What to make of the Justin Jefferson 'steam' he could be traded report
The next wave of football rumors, reports and speculation is going to come over the next week as the NFL Scouting Combine is held in Indianapolis, Ind. Feb. 26 through Feb. 4 – and you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be much to say about Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Ahead of the combine opening on Monday there was a Saturday nugget from longtime Twin Cities sports columnist Charley Walters, who wrote that "steam continues that the Vikings could make Justin Jefferson available for trade."
What that steam is we don't know because there haven't been any verified reports saying Minnesota has any interest in trading the 24-year-old megastar. Sure, Colin Cowherd proposed the idea but other than that it's been nothing more than an idea floated by talk show hosts.
What we can trust are the words directly from Jefferson.
"I want to break the bank and I want to be a part of an organization that wants me and to really give me what I deserve. I feel like eventually the Vikings will do what they need to do to have me in the building, but I don't really know at this very moment. Only time will tell," Jefferson said during Super Bowl week.
Jefferson thinks the Vikings "will do what they need to do" to sign him. Everything else is just smoke until proven otherwise.
Does Walters know something that others don't? It's entirely possible, but who really knows for sure? Only Jefferson and the Vikings.
We can go one step further and note that Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio believes the structure of a deal might be what's holding up an agreement between Jefferson and the Vikings being announced. Does Jefferson want multiple years of fully guaranteed money?
Tight end T.J. Hockenson's money was guaranteed in 2024 and will be again in 2025, according to reports. If Hockenson was able to get guarantees beyond the first year then Jefferson would certainly get the same or better, right? It's easy to speculation but one can never know for sure.
Keep in mind that Florio also cited an "internal rule" with in the Vikings' organization about not fully guaranteeing contracts beyond the first year for anyone other than Kirk Cousins, but that obviously wasn't the case with Hockenson so it's hard to be convinced that his report is accurate.
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.