He’s back: Jefferson posts 8/92/2 line in Week 1

Head coach Kevin O’Connell ruled out veteran receiver Jauan Jennings, citing a death of a close family member. Jennings will step away from the team to mourn the passing, leaving Tai Felton as the player most likely to step into his vacated role when the Vikings take on the Bears. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison should take on all the volume they can handle with the team also without Jordan Mason. Jefferson is a locked-in WR1 while Addison offers an intriguing upside-WR2 profile after putting up a dud in Week 1.

Jefferson told Seifert what many of us were concerned about this spring and summer — that having the Murray and QB J.J. McCarthy split first-team reps “was an added challenge.” At the Vikings’ joint practice against the Ravens on Wednesday, Jefferson beat a double team for a touchdown, “but had roughly a half dozen passes broken up as he tried to muscle for position.” Jefferson should still be treated as a WR1, but as he told Seifert, “work needs to be done.”

This comes from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. In hopes of getting under the cap before the start of the new league year, the Vikings will restructure the deals of both Jefferson and LT Christian Darrisaw, likely by converting portions of their base salaries into guaranteed money. The Vikings rank last in the league in available cap space, per OverTheCap.com, and will likely restructure a few more deals in the coming days to get to a point where they have money to spend in free agency.

Jefferson was 47 yard short of 1,000 receiving yards on the season and eclipsed that marker in the first half with a barrage of targets from J.J. McCarthy before McCarthy left the game with a right hand injury. Plagued by some of the worst quarterbacking in recent NFL memory, Jefferson managed just two touchdowns after ten touchdowns last season without an established starter under center for the Vikings. He had no chemistry whatsoever with McCarthy. Jefferson remains an elite wideout who dominates targets and air yards and will continue to do so in 2026. If he gets some decent quarterback play, Jefferson should bounce back nicely in Kevin O’Connell’s fantasy-friendly offensive scheme.

It could have been worse? Max Brosmer threw for all of 51 yards in a game that set offense back to before there even was a streaming service to watch a football game on, so getting even 30 yards becomes a little more impresssive. Imagine being issued caveats about a Justin Jefferson game coming into 2025. He’ll get one more chance to add to the disappointing numbers in Week 18 against the Packers.

Jefferson has been seeing WR1 volume all year. He hasn’t given fantasy managers a WR1 performance in months. While he might not crack the top 12 for Week 16 when all is said and done, this is still his best showing by total yards since Week 6. Six catches are his best mark since Week 8. Jefferson notably converted multiple third downs with more than 10 yards to go. One came from J.J. McCarthy on the opening drive and the other was a miraculous, toe-dragging catch on a Max Brosmer toss near in the second half. With McCarthy banged up and Brosmer likely to start next week, Jefferson will be stuck on the WR2/3 border for the fantasy football championship week.

Jefferson saw numerous high-value targets in this one, failing to come down with either of his two end zone chances. The veteran alpha also had a touchdown called back in the second quarter after connecting with McCarthy from four yards out, only to see the score nullified by penalty. Additionally, two separate passes hit Jefferson in the hands and eventually fell incomplete. Jefferson and the Vikings continue forward now eliminated from postseason contention — something Jefferson-reliant managers can sympathize with — so they’ll spend the remainder of the season trying to work on the connection between the team’s quarterback and top pass-catcher.

Jefferson has now totaled 15 combined receiving yards over the last two weeks. The Vikings’ WR1 failed to make an impact in what was undoubtedly the best game of J.J. McCarthy’s young career, and would have gone without a catch were it not for two receptions on the Vikings’ second drive of the game. Jefferson did see a deep target in the end zone that was broken up by Commanders cornerback Mike Sainristil, but that was the closest he came to avoiding back-to-back dud weeks. Talent alone will keep Jefferson in the top-24 mix for Week 15’s game against the Cowboys, but it’s impossible to ignore this disappointing stretch.

It was as bleak as ever for Jefferson in a lost season in the prime of his NFL career. The Vikings designed some easy looks for Jefferson in the first quarter, but Max Brosmer — an undrafted rookie making his first-ever NFL start — quickly looked elsewhere. Jordan Addison led the Vikings with ten targets and TJ Hockenson saw six looks from Brosmer, who averaged 4.2 yards per throw. It doesn’t really matter whether Brosmer or JJ McCarthy (concussion) is under center for the Vikings in Week 14 against Atlanta: Jefferson is nothing more than a top-24 fantasy option with limited upside.

Since Carson Wentz went down against the Chargers in Week 8, Jefferson has not crossed 70 yards or done better than six catches. J.J. McCarthy has somehow turned the NFL’s No. 1 wideout for two years running into someone who can barely get a chance to catch a dig route. Perhaps the Vikings will find a different quarterback ahead of Week 13’s game against the Seahawks, but if they don’t, we’re at the point where we just have to assume McCarthy can’t do better for Jefferson than a WR3 game.