Justin Jefferson is Turning into a Closer
Justin Jefferson can basically do it all. The proud owner of numbers record, Jefferson is Minnesota’s WR1, best player overall, and (at worst) a top-10 player in the league more broadly.
What’s notable, though, is that he’s turning into a closer in 2024.
Indeed, if there was one indictment on his stats coming through the opening four years of his career, it’s that Mr. Jefferson didn’t score a ton. The issue isn’t that he didn’t have any touchdowns but, rather, that he didn’t produce at an elite level in the same manner as he does with receptions and yards. The opening four games of 2024 are pointing toward a different reality.
Justin Jefferson Keeps Scoring
Credit to Green Bay’s coverage: Jefferson wasn’t open when he scored his touchdown.
The issue, though, is that #18 can still make plays when he’s well covered (as he’ll readily explain). So, Sam Darnold recognized the single coverage and decided to give his best weapon a shot. Toss the ball toward his back shoulder and let Jefferson do something special.
Go ahead and relive the touchdown catch:
The wild thing is that Keisean Nixon is offering great coverage. The corner is right on his man, positioning his body strategically between the passer and the pass catcher. Almost always, Nixon’s coverage is going to be good enough to keep six points off the board.
Jefferson, though, is no normal receiver. He gets his head on a swivel, looking back so that he can trap the ball between his chest and open hand. Just sensational stuff.
Now go ahead and consider what the statistics have looked like across his career. Take a look at the chart:
| Year | Catches | Yards | Touchdowns |
| 2020 | 88 | 1,400 | 7 |
| 2021 | 108 | 1,616 | 10 |
| 2022 | 128 | 1,809 | 8 |
| 2023 | 68 | 1,074 | 5 |
| 2024 | 20 | 358 | 4 |
At his best, Justin Jefferson has stacked up 10 touchdowns, a rock-solid number. Otherwise, he has been down in the single digits. Past Vikings great Randy Moss was a more prolific scorer and the current NFL similarly offers receivers who have been better at picking up touchdowns than Minnesota’s top receiver.
If the pattern holds, however, then Jefferson will be pushing things to a new career-high. The simple math is that scoring 1 touchdown per game means 17 touchdowns at the end of the season. Easily that would be a career high and it would match Moss’ best output in a purple uniform.
What’s even more encouraging is that Jefferson is proving to be pivotal in other people scoring. Take a look at the block on the Jordan Addison rushing touchdown:
The coaching point at low levels of football is to “run to bums.” Essentially, let a blocker insert his body in-between the tackler and ball carrier. The ball carrier needs to respond to running off of his own player’s rump, thus avoiding entanglement with the defender. Addison reads things perfectly, running off of Jefferson’s rear end and into the end zone.
Justin Jefferson is already the league’s top wideout and is still improving. He’s proving to be a more lethal scorer and when he isn’t opening up passing touchdowns for his teammates — go back and re-watch previous scores involving Aaron Jones & Jalen Nailor — he’s proving to be a capable and willing blocker.
Jefferson, 25, signed a four-year extension in the offseason that keeps him in town through the 2028 season.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.