Kevin O’Connell Delivered Some Sweet News
The Minnesota Vikings have had some big-name players return to practice in recent weeks, including star left tackle Christian Darrisaw and new guard Will Fries. Wideout Rondale Moore, meanwhile, landed on IR, just like Matt Nelson and Zeke Correll. Much shorter was the absence of Justin Jefferson, the face of the franchise.
Kevin O’Connell Delivered Some Sweet News
Kevin O’Connell, the man who’s preparing the Vikings for the regular season for the fourth time, talked to the local media on Monday, two days after the preseason loss versus the New England Patriots.
Much of those ten minutes was spent talking about the top weapon, Jefferson. His absence because of a hamstring strain is finally in the rearview mirror, O’Connell announced.
“He will begin to take part in practice. It’ll be kind of a ramp-up. You’ll see him take parts in bits and pieces of it here, but he will officially be back to work and be ramping up from here.”
Of course, Jefferson will not immediately be at 100% and participate in every single drill. The Vikings will continue their usual careful approach with their franchise player. Still, with three weeks to go until the season opener, it’s a good time to start working back into the lineup.
“He’s kind of through this period of time where we let him get his football legs back underneath him,” O’Connell continued. “He’s done such a good job with building his strength and doing the work with the medical team and the strength team that I think he probably feels like he’s pretty darn close and ready to go.”
Jefferson will be asked to be J.J. McCarthy’s primary pass-catcher in 2025. Having a safety blanket like the former LSU standout as a target certainly helps any young passer. In the first three weeks of the season, the Vikings will also be without Jordan Addison due to his suspension, making Jefferson’s presence even more important than it already would be. Tight end T.J. Hockenson is fully available, too, about 20 months removed from his torn ACL.
“But we’ve got this time leading into three weeks from today,” O’Connell added, “so we’ve got a little bit of time now to kind of work him back in, continue to build his reps up here as we go, and it coincides with the schedule, with how we handle this week, being a pretty heavy week for that first group of guys that we can slowly integrate him back in, you’ll see him doing some work with the group.”
Building a connection with McCarthy is crucial for both players individually, but also for the entirety of Minnesota’s aerial attack and offense in general.
Jefferson is still on a record-breaking pace, racking up the most yards of a player in the first five seasons of a career, but also the most yards by any player before turning 26. Currently, he sits at 7,432 yards and 40 touchdowns, with the NFL’s all-time high of 96.5 yards per game. It’s his second hamstring strain. He previously missed seven games in 2023 with a more severe version of such an injury.
After practice, the receiver was also available for some media questions. He emphasised, “It feels great to get back into the normal routine of being with the guys, being in the workouts, in practice and walk-throughs. I’ve been itching for it, so I’m just glad I’m feeling great again and back to being with the guys.”
If we’ve learned one thing about the 26-year-old, it’s that he loves to play football, and watching training camp from the sidelines certainly wasn’t his favorite task.
Don’t expect to see Jefferson take part in any of the remaining preseason action, but he’ll be fully unleashed in Week 1 on September 8th.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.