Justin Jefferson: 'I'm the main person that's going to make the decision'
Justin Jefferson hasn't been activated from injured reserve just yet, but he appears to be very close to returning based on his words Thursday when he used words like "I'm ready to get back out there" and "it's looking good."
Whenever the decision to play or hold him out Sunday against Denver is made, Jefferson says he'll be the one making that call.
"I'm the main person that's going to make the decision at the end of the day. I'm the person that's going out there running. I'm the person that's going out there and putting my body on the line to win games and do things for this organization. I know how I feel, I know how my hamstring is feeling," Jefferson said. "Of course we're going to weigh in on all the different opinions and what everyone has to say, but at the end of the day I'm the one that's going out there and putting my body on the line."
Sunday will mark six weeks – 42 days – since Jefferson strained his hamstring against the Chiefs. Minnesota has gone 5-0 without him and maintained a top-10 offense. When he gets back on the field, it'll make the Josh Dobbs-led offense that much more dangerous.
"Really just trying to focus on day-to-day. At this moment, just like I said before, I'm just trying to make sure that it doesn't come back," Jefferson said. "Of course doing the treatment every single day, doing different exercises to strengthen it up. It's been going well. Looking forward to seeing how it goes."
Head coach Kevin O'Connell said Wednesday that Jefferson is doing "everything in his power" to play Sunday night, but they're still exercising caution with their star player.
"We're kind of in that day-to-day ramping up phase now," O'Connell said. "We'll determine if it's possible at all to have him for this weekend. We'll determine that and take it one day at a time and then assess it with the doctors. I can tell you, he can't wait to get back going and he's doing everything in his power to do that."
The Viking have until Nov. 29 to activate Jefferson from injured reserve since they opened the 21-day window to do so on Nov. 8. That means it's still possible that he could miss the next two games and then get an entire bye week before suiting up against the Raiders on Dec. 10.
Justin Jefferson 'doing everything in his power' to play Sunday
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.