From training camp to his final remarks on the 2022 season this week, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson has wove through questions about his looming contract negotiations like he moves through porous defenses — unbothered, knowing he's going to score.
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah says he's looking forward to solving Justin Jefferson contract riddle
Keeping Jefferson in Minnesota will almost certainly take a record-setting contract for a star who has the most receiving yardage by a player in his first three NFL seasons.
January 19, 2023 at 12:42PM
Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said covering Jefferson contractually is a problem he's looking forward to solving with the NFL's most productive receiver coming off a 128-catch, 1,809-yard season that set multiple franchise records.
Jefferson, 23, became eligible for a new deal as his third NFL season ended, and his next contract will likely top $30 million annually, which is currently the top of the market set by Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill.
Adofo-Mensah said Wednesday he's had initial dialogue with Jefferson and his representatives.
"I wouldn't use the word challenge," Adofo-Mensah said Wednesday while seated next to coach Kevin O'Connell during a season-ending news conference. "You got a special player, a special person. Those aren't problems. Or at least those are champagne problems. So we'll start there."
"We'll get back to [contract talks] in the planning," he added. "It really starts from the player, the person and we'll work on solutions from there on."
Jefferson, a 2020 first-round pick, has repeatedly said he's not thinking about a new contract that could further bolster a skyrocketing NFL receiver market. Hill was one of four receivers — including the Raiders' Davante Adams, the Rams' Cooper Kupp and the Eagles' A.J. Brown — to sign deals worth at least $25 million annually last year.
Jefferson was asked this week if he wanted to stay in Minnesota.
"I'll be wherever I'm wanted," Jefferson said. "If they want me here, I'm here. That's not something I can really control."
Keeping Jefferson in Minnesota will almost certainly take a record-setting contract to go with a superstar who has the most receiving yardage — 4,825 — in a player's first three NFL seasons. He could be the Vikings' second $30 million-per-year player with quarterback Kirk Cousins among the league's 13 quarterbacks under contract for at least that much next season.
Cousins is the last player who earned top dollar at his position from the Vikings, doing so in 2018 from a front office that still includes Rob Brzezinski, the executive vice president of football operations, who handles salary cap management and contract negotiations. The Vikings made safety Harrison Smith the highest-paid safety in 2016 and Adrian Peterson the league's highest-paid running back in 2011.
"They pay me whatever they pay me," said Jefferson, whose four-year rookie contract worth $13.1 million has a fifth-year option for 2024. "They don't really even have to give me an extension this year. It is what it is. That's not really something I'm worrying about. I want to win a Super Bowl. That's the thing I'm most focused on. Just like I said, the money comes with the job."
On Monday, Jefferson kept turning attention to the Vikings' season-ending playoff loss to the Giants, during which he had only seven catches for 47 yards. He said the stats and awards, including a first-team All-Pro selection, don't mean as much without a Super Bowl ring.
"You can call it a good season," Jefferson said. "I wouldn't call it a success. Everybody wants to get to the Super Bowl."
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
