No need to panic: Justin Jefferson suits up for mandatory minicamp
Mandatory minicamp began Tuesday at TCO Performance Center in Eagan and the Minnesota Vikings had superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson in attendance.
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— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 13, 2023
Jefferson's arrival marks the first time this offseason that he's participated in team activities, having missed all of the voluntary organized team activities in May and early June.
Why he missed OTAs remains a mystery, though one thought is that it's because he's waiting to receive a new contract that secures his long-term future with the team that drafted him in 2020.
What's unclear is if his participation in minicamp is a signal that a new contract is about to be announced.
It's been two weeks since longtime Minnesota sportscaster Mark Rosen said "keep your eye on what's going on with Justin Jefferson the next 48 hours." Since then, not a peep. Rosen's words followed an optimistic comment from Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell about Jefferson being with the team for mandatory minicamp, which has now been proved accurate.
"For me, I hope to see him as soon as possible," O'Connell said May 30. "Would love to have him, obviously. But I think as we work towards minicamp we'll have a real, clean cut plan of what that looks like, and hopefully get him some work, and I know a lot of the guys will be excited to see him."
The 24-year-old is due to earn about $2.4 million in cash in 2023. The Vikings have picked up Jefferson's fifth-year option that will pay him around $19.7 million in 2024, according to OverTheCap, but even that number wouldn't put him near market value considering he's arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.
The belief around the league is that Jefferson could become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, which would mean an average annual salary of at least $31 million for any new contract he signs.
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.