Does success Vikings offseason hinge on Jefferson, Hockenson extensions?
With the dust settled on training camp, preseason and the roster cutdown, you could argue that the Minnesota Vikings had a pretty ideal summer.
Danielle Hunter decided to re-work his contract. They are going to open the season with a grand total of one player (Kene Nwangwu) on injured reserve. They saw their first and third-round draft picks earn starting jobs. The players appear to fit Brian Flores’s defense, particularly some in different roles than they were used in the past (i.e. Josh Metellus, Marcus Davenport, Byron Murphy Jr.) and an undrafted linebacker emerged as a potentially important player.
Certainly you could argue that it wasn’t all perfect. The 2022 draft class remains suspect with neither Lewis Cine nor Andrew Booth Jr. taking first-team reps and the guard position still an open question heading into battle with Vita Vea in Week 1. I’m sure they would have loved if Jalen Reagor or Ross Blacklock would have blown their socks off in Year 2 in the Vikings’ system.
Outside of that, this is the best version of the Vikings that the front office and coaching staff could have hoped for at the beginning of the NFL marathon. Whether that means regression or a return to the playoffs who knows but we will get to see the complete team they put together.
But there is one subject still hanging over TCO Performance Center that leaves the offseason feeling unresolved. Like we still have the season finale of the offseason to come in the form of contract extensions for Justin Jefferson and TJ Hockenson.
Neither player held out or held in or whatever the kids are doing to pressure teams to sign extensions these days but their summers in Eagan were different. While Jefferson took every rep and every soul of every defender he faced, Hockenson started out camp well and then had different ailments keep him from practicing. It’s not uncommon for NFL players to be straight forward with their hold-ins but Hock’s drifted into bizarro world when he appeared set to come back to practice and then came down with a case of back stiffness.
And then a report came out from The Athletic that he wants to “reset the tight end market.” Remarkable timing.
By now we have a pretty good sense of what’s going on with both gentlemen. When Mark Wilf acknowledged that he would be involved in Jefferson talks and excitedly talked about how much they want to extend the star receiver, there is no ambiguity about where the Vikings stand. It’s not like recent reports about the Vikings wanting to get the deal done are exactly breaking new ground when the owner practically tattoos it on his forehead. But signing the most gifted wide receiver on the planet is no easy task. Both sides understand the price tag has to clear everyone else’s dollar figures but the length, structure and guarantees take a lot more work to get nailed down.
With Hockenson, it seems a little more impasse-y. The way the Vikings have handled the entire offseason is with clear ideas of what they are willing to pay and if that number is exceeded they didn’t budge. Kirk Cousins didn’t get the multi-year deal his side reportedly wanted. The Vikings desired to have Dalvin Tomlinson as their NT but Cleveland came in with a huge offer and they stopped bidding. Adam Thielen was reportedly offered a dollar figure to stay and the team didn’t budge so he’s a Carolina Panther. If they have a mark on Hockenson that they refuse to pass, then the Vikings are aware that he can be franchise tagged next year or they could trade him or they could get a comp pick for him and I’m certain they have noticed that Josh Oliver is pretty good at football.
As we approach the start of September, everything is on the table. Jefferson could sign tomorrow or be holding in like Nick Bosa on August 30th next year. Hockenson could sign tomorrow or be a Las Vegas Raider by this time next season. Who knows where it goes but as the clock ticks closer to midnight it’s worth wondering: If these extensions don’t happen, is the shine taken off the Vikings’ offseason?
And we can include more than just a good/healthy camp, but the overall long-needed refreshing of the roster with the aim to find the next wave of players that they will be building around for years to come.
The answer, with no disrespect to the talents of Hockenson, is that only a lack of a Jefferson extension could bring down the vibes.
Hockenson is a top 10 tight end who stepped up big time in the playoffs against the Giants, proving that he’s a valuable and versatile weapon. But he’s a planet and Jefferson is the sun. Jefferson is Randy Moss or Kevin Garnett. He’s Kirby Puckett or Joe Mauer. He’s Anthony Edwards or Kirill Kaprizov. Every moment that he isn’t locked into a long-term deal is an anxious one for fans and the team, even if the front office is well aware of the NFL’s by-design advantages for teams attempting to keep first rounders (see: Jackson, Lamar and Bosa, Nick).
It’s not just even the threat of Jefferson leaving but the idea of a future contract holdout and — something that makes Minnesotans even more upset — the possibility that he doesn’t want to be here. Even the words are enough to make a Minnetonka native throw their pronto pup into the lake. Not having a deal done means the entire fan base watching the season on the injury report with the listing: knot in stomach.
There is also no person more valuable to the next Vikings quarterback. Does it increase the chances of Jimmy Prospect X’s success if he has the best pass catcher on earth? You betcha. The franchise’s future rests here.
Jefferson’s talent and achievements have rivaled only the greatest but there is also something about his personality that fits with Minnesota. Do you know many receivers from New Orleans who wear Oakleys and diamond encrusted grills over their teeth, yet come across as happy-go-lucky and approachable? Somehow he pulls it off. He won the Korey Stringer media good guy award in 2021 and got votes again last year (it went to Patrick Peterson). His joy for the game is infectious enough to show up for preseason warm-ups just to see him run around and have fun with football. There’s something more than just catch radiuses to having him here.
That is no implication that a contract scuffle will change any of that but it will add immense pressure on everyone, including and especially GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, whose mantra for the offseason in most negotiations has been that if you aren’t nailed to the floorboards you can leave the house. They have to bend without breaking. There is no middle ground, but maybe there is such a thing giving up so much ground that the next iteration of this roster can’t afford anything more than nose guards in free agency.
The fact that Jefferson practiced all summer feels like an implication that everyone wants the same thing here. If it doesn’t get done, US Bank Stadium doesn’t collapse into the Mississippi River. He will play and help them compete for the North title and then the contract will get addressed down the road. But you can’t get A-pluses for the offseason without the franchise player signed. Then it’s still incomplete, even if a lot of other progress was made.
