AJ Brown’s Point about Justin Jefferson Should Excite Vikings Fans
Yesterday, the NFL showcased the first edition of Pro Bowl Verzuz featuring Titans wide receiver AJ Brown and Vikings rookie phenom Justin Jefferson. For those who didn’t get a chance to watch, you can check it out here. The show is hosted by Deion Sanders and Maurice Jones-Drew, pitting two Pro Bowl players against each other to make their case for who had the better season, better celebrations, etc.
To start, the two spent a few minutes going back and forth about whose season was more impressive, given that they both play in run-first offenses. During the exchange, Jefferson pointed out that he had far more yards in his rookie season than Brown did. Well, this is true. However, Brown clapped back saying that had he gotten “10 targets a game” he would have had more yards, too.
While saying Jefferson got 10 targets per game is a bit of a hyperbole (it’s closer to seven or eight), Brown does have a point. Jefferson got 125 targets in his rookie season whereas Brown was only thrown to 84 times last year in his rookie campaign.
Jefferson ended the year with a slash line of 88/1400/7. Brown’s rookie season ended at 52/1051/8. Jefferson’s numbers look more impressive, but Brown does have a case here. If he had gotten more targets, he certainly would have put up bigger numbers.
That said, I have two arguments to make. The first is simple. If he wanted more targets, not only should he have gotten open more often, but he also should have been more efficient as a receiver.
Brown’s catch rate, per Pro-Football-Reference, of 61.9% during his rookie season was not anything to write home about and was much lower than Jefferson’s rate of 70.4% this year. If you want more targets, make better use of the ones you’ve been given. To his credit, Brown was much more efficient this season and got more balls thrown his way, catching 66% of his 106 targets.
Secondly, to all the Vikings fans out there, don’t be upset about Brown’s attempt to knock Jefferson’s stats by pointing out his number of targets. First of all, it’s a weak argument to begin with. Second of all, be happy because this only means that Jefferson was properly utilized in this offense.
Stefon Diggs was upset in 2019 because he felt he was not being given enough of a role in the offense. This ultimately led to his trade to Buffalo where he got his wish and led the NFL in targets this year with 166.
Jefferson cannot make an argument against his role, which shows Minnesota is learning from the Diggs’ situation. Jefferson’s rookie season was historic. He was given the tenth-most targets all-time for a rookie receiver, ahead of guys like Michael Thomas, Larry Fitzgerald, and Andre Johnson. In terms of this season, he sat right behind JuJu Smith-Schuster and DK Metcalf, both of whom are number one options in their offenses.
Closing Thoughts
The basic premise of this article: don’t fret Vikings fans. The fact that Jefferson can be called out for getting so many targets should be a good thing. It shows that not only is Minnesota learning from past experiences, but they are also finding ways to involve multiple star receivers within an offense.
While it could seem an easy thing to do, there is only one ball to go around, so it can be difficult to find ways to give everyone their share. That is especially the case when one of the stars is new and unfamiliar to the quarterback. Minnesota, while still needing to improve some things, is starting to figure out how to do just that. This bodes well for Jefferson’s relationship with the Vikings moving forward, and it should have fans excited.