Tag: Justin Jefferson

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson to become first NFL player featured in Fortnite

Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson has helped popularize “The Griddy” in the NFL. Now, it’s coming to Fortnite.

It’s almost time to do “The Griddy” — online at least.

Minnesota wideout Justin Jefferson, who has become famous for doing “The Griddy” when celebrating touchdowns, will become the first NFL player to be featured in the popular video game Fortnite.

While Jefferson is not the originator of “The Griddy,” he did popularize the dance at the NFL level and when he was at LSU. Allen Davis created the dance when he was at Landry high school in Louisiana.

People playing Fortnite can buy Jefferson’s bundle, which will give them exclusive cosmetics, a weapon and the ability to do “The Griddy.” You can see an example of how the dance will look in the game below:

The Vikings rookie receiver took the league by storm in 2020, finishing with 1,400 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions. Now, he can take the online world by storm, too.

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson talks about Kirk Cousins hot mic moment

Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson addressed the moment he had with Kirk Cousins during the Chicago Bears game.

The Vikings were in the midst of salvaging their season, but the team desperately needed to defeat the Bears in December to have a good shot at the playoffs.

Down 13, Kirk Cousins threw the ball into the back of the end zone, missing Justin Jefferson, the intended receiver. Jefferson got caught on a hot mic voicing his frustrations to Cousins.

Jefferson recently discussed that moment with Tyler R. Tynes of GQ Magazine:

“I think people ran with it because Stefon Diggs just left for, apparently, being a diva. So, I guess them having the assumption that I’m just like that or I cry or I ask for the ball too much, whatever whatever. People fail to realize folks say this all the time. But, now with Covid and no fans, there’s hot mics. You hear everything in the stadium. I really don’t care about that type of stuff. I’m gonna say whatever I need to say on the field. If I’m frustrated, I’m going to get my point across. I’m going to show you my competitiveness and my eagerness to win is shown on the field.”

Jefferson added that he doesn’t want to be a quiet player that just sits back and goes along, he wants to win games. Asked about whether Cousins did in fact need to get the ball to Jefferson quicker, Jefferson said maybe a little bit.

“But I talked to him after and we got that whole situation settled down,” Jefferson told Tynes. “He wanted me to come up to him and talk to him instead of yelling for the TV to hear.”

Justin Jefferson on the Eagles passing on him; Now preferring the Vikings over Philly

Former LSU star and current Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson thought he was heading to the Eagles in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Justin Jefferson is scorned and at some point, the Philadelphia Eagles will have to deal with the record-setting wideout.

The former LSU star thought he was headed for Philadelphia during the 2020 NFL Draft when the Eagles made an about-face and selected Jalen Reagor.

During a recent sitdown with Tyler R. Tynes for GQ Magazine, Jefferson admitted that he’d already started house shopping in the Philadelphia area and was expecting to land with the Eagles when Jalen Reagor’s name was called.

Leading up to the draft, you know, they had all of those mock drafts and people sharing their opinions on who is going to go where. A lot of people had me going to Philly. And, I thought I was going to Philly. Honestly. The funny part is, Philly was on the board and then Minnesota called me. At first, I thought it was Philly. But, I answered the phone and it was Minnesota. It’s crazy how all of that happened and everything. But, I’m definitely, definitely, definitely excited that I’m on the Vikings rather than Philly.

When asked if he’ll carry motivation from being passed over, Jefferson made it clear that he’s looking forward to matching up with the Eagles at some point.

I’ll always treat every game the same, no matter who I’m playing. But Philly will definitely be edgier. You know, especially because they passed on me.

2022 is the earliest the two franchises could potentially match up again and Jefferson was the definite winner after a rookie season that saw him log 88 catches for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns.

Reagor for his part had 31 catches for 396 yards and a touchdown in 11 games last season.

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Projecting the Vikings offense for 2021

The Minnesota Vikings offense has the potential to be really good in 2021, with players like Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and Kirk Cousins.

The Vikings just had too many inconsistencies to overcome in 2020. But Minnesota still had its share of bright spots.

Most of those bright spots came on offense. RB Dalvin Cook had a career year. Adam Thielen came back from an injury-marred 2019 and Justin Jefferson emerged as a star.

If this unit can repeat the success it had in 2020, then an improved defense could lead to a bounce-back season.

As it stands, most of the team’s offensive positions seem pretty defined, with just a few exceptions. Here is a projection for a starting lineup in 2020.

Just a note: Vikings Wire added a few positions outside of the conventional starters. We even threw in some special teams spots.

Vikings to play Chargers in 2021 with NFL finalizing 17th game

We’ll get to see two of the best rookies from last year in the game with Justin Herbert and Justin Jefferson.

As expected, the NFL approved a 17th game for the regular season, while shortening the preseason to three games.

The Vikings will play Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in that game. The game will be in Los Angeles.

How did the NFL pick the Chargers? They are an AFC team that also finished third in its division last season, so the league tries to match it up as best they can.

That’s probably a bit confusing.

We’ll let this tweet from our good friend Tom Pelissero do a better job of explaining it:

At the very least, this should be a really fun game. We’ll get to see two of the best rookies from last year in the game with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

To round out the NFC North, the Packers will play the Chiefs (fun!), the Bears will play the Raiders and the Lions will play the Broncos.

