NFL training camp is a little over two months away, and the Minnesota Vikings have yet to reach an agreement on a contract extension with wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Jefferson is preparing to enter the final year of his deal and just saw several wide outs secure lucrative long-term deals with their respective clubs.
Surely, he has to be getting frustrated at this point.
Of course, negotiations with Jefferson may be a bit different from the likes of Amon-Ra St. Brown, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Jefferson is on track to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, which certainly complicates things for the Vikings.
General manager Kwefi Adofo-Mensah has maintained that Minnesota has every intention of keeping Jefferson for the long haul and has no plans of trading him. But the longer this drags out, the tougher the situation gets for the Vikings.
Alec Lewis of The Athletic has warned Minnesota of a potential “storm cloud” in negotiations, noting that the Vikings have the franchise tag but that Jefferson is talented enough to dictate his own future.
What does that mean?
Well, if Minnesota is unable to strike a long-term pact with Jefferson before the season, it could end up slapping a franchise tag on him next March. That would prevent Jefferson from hitting free agency, but it would almost certainly peeve him in the process.
Jefferson could then make things very messy for the Vikings and could ultimately force their hand in trading him prior to the 2025 campaign.
Obviously, that is a long way away, but it’s something Minnesota has to consider as it continues to work on a new deal for its superstar pass-catcher.
Jefferson has established himself as arguably the best receiver in the game when healthy, and he expects to be compensated like it.
Lewis notes that one agent anticipates that the LSU product will land a deal worth in the neighborhood of $34 million annually while another thinks he can get $35-36 million per year over five seasons.
The Philadelphia Eagles recently made the aforementioned Brown the highest-paid receiver in football, handing him a three-year, $96 million extension. That’s $32 million annually, and Jefferson and his camp will definitely be asking for more than that.
We’ll see if the Vikings are able to make any progress in talks with Justin Jefferson in the coming weeks and months. If not, things could get very interesting in Minnesota over the next year.
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