NFL analyst Ryan Clark caused a stir this week when he made the following comment during a segment on ESPN.
“George Pickens is much more talented than Justin Jefferson. Justin Jefferson understands everything about playing the position, stems, leverage, he can catch the football … He’s a savant,” Clark said. “But here’s the other thing, [Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin] told me something that I thought was great. He said, ‘[Georgia] didn’t even work to tolerate him, and they certainly didn’t try to raise him.'”
Many questioned how Clark could say such a thing given how dominant Jefferson has been in his first three NFL seasons. Not to mention the fact that Pickens finished his rookie season with Pittsburgh 1,008 yards shy of Jefferson’s total last year.
While Clark’s hot take is preposterous, and makes many overlook the rest of the quote, there is an important point made by a guy who played 13 NFL seasons at safety and has become a very good NFL analyst. That’s where Clark calls Jefferson, a fellow LSU alum, a savant.
Clark was considered a very smart player himself and praising Jefferson for being the same is a huge compliment. There is no lack of talent in the NFL and there are many great wide receivers, but Jefferson might be better than any of them and it’s his off-the-charts football IQ that helps to separate him.
Cordarrelle Patterson was taken 29th overall by the Vikings in 2013 — seven picks after Jefferson was selected in the 2020 draft — and had phenomenal athletic ability. It was Patterson’s inability to perfect the nuances of the wide receiver position that finally led the Vikings to give up on him. He is now with the Atlanta Falcons, his fifth NFL team, and is a running back.
Jefferson is preparing for his fourth season, having led the NFL with 128 receptions for 1,809 yards and nine total touchdowns, including one rushing, in 2022. That earned him the league’s Offensive Player of the Year award and made him a finalist for MVP.
Jefferson also established several Vikings’ single-season records. This included passing Randy Moss for the most receiving yards and Cris Carter for the receptions as well as the most receiving yards (4,825) in a player’s first three years. All of this came in his age 23 season.
Watching Jefferson in training camp, it appears he has improved. That is in large part due to the work he puts in on his technique. This is where Clark’s analysis was spot on. Jefferson has made catches in practice this summer in which he goes up to catch a pass, changes his angle while in mid-air and lands exactly where he wants. He makes his job look effortless and easy. It isn’t.
Jefferson caught a Kirk Cousins pass at the goal line during the Vikings’ joint practice with the Titans on Thursday in which he seemed to contort himself between two defenders, make a phenomenal catch and avoid being hit. These types of plays aren’t made by a guy who spent his offseason relaxing. Jefferson knows he must work on the physical and mental areas of his game because opponents have made it clear they are spending time working on shutting him down.
Jefferson’s incredible gravity-defying catch on a Cousins’ fourth-and-18 pass last November in Buffalo with under two minutes to play, was the product of all of his work.
“It’s been the same for the last two years, really,” Jefferson said. “So it’s just always trying to find new moves, find new ways to better my craft. Of course, I’ve got to see those double-teams, triple-teams throughout the year. Just trying to beat those coverages, even when it’s hard.”
Having the success Jefferson has experienced, means putting in the work to become a football savant.
Still, why would Clark call Pickens “much more talented” than Jefferson when that isn’t true? This strikes me as a motivational tactic in which Tomlin could have been involved. Remember, Clark played eight seasons with the Steelers, including his final seven with Tomlin as his coach.
Clark’s comments run the risk of boosting Pickens’ ego into another stratosphere, but he’s also pointing out that Jefferson is a true professional, while Pickens wasn’t developed in his three seasons at Georgia. The message: Work as much on your craft as Jefferson does and you can be as good or better.
It goes even deeper than that, considering Clark also got to take a jab at a former SEC rival in Georgia.
Only time will tell if Clark’s words help to motivate Pickens to reach his potential, but it seems he did Tomlin a favor. As for the Jefferson comment? Clark was wrong about the talent part but no one will argue with the rest of his analysis.
