Vikings' Justin Jefferson Motivated By Super Bowl, Title of NFL's Best Receiver
On an individual level, Justin Jefferson is off to arguably the best two-year start to a career by any wide receiver in NFL history.
For reasons mostly beyond his control, team success hasn't followed. The Vikings are 15-18 in Jefferson's two seasons, missing the playoffs both years. They haven't had a winning record at any point since 2019, the year before he was drafted.
All of the losing has been a difficult thing to adjust to for Jefferson, whose LSU teams went 34-7 during his three seasons in college, including a 15-0 national championship season in 2019. Beyond any individual goals for this season, he wants to get back to winning games and contending for Super Bowls.
“Yeah, it was difficult," Jefferson said at the start of training camp on Wednesday. "Just coming from a winning team and having a losing record was definitely difficult for me. But I’m ready to change things around. We’re all ready to change things around, get back to that old Vikings team that they used to be, by getting to the playoffs and competing for that main goal that we’re trying to reach."
Jefferson's numbers through two seasons are absurd. He has 196 catches, 3,016 receiving yards, and 17 touchdowns. That yardage total is an all-time record in a player's first two seasons, while his receptions are tied for the most ever.
In Jefferson's 14 career 100-yard games, the Vikings are 9-5. In games where he hasn't gotten 100 yards, they're just 6-13. He's a player that drives winning, but the team around him — Kirk Cousins, the offensive line, the defense, the coaching staff, special teams — hasn't been good enough to win games at a consistent level over the past two years.
The Vikings hope that won't be the case this year. They've got a new coaching staff that's going to do some different things on both sides of the ball, and they've made a few improvements to a roster that already had plenty of talent.
"I'm just ready to take on any challenge," Jefferson said. "I’m very excited about our new offense and our new team. Hopefully we have the year we are all expecting to have."
Although team goals come first, Jefferson still feels like has a lot to prove. Despite all of his dominance, he feels he's not yet viewed as the best receiver in the NFL. A recent ESPN receiver ranking based on a survey of people around the league had him outside the top three, even.
Even with a massive contract coming up before too long, Jefferson's motivation is to win a lot of games and become the best receiver in the league. "I'm not too fond of money," he said while deferring the contract conversation to next year.
“Well, I’m not labeled as the best receiver at this point, so that’s my motivation, just becoming the best receiver and being the best teammate for my team," Jefferson said. "Just doing stuff to provide for my team and just trying to get to that main goal."
As for why he's not yet viewed in that light, Jefferson isn't sure. But he knows that if he has another season like the last two, it'll become harder and harder to deny him that spot. Entering his third season, he feels like he can continue to grow and improve on what has been a historic start to his career.
"I mean, my best version of myself hasn't come yet, I feel. I feel I still have things to improve on. I feel like my game can go up even more than what it has been, too. It's really just more focused on the team at this point. We're trying to get back to that winning record. I hate losing, I'm a competitive person. I'll be satisfied once we win the big goal."
Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all offseason long. Also, follow me on Twitter and feel free to ask me any questions on there.
