Despite opting out of voluntary workouts with the team, the Minnesota Vikings are continuing contract talks with star WR Justin Jefferson.
Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson is entering his fifth season in the NFL and has quickly established himself as one of the top receivers in the league. With that stellar performance comes the desire for a new contract, and with that comes the inevitable contract dispute.
That’s where the team and the talented receiver find themselves now, with Jefferson wanting a new contract but with no agreement having been reached yet — which means Jefferson has taken the ‘skip voluntary workouts‘ approach to contract negotiations.
The move, however, seems to be little more than a hiccup to head coach Kevin O’Connell, as he stated Monday that he’s “had a lot of great dialogue with Justin” and that they “hope we can get him around the team”.
#Vikings WR Justin Jefferson isn't at voluntary offseason workouts, but head coach Kevin O'Connell continues to have dialogue with the star wide receiver. #SKOLpic.twitter.com/gUZDaytYZT
— SKOR North – Minnesota Sports (@SKORNorth) April 15, 2024
Jefferson has certainly earned the right to advocate for a new contract with his play with the Vikings over the past four seasons. He’s been one of the most productive wide receivers in NFL history through his first four seasons. Perhaps most impressive in the growing laundry list of achievements is what Jefferson accomplished last season.
Despite missing seven games throughout the season and dealing with all the turmoil at quarterback, Jefferson still managed to top 100 yards receiving in five games and put up a 1,000-yard season.
With production like that, it’s clear that Jefferson is an integral part of the Vikings offense, and he has more than earned the right to be paid like one of the top players at his position. It’s also clear that Jefferson is going to produce regardless of his surroundings, and has earned the right to skip out on voluntary workouts. The Vikings brass seems unconcerned about his absence, and fans shouldn’t be, either.
The Vikings are facing an uphill battle when it comes to finding a franchise quaretrback. To fix it, they need to leave no stone unturned.
The Minnesota Vikings’ desire to land a quarterback in the first round of this month’s NFL draft is no secret, but whether they will come away with Kirk Cousins’ replacement remains the great unknown.
The one thing that can’t be questioned is the work the Vikings appear to be doing when it comes to vetting this class of passers. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated had an interesting read this week on the process being employed by general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell.
O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah haven’t attended the pro days of the big-name quarterbacks and instead have conducted private workouts with North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, Washington’s Michael Penix, and Oregon’s Bo Nix.
The Vikings have sent new quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and assistant Grant Udinski to the Pro Days, but O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah know those don’t offer a true look at a player. A quarterback throws to hand-picked wide receivers, and the workout is designed to make him look as good as possible.
There is little room for spontaneity.
But what O’Connell, Adofo-Mensah, and the Vikings’ traveling party, which includes McCown, can do during their visits is get a close look at a player under terms they can dictate. That includes going through plays in a classroom setting, watching how those plays are executed on the field, and seeing how a quarterback handles potential adversity when things don’t go as planned.
O’Connell has even discussed attending a quarterback’s favorite restaurant on campus to see how he treats the staff. All of this matters because no detail is too small. O’Connell knows this process from the other side. He was a third-round pick of the New England Patriots in 2008 out of San Diego State. He appeared in two games as a rookie and never took another snap in bouncing from the Lions, Jets, Dolphins, and Chargers.
That experience has given O’Connell the advantage of knowledge when it comes to what he’s looking for from these quarterbacks.
Because it’s really the only access that the draftniks have, those of us on the outside looking in often become obsessed with what the QB showed on his college film and during workouts. That’s important but it’s only a start. The best quarterbacks are often likened to the CEO of a company, meaning there is much more to it than just performance on Sundays.
This brings us to the question of how many quarterbacks the Vikings like and where the list ends. Breer, for instance, leads his in-depth column on how scouts have a different view of Penix than coaches. Scouts see flaws in Penix’s play; Breer has been told that coaches feel they can fix those issues. But coaches see things in Penix’s leadership and talents that can’t be taught and are coveted.
