Walking through the rigors of another Pro Bowl practice, Justin Jefferson looked like a star. The Minnesota Vikings receiver just banished Stefon Diggs in dodgeball, signed a baby, and made his way over to do a media interview.
His shades were shiny. His grill was blinding. And if he put his hand up, the microphone probably would have gravitated to him.
The interviewer asked Jefferson about his new head coach, Kevin O’Connell. Lost in the maze of things you would expect an employee to say about his new boss, Jefferson made a straightforward statement.
“They get their playmakers the ball.”
Over the past two years, no receiver has more yards than Jefferson. But his 292 targets rank seventh in the NFL. Those numbers don’t suggest he was ignored by his offense. But the Vikings used Jefferson in a way that kept him from unleashing his potential.
How can O’Connell take Jefferson to the next level? Look at what he did with Cooper Kupp. A refined route-runner in his own right, Kupp is in Jefferson’s stratosphere when it comes to talent. But the Los Angeles Rams are headed to the Super Bowl because O’Connell made sure Kupp got the ball early and often.
Most of Kupp’s success last season occurred on first and second down: 77.9% of his receptions and 73.8% of his yardage, to be exact. According to Sharp’s Football Stats, the Rams threw the ball 55% of the time on first and second down, which helped Los Angeles avoid third-and-long situations.
That’s a huge difference from how the Vikings operated. Although they had a 51% pass rate on first and second down, they weren’t targeting Jefferson. He collected 64.8% of his receptions and 59.4% of his yardage on those plays.
While the Vikings usually made an effort to target Jefferson in the first quarter, sometimes he disappeared in the second. That could correlate with Klint Kubiak’s struggles after his list of scripted plays. Conversely, the Rams continued to look for Kupp no matter what stage of the game they were in.
But the Vikings’ biggest problem last season wasn’t that they weren’t throwing to Jefferson enough. It was that they weren’t game-planning around their players’ strengths.
Even though Minnesota lost Irv Smith Jr. for the season, they continued to run screens with Tyler Conklin. When Dalvin Cook was out of the lineup, they ran the same schemes with Alexander Mattison. And when the Vikings decided to pass, Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and K.J. Osborn rarely deviated from their normal roles.
Jefferson averaged 2.18 yards per route run in the slot last season, seventh in the NFL. However, the Vikings only had Jefferson run 25.8% of his routes out of the slot. By comparison, Osborn ran 51.4% of his routes from the slot and averaged 1.49 yards per route run.
Osborn’s performance from the slot wasn’t terrible. But by placing him there, the Vikings are not taking advantage of one of Jefferson’s biggest strengths.
During the 2019 season at LSU, Jefferson ran 97.8% of his routes out of the slot and averaged 2.64 yards per route run. Part of one of the most explosive offenses in college football history, Jefferson racked up 111 catches, 1,540 yards, and 18 touchdowns en route to helping the Tigers win the national title.
Even during his rookie season, the Vikings made a point of using Jefferson out of the slot. Jefferson ran 31.4% of his routes from the slot in 2020, averaging 2.99 yards per route run. Thielen also spent time in the slot, accounting for 32.1% of his routes and averaging 2.41 yards per route run.
While Kupp’s 63.8% slot rate is an extreme example, it’s a blueprint the Vikings could use. Kupp was second in the NFL this season with 3.36 yards per route run in the slot. It was a big reason why Kupp became the first receiver since 2005 and the fourth since 1970 to lead the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns in a single season.
It’s the type of offense that Diggs dreamed about when he clashed with Mike Zimmer during the 2019 season. Diggs wanted the ball more, and the Vikings could have moved him around the formation and fed him targets until he puked. Instead, old-school, two tight-end sets dominated the offense, and Diggs ran go route after go route.
After two seasons in the same offense, it’s scary to think that the Vikings weren’t using Jefferson to his maximum potential. By bringing in O’Connell, Jefferson should finally be able to play to his strengths and take his game to another level.
