Amid swirling rumors, Vikings have 'no plans' to trade Justin Jefferson
Sitting on eggshells over the thought that the Minnesota Vikings might trade superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson? You can relax as Dianna Russini and Alec Lewis of The Athletic are reporting Wednesday that the Vikings still have "no plans" to trade him.
The Vikings came close to extending WR Justin Jefferson last offseason. In Indy, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah aggressively rejected the idea of trading the star. Kirk Cousins’ departure hasn’t changed things. The Vikings have no plans to trade Jefferson, sources tell me and @alec_lewis.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 13, 2024
The idea of Jefferson being traded picked up momentum Tuesday when his former college teammate Ja'Marr Chase tweeted "this will be a krazy story to tell." The cryptic tweet led to speculation that he, Jefferson and Joe Burrow, who were teammates at LSU, could be reunited with the Bengals.
That smoke was fanned further when former Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert tweeted that his sources were telling him that "Jefferson to Cincy is in motion." Later, after seeing someone tweet that he was joking, he acted like he wasn't joking.
“Jokes”…? https://t.co/V7WXXgXbrp
— Tyler Eifert (@tylereifert) March 13, 2024
ESPN's Kay Adams didn't help the situation when she tweeted a 24-second video of her chat with Jefferson from last December in which she and Jefferson laughed when she suggested he'd look good in Bengals tiger stripes.
majored in instigating with a minor in pot-stirring.. 😈
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) March 13, 2024
December. All giggles with @JJettas2. pic.twitter.com/hXPypouA3A
Adam Schefter reported on ESPN Tuesday that Jefferson turned down an offer from Minnesota before the 2023 season that would've paid him $30 million annually. He didn't go into details beyond that, but even $30 million per season would fall short of making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league, and if he wants to "break the bank," as he said at the NFL Combine, it might take something closer to $35 million to get his deal done.
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said at the Combine that he believes Jefferson should be compensated as the best wide receiver in the league and that any report of Minnesota thinking of trading him is "completely false."
"I've promised [Jefferson's camp] and I will continue to promise them that I will not talk about our negotiations. I think this job should be done with integrity, so a lot of this stuff that I hear is completely false but I can't get up here and tell you what's not true and not false because that's not how I promised to do this job," the GM said Feb. 27. "But I will tell you that we're excited to have him and continue those conversations because he's somebody we want around for a long time."
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