Does that put him above Maye and McCarthy? If it does, do the Vikings feel Penix might fall to them at 11, meaning they wouldn’t have to give up a haul to get into the Top 5?
But if O’Connell decides to give up two first-round picks and more to move up and get McCarthy, no one will complain as long as it proves to be the right call.
Would that be risky? Of course. But that’s why the Vikings are turning over every stone possible in their quest to end this ongoing search finally.
A handful of teams need a fresh start at quarterback. The best situation may be set up for the quarterback who makes his way to Minnesota.
A handful of teams need a fresh start at quarterback, but only so many will get it. The Chicago Bears are in the driver’s seat at first overall, and the Commanders and Patriots follow. The question remains, though: Who is the best quarterback in the draft?
According to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson, one general manager told him it would be whoever the Vikings draft.
On a recent Yahoo Sports podcast, Robinson said he spoke to one general manager who believes the Vikings will shape the best quarterback of the 2024 class.
“You’re going in with an offensive-minded head coach who’s been effectively an offensive coordinator. … You saw what he was able to do with Kirk Cousins. … In that scheme, had gotten Cousins to the point where he was arguably playing the best football of his life,” Robinson said.
O’Connell has shown that he can get the most out of his quarterbacks in a similar way to San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Whether it be Cousins being on a career-year pace or Nick Mullens passing for 411 yards against the Lions, he maximizes their potential.
The Vikings have the pieces to trade up in the 2024 NFL Draft and one insider believes Kevin O’Connell is doing his best to make it happen.
The Minnesota Vikings need to trade up in the 2024 NFL Draft to get one of the class’s star quarterbacks. They have the pieces to do it; now, they must find a partner to make it happen. Kevin O’Connell is doing his best to help facilitate a move between one of the teams picking at the top of the draft.
He made the point that history shows that a king’s ransom can be had for a top pick but Minnesota’s two first-round picks are something of “greater value.” When the 49ers traded up from 12 to two in 2021, they had to give up three firsts, but two of them were in the future. The Vikings have two in this current class is thought to give them an advantage since a team would know what they are getting.
Ben Volin of The Boston Globe shares this thought. He states, “O’Connell’s point is valid, but it also sounds like he is sending a message to the Patriots and Cardinals that two first-rounders in this year’s draft should be enough for the No. 3 or 4 pick.”
The Vikings need to make a move, and they have some chances to do so. The 2023 draft class is one of the better quarterback groups since 2020. That class has given the league three franchise cornerstones, and Minnesota is hoping that in 2023, they find one.
Van Ginkel was an impact player for Miami despite having his opportunities dip at times. In 73 career games wearing aqua and orange, the former Wisconsin Badger recorded 250 tackles (31 for a loss), 57 quarterback hits, 21 passes defended, 17 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumbles recovered and two interceptions.
Speaking during the NFL’s annual meetings, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell shared why they were so aggressive in targeting the edge rusher.
“I think [Brian Flores’] background with him and, obviously, a lot of my offensive coaches and myself on the offensive side have had some trouble playing against Gink over the past few years,” O’Connell said (transcribed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel). “I think, just the versatility of what he means to our team, really, what it means for Flo, their history together. Flo has built something unique, kind of 1-of-1 here in Minnesota, and I’m excited to see him use Gink and kind of where that takes us.”
Flores and Van Ginkel both arrived in Miami in 2019 and worked well together for three seasons before the coach’s firing. The linebacker’s 2020 and 2021 campaigns were some of his best, as he recorded 119 tackles (16 for a loss), 30 quarterback hits, 11 passes defensed, 9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and one fumble recovery (a 78-yard scoop and score).
Van Ginkel will likely be lined up all over the front in Flores’ scheme, allowing him to confuse opposing quarterbacks and offensive linemen to get pressure and potentially force some mistakes.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins have replaced him with veteran linebacker Shaq Barrett, who may be a more proven pass-rusher, but he definitely doesn’t have the versatility that Van Ginkel brought.
Judd Zulgad writes that the Minnesota Vikings can’t play it safe when it comes to getting their quarterback of the future.
