If you were in charge of the Minnesota Vikings front office, would you send Justin Jefferson away in a trade to get a quarterback of the future?
Yes, you read that correctly.
That’s the discussion currently on social media and it began with a fan question on SKOR North’s Purple Daily co-hosted by our own Judd Zulgad.
If it guaranteed the #Vikings the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, would you trade Justin Jefferson? 😳 pic.twitter.com/qWs9MQTHt7
— SKOR North (@SKORNorth) June 18, 2023
A quarterback of the future is really important, especially with it being the most important and valuable position in the game of football. Is getting that player worth sacrificing your best player? Quite frankly, it’s not a good idea.
Jefferson has shown no signs of being disgruntled
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been consistent in calling this a competitive rebuild and has been unwilling to completely tear it down.
“We’re all aligned on what our vision is and how we see the needs of our team this year, next year and overall our whole time horizon,” Adofo-Mensah said on March 23rd, 2022. “I think when people look at teams they sometimes do it in a very binary way. And they ask, ‘Are you either all-in or tearing down and rebuilding?’ And I don’t really look at the world that way. The way we look at it is we’re trying to navigate both worlds, we’re trying to live in today and tomorrow, or the competitive rebuild, however you want to phrase it or market it, and so I think that’s kind of how we’ve approached this offseason and our time horizons going forward.”
Does that sound like a philosophy that alligns with trading Jefferson while he’s seemingly happy and in his prime? Absolutely not. Jefferson is a massive part of the future of the Vikings and Adofo-Mensah has said so himself during his season-ending press conference.
“You have a special player, special person. Those aren’t
problems or at least those are champagne problems, so we’ll start there. We’ve had initial dialogue with him, his agent and all those things. We factor that into planning, but again really starts with the player, the person and work out solutions from there on.”
The Vikings have a history of trading wide receivers while they are still in their prime, but there was a level of being disgruntled with the situation they had in Minnesota. Jefferson hasn’t shown any of that.
He's phenomenal
Make no mistake about it, Jefferson is the best receiver in the game today. If you don’t think he’s the best, he’s at worst top three. The things he can do consistently are incredible and he has the numbers to prove it. Over his first three seasons, Jefferson has the most receptions (324) and yards (4,825) for any receiver in NFL history. He wins in a myriad of ways against defenders, beating them with nuance in his route running, leaping to win at the catch point and his speed.
Salary cap doesn't mean much
When you have any discussions about paying a star player, the salary cap comes into play. You have to maneuver accordingly whenever you sign a player to a big contract. If you plan well enough, it won’t be an issue.
The big thing with the salary cap is that it goes up every year, and how much it rises is within a certain range, but isn’t a certain number. That is something you have to deal with. It’s also worth dealing with when you have an ascending talent at the young age of 24 who is already at the top of his position.
If you are worried about the salary cap implications of Jefferson’s future contract when he will still be in his prime at the age of 29, then it’s time to re-adjust your priorities.
Surroundings mean everything
There are two reasons why quarterbacks end up successful: they are simply good and they have great surroundings.
Take a look at some of the young quarterbacks drafted that have failed. All of the quarterbacks the Cleveland Browns have drafted and the Jaguars failures before Trevor Lawrence could have succeeded if the surroundings were better, but they ultimately failed.
Giving a quarterback a great infrastructure means a lot when you talk about success. Patrick Mahomes walked into a fantastic infrastructure with Andy Reid, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce along with a solid offensive line. That helped him grow faster and succeed earlier in his career.
Having Jefferson with the likes of Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill at tackle and Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson as weapons on the outside gives a quarterback a really good basis for success. And if Kevin O’Connell is exactly who the Vikings hired him to be, that’s one hell of an infrastructure for whoever the Vikings end up taking as the quarterback of the future.
In conclusion, don't
We’ve talked a lot about how Jefferson impacts things on the field, but one element that doesn’t get discussed enough is the off-field impact. He drives merchandise sales and is a big factor in why the Vikings are a solid business success. Trading Jefferson with the circumstances that currently surround him would be a massive public relations hit, not to mention an on-field mistake. You can find a way to draft a quarterback of the future by trading other assets, but moving Jefferson for that asset is a very poor decision.
In essence, don’t do it.
