The Minnesota Vikings are one of 25 teams beginning their respective offseason program on Monday and Justin Jefferson is not in attendance.
“He is not here today but it remains to be seen what the rest of the program looks like,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday, noting that he wants Jefferson there but understands there are a “lot of factors involved.”
Jefferson skipped the start of the offseason program a year ago before showing up for mandatory minicamp. It’s unclear if he’ll be at mandatory minicamp if he’s still waiting for a contract extension.
Here’s what Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer says about the situation.
“There are enough brewing contract situations across the league to think that a few guys from the 2020 and ’21 draft classes won’t be with their teams. Minnesota Vikings star Justin Jefferson skipped last year’s offseason program, so it’s hard to imagine he’ll be there this year without an extension. There are a lot of guys from the ’21 class—Ja’Marr Chase, Micah Parsons, Patrick Surtain II—that have a case for getting paid early.”
Breer indicated last week that a Vikings-Jefferson extension won’t get done until after the NFL Draft, which means the needle might start to move on that front late April or May.
“It’s going to be a challenge to get a deal done, but one I think the Vikings dive headlong into after the draft, with the goal of making sure Jefferson is on the roster for a long time to come,” Breer reported.
Jefferson isn’t the only receiver from the heralded 2020 draft class entering their fifth-year team option without long-term guarantees.
Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb, San Francisco’s Brandon Aiyuk and Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins are in the same boat, though it’s unclear who is waiting for who. Is Jefferson’s camp waiting for those guys to strike new deals before inking the richest extension of them all or is it the other way around and the others are waiting for Jefferson to put pen to paper?
Whatever the case, the Vikings are ramping up offseason activities with or without their star player.
