Tag: Justin Jefferson

Justin Jefferson: Cooper Kupp is good, but ‘he’s behind me’

Justin Jefferson gave Cooper Kupp his respect, but he thinks he’s better than the 2021 Triple Crown winner

Even after Cooper Kupp’s historic 2021 season, there’s still plenty of debate among analysts, fans and players about where he ranks as a top wide receiver. Is he the best in the NFL? Are Davante Adams and others still better?

If you ask Justin Jefferson, Kupp is one of the four best, but he’s not at the top of the list. Jefferson recently ranked Kupp in his top four but he doubled down on his belief that he’s better than Kupp.

“Coop is good, but I’ll say he’s behind me,” Jefferson said, via the Pioneer Press.

Of course Jefferson is going to say he’s better than Kupp. He has to have confidence in himself, and over the last two seasons, Jefferson has been one of the most productive receivers in the NFL.

He has 3,016 yards and 17 touchdowns since 2020, making the Pro Bowl both years and finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting.

Kupp will try to prove he’s the best wideout in football this season after a record-setting campaign in 2021, but Jefferson will probably be hot on his heels for the receiving title.

Top-10 Repeatability: Wide Receivers

Take a step back and see how the Top-10 WRs change from year to year.

Wide receivers are the most plentiful position given that offenses use two or three on most every play. And value exists further out than it does on running backs as the only other position that requires more than one fantasy starter. That all said, a Top-10 wide receiver makes a difference, producing far better stats and consistent results each week.

See Also:
Top-10 Repeatability: Quarterbacks
Top-10 Repeatability: Running Backs
Top-10 Repeatability: Tight Ends

Fantasy drafters naturally raid the previous Top-10 in the first couple of rounds and there’s even a “Zero RB” strategy where teams load up on wideouts and later collect whatever running backs that are still left. In the end, it’s all about picking the right players. But wide receivers are attracting more attention than ever both in the fantasy world and the actual NFL that coughs up huge sums for elite receivers. Sometimes huge sums for less than elite receivers lately.

Check out just how volatile the Top-10 has been for the last five seasons.

Wide   Receivers 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Cooper Kupp 1 26 4 43 27
Davante Adams 2 1 24 5 13
Deebo Samuel 3 95 31 0 0
Justin   Jefferson 4 7 0 0 0
Ja’Marr Chase 5 0 0 0 0
Tyreek Hill 6 2 32 1 4
Stefon Diggs 7 3 20 15 16
Diontae   Johnson 8 21 39 0 0
Mike Evans 9 12 16 6 21
Hunter Renfrow 10 57 53 0 0
DeAndre   Hopkins 45 4 5 2 1
Calvin Ridley 102 5 27 17 0
DK Metcalf 15 6 30 0 0
Tyler Lockett 16 8 13 11 55
Allen Robinson   II 83 9 7 40 189
Keenan Allen 11 10 6 13 3
Michael Thomas 0 93 1 7 8
Julio Jones 92 52 2 4 6
Chris Godwin 13 31 3 23 68
Julian Edelman 0 113 8 22 0
Kenny Golladay 79 103 9 19 62
Amari Cooper 27 15 10 146 30
Antonio Brown 59 64 156 3 2
Adam Thielen 28 11 63 8 10
JuJu   Smith-Schuster 133 16 61 9 17
Robert Woods 52 13 14 10 32
Marvin Jones   Jr. 33 18 28 55 5
A.J. Green 41 67 0 37 7
Brandin Cooks 20 17 57 12 9
Repeated 4 3 3 6

It’s surprising enough that only Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, and Stefon Diggs repeated their Top-10 performance of 2020 the next year. Consider that the Top-10 of 2019 had only Cooper Kupp as a repeat in the Top-10 of 2021. And he fell to No. 26 in 2020 between those seasons.

DeAndre Hopkins was the only wideout on a four-year streak of Top-10’s before being injured in 2021. It’s not unusual for any receiver to eventually have a down year thanks to injury and Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Keenan Allen, and Hopkins incurred just that. Michael Thomas, and Julio Jones fell off the map in 2020.

Of the 29 players that recorded at least one Top-10 season, 16 of them (55%) have just the one (at least so far). Receivers tend to take longer to develop than most positions and for many years, the rule of thumb was that breakouts would typically happen in Year 3. Not so much anymore. Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase both reached the Top-10 as rookies.

