Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
After the “big three” wide receivers of Henry Ruggs III, Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb, evaluators were split on who the fourth-best receiver in the class was. The rise of Denzel Mims from the Senior Bowl to the Combine had some in his camp, Jalen Reagor’s film at TCU, coupled with the understanding that it came with poor quarterback play, had some in his camp, and even Brandon Aiyuk or Laviska Shenault Jr. were getting votes in this category.
Another receiver in the mix was Justin Jefferson, the LSU target. However, thanks to an extremely productive 2019 season operating out of the slot, Jefferson was viewed primarily as a slot target. Given the relative ease of playing that position, juxtaposed with living live on the boundary, was he worthy of an early pick?
The first team to put that to the test was the Philadelphia Eagles. On the clock with the 21st-overall selection, Howie Roseman and company turned in the virtual card with Jalen Raegor’s name on it. More on him in a second. But that left Jefferson waiting. But not too long, as the Minnesota Vikings grabbed him with the 25th pick in the draft.
This might be an ideal scheme fit.
To rely on an old lawyer trick for a moment, let’s take a perceived negative and make it a positive. One of the knocks on Jefferson, valid or otherwise, was that a lot of his production came on crossing routes working over the middle of the field and simply finding space, rather than separating against man coverage. While that ignores the fearless manner in which Jefferson works across the field, let’s for the sake of argument call it a weakness.
Now think of the Vikings’ offense. So much of what they do schematically builds off the outside zone running game. Working off that design, they incorporate play-action with Kirk Cousins either implementing a half- or a full-roll away from the run fake and looking for targets along the boundary or, as you might be realizing, working across the middle. Jefferson can instantly produce as that receiver working over the middle of the field on those designs.
Here is another thing to keep in mind. Even if you believe Jefferson cannot function as a boundary receiver – a believe we tried to dissuade you of here at Touchdown Wire – Minnesota is one of the teams that relies on 12 offensive personnel the most. The Vikings used that personnel package on 35% of their overall plays last year, second most in the league according to SharpFootballStats.com. So Jefferson can be used as more of a flanker on these designs, rather than a detached X type of receiver.
This seems to be an ideal scheme fit.