-
Kevin Seifert, ESPN Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — If Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson is angry, disappointed or otherwise upset after failing to secure a long-term contract extension this weekend, he wasn’t letting on Sunday.
Speaking shortly after the Vikings’ 20-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which he caught eight passes for 150 yards, Jefferson said his approach wouldn’t change. Asked if the experience had altered how he feels about the team and whether he wants to remain with the Vikings in future seasons, he said: “Not really.”
Jefferson added: “I have the same mindset as I had before. At the end of the day, all I can do is play football. And that’s what I continue to do. I know my team. My team doesn’t care about the contract, you know? And I don’t either. I just want to be here for my teammates, play for my teammates and of course get these wins.”
In the third year of his rookie contract, Jefferson is set to earn $2.4 million this season and $19.7 million in 2024. If he is still unsigned at that point, Jefferson could face a franchise tag in 2025. But such hard-line approaches rarely appeal to star players, and the Vikings negotiated for months with his agents after Jefferson’s historic third season in 2022.
In addition to winning honors for All-Pro and NFL Offensive Player of the Year, Jefferson set an NFL record for receiving yards (4,825) in the first three seasons of a career. The Vikings hoped he would agree to a contract by Saturday, and talks were intense for much of the past week, but the circumstances proved too complicated to resolve.
The Vikings did not make general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah available to reporters Sunday, but coach Kevin O’Connell has been having “daily” dialogue with Jefferson.
“He knows I support him 100 percent,” O’Connell said, “and he was all in today and really has been. We would have loved to get something done with Justin, but the decision was made. And I do not for one second believe that Justin is not going to put his best foot forward like he did today. And really was pretty darn special today.”
Jefferson, in fact, set yet another NFL record Sunday by recording the ninth 150-yard receiving game before he turned 25 years old. The next three players on that list are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Randy Moss (eight), Isaac Bruce (six) and Lance Alworth (6).
But he did much of that work Sunday in the first half, during which he caught seven passes for 138 yards. After halftime, the Vikings had only three possessions and Jefferson managed just two catches for 12 yards.