The 2024 season will mark the Minnesota Vikings’ 64th as a member of the National Football League. In that time, they have had 18 selections in the top 10 of the draft, yet have never taken a quarterback. The Vikings, in fact, have drafted a QB in the first round only four times with the highest being Daunte Culpepper at No. 11 in 1999.
That remarkable streak appears to be in jeopardy of finally coming to an end.
The Vikings don’t have a top-10 pick in next month’s draft, but they do have two in the first round (Nos. 11 and 23) and those could be packaged to move up in order to grab Kirk Cousins’ replacement.
Kevin O’Connell did his best not to tip his hand on the Vikings’ plans this week at the NFL owners meetings — a month from the draft, subterfuge is all the rage — but this is the first time in his tenure as a head coach that he will have the chance to play the key role in selecting a quarterback.
It’s a tremendous opportunity that will be accompanied by tremendous pressure. Miss on the pick and there’s a good chance O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah won’t get a second chance.
Trying to guess what teams will do in the draft, especially a month out, can be tricky, but it seems likely the Vikings will do everything in their power to get into the top handful of picks. The most likely teams to be open for business will be the Patriots at No. 3, the Cardinals at No. 4 and the Chargers at No. 5. There has been speculation as well that the Washington Commanders could be persuaded to trade the No. 2 pick.
“If we’re going to do something like that, that is a major, major organizational decision,” O’Connell told reporters. “I feel very strongly that we’re going to be all on the same page about that.”
That sounds ideal, but is it realistic?
O’Connell was hired from the Los Angeles Rams after the 2021 season in large part because of his background with the quarterback position. His NFL career at that spot didn’t work out, but O’Connell then became an assistant coach and was the offensive coordinator for the Rams as they won a Super Bowl.
Owners Zygi and Mark Wilf, who bought the Vikings in 2005, thought they were getting a coach who could identify a long-term solution at quarterback when they hired Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress in 2006, but that didn’t go as planned. Childress took the Vikings to the 2009 NFC title game, but that was only after Brett Favre was brought out of retirement.
Childress was followed by defense-first coaches in Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer. O’Connell’s hiring gives the Vikings someone who knows more about quarterback play and personality than his predecessors, or former general manager Rick Spielman.
That is why it’s a logical to assume that whether there is a consensus at TCO Performance Center on a quarterback, O’Connell will have the final say. New quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, who played for nine NFL teams in a 17-year career, should serve as one of O’Connell’s primary sounding boards.
The price of prying away a top-five pick won’t be cheap — be prepared for any trade to include three first-rounders going the other way — but the Wilfs aren’t paying O’Connell big bucks to play it safe. Playing it safe rarely results in Super Bowl runs. This means it’s very likely that Drake Maye or McCarthy will be the Vikings’ choice on April 25, assuming Caleb Williams goes No. 1 to Chicago and Jayden Daniels is taken by Washington.
While O’Connell didn’t give away the Vikings’ plan, he did run through what he was looking for in a quarterback and just how much work (on and off the field) was going into the process of due diligence. That is why the Vikings were expected to have O’Connell put McCarthy, Maye and others through private workouts that would include seeing them in social settings.
O’Connell referred to these high-end passers as “building-changing quarterbacks,” because of the impact they have on every part of an organization. You also could call them career-changing quarterbacks because if you get the pick right, the team might build you a statue. If you get it wrong, you’re next stop might be the unemployment line.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast atwww.skornorth.com.
Is Sam Darnold’s best football ahead of him? Kevin O’Connell believes it is
Earlier this month, the Minnesota Vikings moved to fill the void left by Kirk Cousins in part by signing quarterback Sam Darnold to a one-year deal. While it’s been made pretty clear — through various Vikings’ brass’ comments along with the contract structure itself — that Darnold is seen as a bridge quarterback, at least one person within the Vikings organization believes Darnold can give the team some quality play in that time.
"I think his best football is ahead of him because of how he handled the last couple of years."
