. It’s a draft pick that nobody would ever dream to make at No. 22 overall.

Yet it’s the Eagles who got to be geniuses in the subsequent years by trading a No. 1 pick for AJ Brown and landing DeVonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and a bunch of other stars in the draft. How could the same guys that overlooked Jefferson stack all that talent?

That’s the draft for ya, folks. It’s a beautiful mystery that will never be solved, yet it shapes franchises for many, many years to come.

Let that be a reminder of how much the Vikings’ 24th overall pick could change them going forward.

And let the pandemic broadcast remind us to really think about the 300,000 people or whatever who will ascend on Green Bay to witness the draft. There was a time in our lives where we weren’t sure if we would ever be able to be that close to each other again. Thank goodness we can feel that energy again.

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