Inside The Vikings

Justin Jefferson Injury Update: Vikings WR Day-to-Day After Good Testing Results

It sounds like this was the best possible outcome for Jefferson after a scary injury on Friday.
Will Ragatz|
Justin Jefferson Injury Update: Vikings WR Day-to-Day After Good Testing Results
Justin Jefferson Injury Update: Vikings WR Day-to-Day After Good Testing Results

You can exhale now, Vikings fans.

After suffering a scary shoulder injury during Friday's practice, Justin Jefferson underwent further testing and got good results, according to Ian Rapaport of NFL Network. He is considered day-to-day going forward.

Jefferson's initial diagnosis was a sprained AC joint, which was a lot better than it could've been. He hit the ground hard while going for a catch, with contact from cornerback Bashaud Breeland adding more power to the impact. Jefferson appeared to be in significant pain, grabbed his left shoulder area, and quickly went inside the Vikings' facility with trainers. 

The video didn't look good. There was reason to fear a collarbone injury or something else that could cost Minnesota's young superstar significant time in his second season.

Luckily, that's not the case. It sounds like Jefferson might not miss much time at all, although the Vikings will surely be extra careful with this situation. He doesn't appear to be in any danger of missing the opener against the Bengals in five weeks, which is huge.

Maybe he'll even be back before the end of training camp next week.

Although Jefferson got good news about the severity of his injury, it wouldn't surprise me if the Vikings held him out of all three preseason games this month. He showed last year that he doesn't need any August action to dominate in the regular season. Why risk putting Jefferson in meaningless games, especially if he's not completely back to 100 percent?

The Vikings might choose to save Jefferson — and perhaps Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen too — for the games that count.

The bottom line is that they dodged a bullet today. It would've been devastating for the Vikings and the NFL if Jefferson was seriously hurt. Hopefully he can stay healthy for all 17 games and build on his record-setting rookie year.

Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all season long. Also, follow me on Twitter and feel free to ask me any questions on there. 

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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