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell stated in an interview with NFL Network insiders Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport, and Mike Garafolo that be believes that Darnold’s “best football is ahead of him”, specifically pointing to how he went 4-2 down the stretch with the Carolina Panthers in 2021.
O’Connell also pointed to Darnold’s work with the San Francisco 49ers and how it’s clear to him that Darnold has put in a lot of work to make progressions as a quarterback. O’Connell believes that the staff with the Vikings can “pick up” where Darnold left of in San Francisco and continue to develop him.
Darnold was a top-5 pick of the New York Jets in the 2018 NFL Draft and spent four years as the starter in New York before landing with the Panthers and then 49ers, in mostly back-up roles. Now Darnold finds himself in Minnesota and is likely going to be the starter heading into the early part of the season while a rookie gets acclimated to the system and league.
Whether or not Darnold starts the entire season remains to be seen, but it’s clear he has at least one person in his corner to start his tenure.
At the NFL owners meetings, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell discussed Justin Jefferson and his involvement with the QB process
The NFL’s annual league meetings are going on right now in Orlando, FL, and Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has provided some illumination on two hot-button topics surrounding the team. From ESPN writer Kevin Seifert’s report, O’Connell has said he’s been having “regular check-ins” with wide receiver Justin Jefferson regarding the team’s plan at the quarterback position.
Minnesota lost long-time starting quarterback Kirk Cousins in the offseason, as he signed a contract with the Atlanta Falcons in the opening wave of the NFL’s free agency period. Cousins and Jefferson had a connection during their time in Minnesota that helped make Jefferson one of the best wide receivers in the league. With Cousins now gone, O’Connell mentioned that Jefferson is “excited about the potential of contributing to the mentorship of a young quarterback”.
That quote would seem to imply that the plan for the Vikings is to draft a quarterback in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft, likely early, and that Jefferson will play an integral role in that quarterback’s development both in the immediate and in the long-term.
To further illustrate the idea that Jefferson is in the Vikings’ long-term plans, O’Connell also mentioned that Jefferson “doesn’t need to know the outcome of the team’s plans before signing a contract extension”.
That news should be encouraging to all Vikings fans. There has been a lot of speculation about Jefferson and how willing he would be to stick around with the Vikings without Cousins in the fold. At least for now, that seems to be a non-issue and both Jefferson and the team seem to be committed to Jefferson sticking around for the long haul.
Does it matter that head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are not at J.J. McCarthy’s pro day?
While in search of a quarterback, the Minnesota Vikings are doing their due diligence to find their quarterback of the future. With that in mind, their absence from J.J. McCarthy’s pro day raises a major question.
Why weren’t they there?
MICHIGAN pro day today. Nine general managers and seven head coaches are scheduled to attend.
Not on that list? Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell.
It’s very common for general managers and head coaches of top quarterbacks to be at the pro day but O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah chose not to attend. It’s a peculiar choice on the surface but it makes sense when you look at it further.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that the Vikings would be holding a private workout with McCarthy. During pro days, you get time with the player but there are up to 31 other teams who also could want time to him as well. A private workout can give them a lot more information than spending a fraction of the time with him at the pro day would. You will get to see a lot more than just him throwing the football, especially since the major pro days are often aired on television.
Don’t read too much into the private workout either, as the Vikings will likely have them with all of the top quarterbacks in the NFL draft.
The Minnesota Vikings were in Indianapolis to see and interview a multitude of prospects try to earn their way into the National Football League. While the workouts are what are the most visible to the general public, how much do they actually matter?
It’s not to say that they don’t matter at all, but it’s not as simple as a fast 40-yard dash means they are either a good football player or going highly in the NFL draft. What do they mean? How do we put the 40-yard dash record for Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy in terms of his draft stock? Were there players that stood out in a good or bad way?
To end the show, the guys discuss the tampering comments from head coach Kevin O’Connell. What can we take away from those comments?
All of that and more on the latest episode of Purple Daily on Draft, dropping every Monday afternoon on thePurple Daily YouTube channel.