Keenan McCardell thinks Justin Jefferson ‘can be there with the greats’

The Vikings wide receivers coach has high praise for the Pro Bowl rookie.

Wide receiver Justin Jefferson was one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in 2020, as a rookie.

Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell thinks that Jefferson’s ceiling is higher than just being one of the best receivers in the league right now.

“Justin is a guy that has a big ceiling,” McCardell said via the Star Tribune. “He can be there with the greats. And the thing I love about him is he’s a competitor and he loves to play football. You can see the energy in him and it’s pretty infectious, too.

McCardell had five 1,000-yard seasons during his 16-year career, so he’s no slouch himself.

In his second season, Jefferson’s skills should only improve and it helps having a player like Adam Thielen opposite as well to ease some pressure off of him.

In a 2020 draft class that was loaded at wide receiver, Jefferson was the only receiver to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark.

Vikings taking WR Justin Jefferson listed as the team’s best draft decision of the past five years

After only one NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings selecting Justin Jefferson at No. 22 in the 2020 NFL draft is looking like a really good pick.

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson was so good as a rookie, it’s hard to believe that he fell to Minnesota at No. 22.

At the time, there was some concern over Jefferson’s route-running technique and how he would project beyond just a slot receiver role. Jefferson put those concerns to rest as a rookie, finishing with 1,400 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions.

It turned out well and the Vikings were rewarded for it in 2020. PFF’s Michael Renner tabbed the Jefferson pick as the best draft choice Minnesota has made in the last five years. Here’s what he wrote:

“Trading away a talent like Stefon Diggs only to find a cheaper replacement with comparable skill immediately is about as big a “W” as you can get in a pick-trade scenario. Jefferson was the second-highest-graded receiver in the NFL as a rookie.”

I think it’s safe to say opposing defenses will see Jefferson coming a little more than they did in his rookie year. That said, adding an extra weapon in the passing game could make Jefferson — and by extension, the offense — hard to stop in 2021.

Vikings’ Justin Jefferson already ranked a top-seven wide receiver heading into 2021

It didn’t take long for Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson to start being ranked among the best wideouts in the NFL.

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson entered into some uncharted territory as a rookie.

He broke the Super Bowl era record for most receiving yards by a rookie. He also passed the Vikings’ rookie yardage record, previously held by Randy Moss.

Jefferson wasn’t just one of the best rookies last season, he was one of the best wide receivers overall. Bleacher Report has taken notice. The outlet’s Brad Gagnon tabbed Jefferson as the seventh-best wide receiver in the NFL. Here’s what Gagnon wrote:

“In a run-oriented offense, the 2020 first-round pick scored four touchdowns on deep balls, ranking behind only three receivers in that category. 

Put simply, he has already become an elite playmaker. And that happened in a rookie season that contained almost no time for preparation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Now imagine how much more dominant Jefferson can become as he gets more acclimated in the 2021 offseason.”

Hopefully the Vikings run-oriented offense will become a little less run-oriented in 2021, to ease the workload of Dalvin Cook and help get the ball to players like Jefferson and Adam Thielen.

Who on the Vikings has the best value?

If you had to choose, which Minnesota Vikings player do you think is the most valuable?

When Minnesota was 1-5 last season, it seemed like the team was going to trade some assets.

The Vikings sent DE Yannick Ngakoue to the Ravens, but other than that, the team did not make a splash before the deadline. But if that were to happen again this next season, Minnesota certainly has some trade chips who could command a big price in free agency.

That got me thinking: Who has the most value as a trade asset on the Vikings? Luckily, Spotrac has a stat for that. The outlet has a best value rating for each NFL team. Players who command high value have performed well on the field and are ostensibly worth the value of their contract.

Spotrac tabbed Justin Jefferson as the best value on the Vikings roster. I have to say I agree here. Jefferson has already emerged as one of the better wide receivers in the league. He’s also of course still on his rookie contract.

You can see all of Spotrac’s best value picks here.

ESPN ranks Vikings’ rookie class as 7th-most productive in 2020

Led by Justin Jefferson, the Vikings’ rookie class in 2020 was impressive.

The Vikings had a lot of darts in the 2020 NFL Draft, and they certainly hit with a few players, most notably wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

In ESPN’s rankings of most productive 2020 rookie draft classes, the Vikings ranked seventh overall.

Here’s a snippet of what was written about the Vikings:

Minnesota had more draft picks in the 2020 NFL draft than any other franchise, with a whopping 15. Only five of those 15 played significant time, but there were two from that handful that really surpassed expectations: wide receiver Justin Jefferson (No. 22 overall) and cornerback Cameron Dantzler (No. 89 overall).

Heading into the 2021 NFL Draft, the Vikings have 10 selections: 14th overall, two (2) third-round picks, three (3) fourth-round picks, two (2) fifth-round picks, a sixth-round pick and a seventh-round pick.

You can bet that Rick Spielman will once again be active on draft day and if the Vikings can find a class that’s even half as promising as the 2020 class was, the Vikings will be in a good place.