Wilf brothers, 20 years in as Vikings owners, score again with Justin Jefferson contract

The Vikings kicked off a news conference celebrating Justin Jefferson’s historic contract extension with a group photo that included all the key figures involved in the deal.

Jefferson, coach Kevin O’Connell and General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah went directly to the platform. Co-owner Mark Wilf initially shuffled to the side of the room, content just to observe, until a team executive motioned for him to join the others up front.

That moment illustrated the Wilf brothers’ approach as owners: Show a commitment to winning, stay in the background.

That philosophy is all that fans of any team in any sport can ask of owners. Especially the commitment part.

Want to feel old? This upcoming Vikings season marks 20 years that Zygi and Mark Wilf have owned the team. Two decades.

“It’s crazy,” Mark Wilf said in a conversation later Tuesday afternoon before the start of a minicamp practice. “Time goes quickly.”

They arrived as outsiders from New Jersey, their wealth amassed in real estate, their intention as NFL owners unclear. Fans were understandably wary. The Wilfs have proved to be darn good owners by being aggressive stewards of the franchise without being meddlesome interlopers.

The Vikings have not reached the Super Bowl under their leadership, but a lack of resources and ambition from ownership does not rank among the reasons.

“They give us freedom to build the team how we want to build it,” Adofo-Mensah said. “When we have our meetings, they’re always making sure that we’re thinking about it the right way. We’ve got to prove our case to them, but if we think it’s in the pursuit of a championship, they’re all onboard.”

Sports owners usually are most visible in times of championships or crisis. What happens in the background between those extremes determines the overall viability of an organization.

Owners must strike the right balance between patience and urgency. Don’t be knee-jerk with major decisions, but never be content. Mistakes are inevitable. Criticism occasionally comes like rainfall. The main objective should never be open to interpretation though.

“Our job as ownership is to support the people we brought in and take a long, hard look to make sure we bring in the best people,” Mark Wilf said. “And provide the resources to maximize that.”

The Wilfs have built a world-class stadium — with hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money helping — and an opulent practice facility. The owners received an A-plus grade in the NFL Players Association’s most recent report card in a survey of players based on various criteria.

Asked how often he hears “No” from the Wilfs on a request, Adofo-Mensah replied: “If the reasoning is good, I haven’t heard one yet. I’m not going to go to them with a bad idea. I treat their capital like it’s mine. They make us prove our arguments, but when we do, they have always been supportive.”

The Jefferson situation unfolded exactly how one hoped it would: A generational player commands a massive payday ($140 million), and the owners make it happen without a whiff of acrimony because that is simply the price of doing business.

Owning a team is not just about acting as a human ATM, though that’s certainly better than being a tightwad. The job requires setting a vision and then not standing in the way of that vision being implemented.

Mark Wilf said ownership’s philosophy is to “know what we know and know what we don’t know.”

“We have great trust and faith in the football minds that are here,” he said.

The Wilfs are fans as well as businessmen. The routine after every home game is the same. The locker room door opens and the Wilf family contingent files out. One needn’t be an expert in body language to discern whether the Vikings won or lost based on the group’s facial expressions.

One gripe from a segment of fans is that the Wilfs are swayed too much by their fandom, and thus would never commit to a total roster teardown with the hope of emerging from good-but-not-great purgatory.

Mark Wilf shook his head when I mentioned the notion of tanking.

“That’s not what we’re about,” he said. “We know what goes into these games. We’re about winning and winning the right way. Coach O’Connell, Kwesi, the culture they’re building here — we really feel good about the direction.”

The Jefferson contract provided another reminder.