The Minnesota Vikings have lost two of their three most impactful players during the first two days of free agency, and questions are now rising around All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s future with the team.
The cast of ESPN’s “Get Up” discussed the situation in Minnesota on Tuesday, March 12 — less than 24 hours after quarterback Kirk Cousins left the Vikings for the Atlanta Falcons, and Minnesota subsequently replaced him with former San Francisco 49ers backup Sam Darnold.
“If the Vikings are rebuilding, should they consider trying to get the haul of all hauls and [trade] Justin Jefferson?” host Mike Greenberg asked.
“Yeah, absolutely,” NFL analyst and former GM Mike Tannenbaum responded. “And here’s something else you’ve gotta be worried about if you’re the Minnesota Vikings — Justin Jefferson knocking on your door saying, ‘Hey, I wanna get traded. I don’t wanna play with Sam Darnold. I want outta here.’”
Tannenbaum — who served as the GM and executive vice president of the New York Jets between 2006-12 and then as the executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins between 2015-18 — went on to caution Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah about what has been, over his first two years on the job, an aggressive approach to reshaping the franchise.
“You’ve gotta be careful because, all of the sudden, you’re going from Kirk Cousins, Danielle Hunter, Dalvin Cook and maybe Justin Jefferson — this is tearing it down to the studs,” Tannenbaum continued. “So, if you go down that road and you can get two [first-round picks] for Justin Jefferson — and maybe outside of Tyreek Hill he is the best receiver in the league — this could be a real problem for Minnesota.”
Justin Jefferson Will Generate Sprawling Market if Vikings Put Him on Trade Block
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell in October 2023 examined players on every team with first-round trade value. He named Jefferson among them, projecting the receiver’s potential return at a point well beyond a mere first-round pick.
“I don’t think Jefferson would land three first-round picks in a trade, but the Vikings likely would be able to nab two first-rounders and a mid-round pick or a starting-caliber veteran if they decided to rebuild from the ground up and trade him,” Barnwell wrote.
Tannenbaum didn’t mention any prospective suitors for Jefferson, but the list of teams uninterested would probably end up shorter than those willing to negotiate.
Jefferson earned Pro Bowl honors in each of his first three seasons, including a spot as one of two first-team All-Pro wideouts in 2022. A hamstring injury shortened his 2023 campaign by seven games, yet he still managed to rack up 68 catches for 1,074 yards and 5 TDs, despite playing just five contests with Cousins under center.
While Jefferson supported Cousins in his public comments between the end of the season and the quarterback’s exit to Atlanta Monday, the receiver never stated outright that the team needed to bring Cousins back to keep him content. Jefferson is extension-eligible and will likely reset the market at his position whenever he signs a new deal, be it with the Vikings or another organization.
Vikings Take Significant Risk by Letting Top Players Walk in Free Agency
Minnesota assumed considerable risk by letting both Cousins and Hunter walk, especially after passing up opportunities to extend them before the 2023 campaign or trade them ahead of last season’s deadline.
That said, Adofo-Mensah has earned the benefit of the doubt. He was right to cut Cook ahead of last season, as the running back fell off a cliff following four consecutive Pro-Bowl campaigns.
Despite tremendous regular-season numbers, Cousins is 1-4 as a playoff starter, coming off the worst injury of his career and will play next season at 36. He would certainly be a superior option to Darnold, though the value didn’t exist for Minnesota at Cousins’ price — $180 million over four years, with $100 million fully guaranteed.
Letting Hunter leave for the Houston Texans is the most diciest of the three moves, as the edge rusher finished last year with 16.5 sacks and a league-leading 23.5 tackles for loss.
However, Brian Flores‘ defense is predicated on heavy blitz packages, and the Vikings signed Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel to man the edges. The two men produced a total of 18.5 sacks combined in 2023, numbers that should go up.
Adofo-Mensah also locked them in for a total of $56 million guaranteed over a combined six years, while the Texans gave Hunter $48 million guaranteed over two years.
In the end, the league will judge Adofo-Mensah based on who he finds to replace Cousins long-term. That player will probably be a rookie QB in this class, and the Vikings hold the No. 11 pick. If the Vikings hit on that QB and retain Jefferson, the NFL at large will regard Adofo-Mensah as a genius. If he fails on either count, he may not be long for Minnesota.
