These days everyone in the football media world wants a piece of Justin Jefferson. Today, he made an appearance on what is in my humble opinion the best football show on television: Good Morning Football.
After being introduced by former Minnesota Vikings receiver Nate Burleson, Jefferson and the crew discussed many topics, spanning from a possible playoff run and the influence his “griddy” celebration had on the league to the way he already stacks up against the career starts of some of the best receivers in the game. Which by the way…wow:
YARDS THROUGH FIRST 9 CAREER GAMES
Justin Jefferson – 762 YDS
Julio Jones – 566 YDS
DeAndre Hopkins – 539 YDS
Larry Fitzgerald – 465 YDS
It was a really great all-around interview, but if you don’t watch the whole thing, it’s important to at least jump ahead to the 2:00 mark for a special gem. We get to see the Vikings virtual draft room reaction when they realized Jefferson was going to be available.
Because executives drafted remotely due to COVID, the NFL had cameras in everybody’s houses — and more importantly, directly on their faces. In a normal year we might get a wide angle of a draft room, but this year you could see every emotion in every coach and general manager’s faces.
As Mike Zimmer, Rick Spielman and Co. sat in front of their monitors and listened to the Philadelphia Eagles draft Jalen Reagor, they almost couldn’t believe it. Too often you hear executives say We got the exact guy we wanted, but you know that that sentiment is often only some version of the truth. But given the genuine enthusiasm of everyone in the moment, it’s clear Jefferson was the guy they had pegged all along.
Boy oh boy were they right, and it’s really fun to watch Jefferson get to watch and respond to his coach and GM’s excitement.
The interview also hit on an interesting piece that Zone Coverage discussed earlier this month: The official signal of the turning point in the way the league views Jefferson. Chris Schad hypothesized going into the Green Bay Packers game that Jaire Alexander’s assignment would tell us exactly what the league thought about Justin Jefferson.
Schad was right, and Alexander shadowed Jefferson the whole day. In the interview, Jefferson acknowledges that even he understood that was a turning point in the way defenses viewed him. With opponents increasingly putting their focus on him, and having just torn apart one of the best defenses in the league in prime time, my guess is Justin Jefferson will probably be asked to make a lot more appearances on Good Morning Football going forward.
