Why the Vikings Shouldn’t Have Drafted Justin Jefferson
Turn back the clock and there were probably some out there who believed that opting for Justin Jefferson was a mistake.
After all, the team had recently sunk a 1st into a different receiver — Laquon Treadwell back in 2016 — and that ended up going very poorly. Why the Vikings would risk repeating the same error, presumably, was beyond the grasp for some. Are we seeing a similar logic play out in a different conversation surrounding Minnesota’s upcoming journey into the 2025 NFL Draft?
Why the Vikings Shouldn’t Have Drafted Justin Jefferson
Begin with the most basic observation: drafting Justin Jefferson turned out to be a tremendous success. Go ahead and redo the 2020 NFL Draft. How high does the NFL’s WR1 go? Joe Burrow would go No. 1 yet again — an elite quarterback is more valuable than an elite receiver — but one has to assume that Jefferson doesn’t escape the No. 2 draft slot.
So, the Vikings did well getting him at No. 22, laughing all the way to the (virtual) podium after Philadelphia opted for Jalen Reagor.
The Vikings’ cornerstone player has been in the NFL for five seasons. Every season has involved clearing 1,000 yards, even in 2023 when he missed seven full games (alongside part of two more) while moving through the quarterback chaos. He has been a first-team All Pro twice, a second-team All Pro twice, a four-time Pro Bowler, the Offensive Player of the Year (2022), and finished fifth in MVP voting (2022). Somehow, he’s still only 25.
Yes, Rick Spielman chose wisely in 2020. He wasn’t scared off by his 2016 selection of Treadwell, a receiver who never blossomed with the Vikings. Imagine if the GM had allowed that previous miss on a 1st-Round receiver to dissuade him from drafting a future 1st-Round receiver. Where would the team be right now without Justin Jefferson?
Now, what’s the point? Well, something similar could be occurring in the broader discussions of Lewis Cine and possibly picking a 1st-Round safety.
Without question, opting for a safety at No. 24 would be met with some skepticism within Minnesota’s borders. Cine was just drafted in 2022 and is no longer with the team. He played a grand total of ten defensive snaps as a Viking, illustrating just how poorly his time in Minnesota went. Should we look at the Cine selection and then conclude that opting for a safety is now cursed, misguided, and something to be avoided?
On Vikings Territory, Dustin Baker summarized some of the sentiment, “Various mock drafts have connected the purple team to Georgia’s Malaki Starks and South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori, both safeties, but after Adofo-Mensah swung and missed on Lewis Cine three years ago, he may not make the same mistake twice.”
To be sure, there are reasons to be against opting for a safety in the opening round. After all, we’re talking about a non-premium position. Strong options like Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson can be found quite late (both were scooped up in the 6th round; Metellus was the No. 205 pick in his draft while Jackson was the No. 204 pick in his draft).
Nevertheless, there’s a world where opting for a safety is the exact right move for the Vikings. Let’s not forget that once upon a time Harrison Smith went in the opening round. In fact, the Vikings traded back into the 1st to go get him, an aggressive move that has aged wonderfully.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can’t allow a past miss on a safety to outright nullify the possibility of a safety in the present or the future. If the individual is worthy of being drafted at No. 24, then by all means make the choice. After all, allowing a past failure to take an entire position out of one’s 1st-Round range would mean that Justin Jefferson would have never become a Viking.
The 2025 NFL Draft gets going on April 24th. If a safety goes to Minnesota, comfort yourself with the fact that Jefferson’s career didn’t mirror Treadwell’s career; similarly, the new safety doesn’t need to mirror Cine.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference 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 social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.