Half of the Top-10 of 2021 were not in the league in 2018. College produces more and better receivers and that’s carried over to the NFL. The previous Top-10 has tended to remain at least Top-20 the following year, but it is easy to see just how those elite performances last more than two years in a row.

Andrew Booth Jr. impressing early at Vikings training camp

Now with the Vikings, former Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. has started training camp and is already making plays.

Former Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. is making waves early on at Minnesota Vikings training camp.

After recovering from sports hernia surgery conducted earlier this year, Booth fully participated in activities on Wednesday, and the former Clemson standout is glad to be back on the field at full strength.

“It felt great,” Booth said on Wednesday. “Just seeing full speed offense, different looks. I’m seeing the best in (Justin Jefferson) every day, so that’s going to get me ready for game one.”

While Booth was playing with Minnesota’s second team unit, he showed flashes, one of which was this sliding interception.

 

As for his fit on Minnesota’s defense, Booth’s experience in Brent Venables’ scheme at Clemson is serving him well.

“I came from Clemson, and coach Venables’ defense was very complex, and this defense is very complex as well,” Booth said.

Booth had 37 total tackles, three interceptions and five passes defended in 11 games with Clemson last season, earning First-Team All-ACC honors.

On the Vikings, he will have to earn a starting spot, but Wednesday’s performance is a good sign.

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Ranking LSU’s top receiver commits since 2000

LSU has made a strong claim in recent years as “WRU.”

LSU’s claim to fame as a program may be as “DBU” thanks to the large number of talented defensive backs it has put into the league, it has made a strong claim as “WRU” in recent years, as well.

The last decade or so has seen the team produce players like [autotag]Odell Beckham Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Jarvis Landry[/autotag], [autotag]Justin Jefferson[/autotag] and [autotag]Ja’Marr Chase[/autotag]. Not all of those players were elite prospects — namely Jefferson, a former three-star recruit who sat outside the top 2,000 nationally — but many of them were.

LSU has already landed one elite pass-catcher in the 2022 recruiting cycle in [autotag]Jalen Brown[/autotag], a high-rated four-star who ranks 39th overall in the nation, and it could be about to land a five-star in[autotag]Shelton Sampson Jr.[/autotag], a Baton Rouge native.

Brown ranks as the 11th-best receiver commit the Tigers have ever landed, per the 247Sports Composite. The top 10 were all five-stars coming out of high school. Here’s where each of them stands going back to 2000, which is when the 247Sports recruiting rankings began.

Justin Jefferson speaks on Mike Zimmer not giving him chance to break Randy Moss’ record

Jefferson speaks on Mike Zimmer running out the clock during his chance to break Randy Moss’ record.

Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer’s handling of the 2021 regular season finale was one of the biggest head-scratchers in his eight-year run with the team.

Star wideout Justin Jefferson remembers it vividly considering it was the day he came within 16 yards of breaking legendary receiver Randy Moss’ single-season franchise record for receiving yards (1,632). And yet, the All-Pro receiver isn’t holding on to any grudges.

Quite the contrary, per the Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson, he was never even that bothered by the incident.

“I wasn’t even too much worrying about it then. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I was just going to break it the next year,” said Jefferson.

That Week 18 matchup with the Chicago Bears was odd from the start.

Zimmer made the decision to play his starters in the finale, despite the Vikings already being eliminated from the playoff picture.

That decision alone drew criticism with many of the younger players on the roster, including backup quarterback Kellen Mond, being passed over for quality in-game snaps. Zimmer made the decision to play out the rest of the season straight up with his best players on the field.

But then he reverted back to being conservative late in the game. The Vikings were beating the Bears to a pulp, and it was late in the fourth quarter with Jefferson needing only 16 more receiving yards to surpass Moss.

However, instead of having a few more passing plays called in Jefferson’s direction, Zimmer made the decision to run out the clock and kill any chance left of breaking the record.

When asked if he was aware of Jefferson being within distance of breaking the record, Zimmer’s response was blunt and cold.

“Yes, I was,” said Zimmer. “I don’t care about records. I only care about wins.”

If the shoe was on the other foot and first-year Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was in that very same situation, there’s no question he would have put the ball into Jefferson’s hands.

That doesn’t necessarily make Zimmer right or wrong for what he did. It just serves as a reminder why the Vikings players and the organization as a whole was ready for a fresh start.

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The best NFL player age 25 and under at each position, starring Justin Herbert and Micah Parsons

The league’s in great hands with these young stars and franchise players.

The NFL is a young man’s league.

Sure, there are your established veterans who find a way to excel. But when many careers last an average of three years in what can be a punishing sport, the hotshots with fresher legs take precedence.

