Vikings first-round pick Justin Jefferson announced his presence with a debut season for the ages in 2020, picking up precisely where he left off at LSU (where he led all of FBS with 111 catches a year earlier) by storming to 1,400 receiving yards, the most ever by an NFL rookie. Seamlessly replacing Stefon Diggs (who led all of football with 1,535 receiving yards for Buffalo last season) as the Vikes’ go-to receiver, Jefferson displayed brilliant chemistry with quarterback Kirk Cousins, but you wouldn’t know it from his comments Tuesday on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. When asked to compare Cousins to his former college quarterback Joe Burrow (now of the Cincinnati Bengals), Jefferson didn’t hold back.
“Kirk and Joe throw similar balls. They’re not the strongest arms, but they’re going to get it to you exactly where you need them to throw it,” said Jefferson. “Joe had a little bit more swagger. He has that confidence on the field and he’s not scared to get hit. I feel like, as a quarterback, that’s a big trait to have.”
Wide receivers tend to be pretty buttoned up when faced with this line of questioning, but Jefferson, in a rare moment of transparency, was more than happy to spill the tea, candidly alluding to Cousins’ shortcomings as a passer while openly casting doubt on his quarterback’s long-term future with the Vikings.
“We have to build on for after Kirk, or whatever the case may be,” said Jefferson when Cowherd asked him to weigh in on rumors the Vikings were poised to draft Justin Fields until Chicago traded up to grab him three picks earlier. “Having Justin Fields brings a little bit more pressure to other teams by having a dominant quarterback like he is.”
We don’t have to look hard for subtext here. Whether intentional or not, Jefferson unwittingly threw his quarterback under the bus, while, in the same breath, heaping praise on both Burrow and Fields, neither of whom play for the Minnesota Vikings. Of course, Jefferson’s not wrong in his assessment of Cousins, who has settled in as a league-average starter and, at age 32, that’s probably his ceiling.
It’s been a rough few weeks for Cousins, who has been taking Ls left and right. Along with the Vikings openly pining for Fields, Cousins also weathered criticism from his former Washington teammate Robert Griffin III, who expressed his belief third-round rookie Kellen Mond of Texas A&M will be a threat to his starting job sooner rather than later. It will be interesting to see how Jefferson’s candor on The Herd impacts his dynamic with Cousins, who might not be as eager to throw his way after learning how little the 21-year-old thinks of him.
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