Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is still without a new contract. However, the superstar has been patient and has not caused any issues in spite of it.
That being said, his patience may wear thin at some point.
During an appearance on KFAN, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk expressed some concerns over the way the Vikings are handling Jefferson’s situation.
“They are playing with fire here on multiple fronts between Justin Jefferson, whose patience is eventually going to run out,” Florio said. “I can confidently say that J.J. is very patient, but his patience will have its limits, and the problem continues to be, not the dollars, but the structure.”
Florio added that the fact Minnesota handed Kirk Cousins a fully guaranteed deal back in 2018 and don’t seem willing to go that far for Jefferson could present issues.
“The Vikings are one of the few teams that will not fully guarantee beyond the first year of the contract for anyone other than Kirk Cousins,” said Florio. “If you’re not going to make that same exception for Justin Jefferson, you are going to have a problem with Justin Jefferson eventually.”
But here is the thing: Cousins is a quarterback, and Jefferson is a wide receiver. Surely, Florio knows that those two positions are handled very differently when it comes to contract negotiations, so the fact that the Vikings seem less inclined to give Jefferson a fully guaranteed deal is not surprising.
That’s not to diminish what Jefferson has accomplished, of course.
Jefferson is coming off of a 2023 campaign in which he was limited to 10 games due to injury, but he still managed to log 68 catches for 1,074 yards and five touchdowns.
In his first three seasons, Jefferson posted 1,400, 1616 and 1,809 receiving yards, respectively, leading the NFL in that category in the latter year. He also paced the league with 128 receptions in that same season.
Justin Jefferson is entering the final year of his deal, so if the Vikings are going to try and extend him, they should probably start engaging him in legitimate dialogue in the coming weeks.
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