We’re experiencing a golden age of wide receiver talent in the NFL these days, with the pipeline sending gifted high school recruits through the workouts circuit and into pass-happy college programs resulting in a glut of high-end draft prospects for pro teams to fight over. But few players have taken the league by storm lately quick like Justin Jefferson. The former LSU Tiger has racked up 196 receptions for 3,016 receiving yards through his first two years in the NFL, immediately asserting himself as one of the game’s best young playmakers.
And he’s seen some serious competition through two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. Jefferson spoke about the best defenders he’s run against in the pros during an interview with the Ringer NFL Show podcast, naming two cornerbacks as the toughest matchups he’s seen so far: Los Angeles Rams superstar Jalen Ramsey and the New Orleans Saints’ Marshon Lattimore, a four-time Pro Bowler.
“Jalen Ramsey, of course, is a top-tier cornerback. His ability to be long and to be aggressive. That’s definitely one of the three things that is so difficult to get by him,” Jefferson said, continuing, “Marshon Lattimore is also a difficult corner to go up against. He’s twitchy, he’s fast and you can’t really beat him off the ball too much. So it’s all technical.”
Play-by-play charting from Pro Football Focus found that Jefferson was thrown to 8 times during his 2020 meeting with Lattimore, snagging 4 receptions for 55 yards in Lattimore’s coverage. Lattimore broke up two passes and kept him out of the end zone. That’s a nice day of work against such a special talent — Jefferson is already averaging 5.9 receptions for 91.4 receiving yards per game in his young career. The Saints pass defense as a whole limited Jefferson to 5 catches and 85 yards during Minnesota’s 52-33 defeat.
New Orleans will be counting on more dominant performances from Lattimore in the future, including an early-season rematch with Jefferson (in London on Oct. 2, during Week 4). With a veteran free agents Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye stepping in at safety, and a couple of young corners competing to start opposite Lattimore in Paulson Adebo and Alontae Taylor, he’s now the longest-tenured starter in the secondary, with 80 games played for the Saints (7 in the postseason). Next-most is C.J. Gardner-Johnson, with 46 appearances (3 playoff games).
So Lattimore has more to worry about than just stopping the elite receivers lining up against him each Sunday. That seniority he’s inherited following Marcus Williams’ departure and Malcolm Jenkins’ retirement is going to lead to younger teammates looking to him for leadership. It’s a new challenge, maybe, but Lattimore has shown us he can tackle new changes before. It’ll be fascinating to see this next stage of his career unfold.