As training camps and the 2022 NFL preseason starts to come around the bend, we decided to take stock of the league’s youthful talent. This process is a way of us gauging which players we particularly have our eyes on as they continue to grow and ascend. And, it helps us establish an idea of who the NFL’s future might eventually center around.

Some notes to keep in mind about our breakdown:

  • We use age 25 as a cutoff for this list because that is often around when a player finishes their rookie contract.
  • Since 11 personnel (three receivers, one running back, and one tight end) is by far the most popular offensive formation in the NFL, we’ve set out three slots for receivers.
  • On defense, since having a third “nickel” cornerback is the most popular way of stopping those offenses, we’ve included that position. (And yes, this accounts for the differences between 4-3 and 3-4 defensive schemes. We just went with the best for those slots.)

Here’s a comprehensive look at the best NFL players age 25 and under at each position heading into the 2022 season.

Vikings top-10 highest-rated Madden NFL 23 players

Here’s the top-10 highest-rated Vikings players on Madden NFL 23.

The Minnesota Vikings are entering the 2022 season with a sense of purpose, and that purpose can be felt through the Madden NFL 23 video game.

This is one of the more talented rosters the team has had in years, and they’re hopeful it translates into them mirroring the 2021 Cincinnati Bengals with a wildly unexpected Super Bowl appearance.

The team has three players with a 90-plus overall rating in the upcoming Madden NFL game. But there are obviously a couple of head-scratchers thrown in there as well, such as quarterback Kirk Cousins being given an 80 overall rating.

Ouch.

However, Vikings fans will be happy to know it was an even split between offensive and defensive players in the top-10 highest-rated players on the roster. Here’s who made the cut.

The NFL’s top 16 wide receivers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the NFL’s 16 best wide receivers.

As we wind down our positional rankings here at Touchdown Wire, we reach one of the toughest positions to rank: Outside wide receiver. Even by expanding the field to 16 players, you will find some talented players on the outside looking in.

And trying to stack those 16 players within the list itself? Darn near impossible. You could make a top-5 case — or higher — for everyone on this list, whether looking at traits, or production, or a combination thereof.

Yes, this is my subtle plea to not scream at me too much on Twitter when this drops.

Still, there ain’t no use in complaining when you’ve got a job to do, as a wise man once said.

Here are the top 16 outside receivers in the NFL today. Here are all of our position rankings to date, leading up to our list of the NFL’s 101 best players.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

The NFL’s top 12 centers

The NFL’s top 11 offensive guards

The NFL’s top 12 offensive tackles

The NFL’s top 12 tight ends

The NFL’s top 11 slot receivers

The 5 most underrated players in Madden NFL 23, like the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel

Guys like Samuel had a case for MVP last year! Are we serious?

It’s one thing to get upset about overrated players in Madden games. (Believe me, we get our feathers ruffled about that, too.)

But the selections of superstar players who don’t get their due, i.e., the underrated guys, might be even more egregious. At least with anyone who is overrated, there’s likely an established reputation and household name behind the logic.

In the case of underplayed and undervalued stars, we’ve got five here that are a bit of head-scratchers — in one case, a breakout receiver on a contender that isn’t quite getting his due.

Here are the five most underrated players in Madden NFL 23.

How new head coach Kevin O’Connell plans to redefine the Vikings’ offense

Touchdown Wire’s Laurie Fitzpatrick dives into how new Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell can get more production by implementing a streamlined offense.

With all the firepower that’s in Minnesota Vikings offense, it’s been two years since the team has seen the playoffs. Last year, Kirk Cousins threw for 4,221 yards, 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. Justin Jefferson finished the season with 1,616 receiving yards, Dalvin Cook was a top-5 rusher, and yet the offense still felt bland. With the penalties piling up and the defense not playing to their potential, it felt like the organization needed a culture change. So, they decided to part ways with head coach Mike Zimmer, and longtime general manager Rick Spielman.

When Jefferson was asked about the changes he recently said, “We had an old-style offense last year. It’s 2022. You get into a new age and move to a new generation. Adding new things to the offense definitely allows us to be more comfortable with the offense and work in different areas of the fields.”

The biggest question mark we have is when looking at the Vikings today is, how much different will the offense be under new head coach Kevin O’Connell? When he was with his former team, the Los Angeles Rams, they had a similar play-action style quarterback in Matthew Stafford.

So, let’s dive into the Vikings’ offense to see what will be different this upcoming year!