Mission accomplished. Our friends Judd Zulgad, Phil Mackey, and Declan Goff over at SKOR North successfully started a wildfire — in the dog days of the NFL offseason, no less. This is precisely what anyone with an NFL podcast in mid-June could ever dream of. While answering a fan question on their Purple Daily podcast, the question of “Would you trade Justin Jefferson if it guaranteed the first-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft?” (for Heisman Trophy-winning USC quarterback Caleb Williams) was broached.
No, the Minnesota Vikings aren’t trading The Best Wide Receiver On the Planet — at least not any time soon. Skoldiers can’t help but live in a constant state of terror after this same organization traded away Randy Moss, Percy Harvin, and Stefon Diggs in the last 15 years. However, the polarizing nature of this question is worth discussing.
We all know by now that there’s no such thing as a guaranteed slam dunk when it comes to quarterbacks who are selected first overall. Since the dawn of the 21st century, Baker Mayfield, Jameis Winston, Sam Bradford, JaMarcus Russell, Alex Smith, and David Carr are the greatest examples of such catastrophic swings and misses. The other side of this coin is Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, Jared Goff, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, and Michael Vick. Five of these No. 1-overall signal callers won an MVP, played in a Super Bowl, and/or won a Super Bowl.
If we’re going by strictly 21st century No. 1-overall pick quarterbacks, there’s noticeably more hits than misses.
It should go without saying that the Purple and Gold have quite the decorated history with some of the game’s best wide receivers. In 12 of the past 29 years, Minnesota has been home to either a first-or second-team All-Pro wide receiver.
- Cris Carter (’94, ’95, ’99)
- Randy Moss (’98, ’00, ’03)
- Sidney Rice (’09)
- Adam Thielen (’17)
- Justin Jefferson (’20, ’21, ’22)
Although they didn’t record All-Pro seasons with the Vikings, Percy Harvin won the 2009 NFL Rookie of the Year and Stefon Diggs achieved two All-Pro campaigns in his first three seasons as a member of the Buffalo Bills. It’s one of the more undisputable claims associated with the Vikings. Over the past three decades, no other franchise has consistently churned out better production from their receiver room.
What do the Minnesota Vikings have to show for being the gold standard of NFL wide receivers? Absolutely nothing.
Sure, the Vikings sniffed greatness with NFC Championship game appearances in 1998, 2000, 2009, and 2017. This just so happened to coincide with having All-Pro receivers in Moss, Rice, and Thielen for those respective seasons. But if the Vikings are worthy celebration for their greatness at receiver, they’re equally worthy of being dogged for their inability to make a Super Bowl since 1976.
What’s the single greatest reason why the Vikings haven’t played for a Lombardi Trophy in nearly 50 years? Because quarterback is still the most important position in sports. And Minnesota hasn’t had a franchise-changer at the position since Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton. And I’m sorry, but for as much fun as 2009 was with Brett Favre, squeezing the last ounce of good football out of his 40-year-old right arm doesn’t exactly count.
Again, quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall don’t bat 1.000 in their NFL careers. And the threat of busting out will always be there. But when it comes to Caleb Williams, it’s important to remember that all No. 1-overall draft pick quarterbacks aren’t created equal. And similar to recent examples of prospects that were universally regarded as can’t-miss quarterbacks in Andrew Luck and Trevor Lawrence, Williams is cut from the same cloth.
I understand we live in an absolutist sports society where we can’t help but jump at the opportunity to proclaim the next hotshot rookie as “one of the best we’ve ever seen.” Just turn on the NBA draft on Thursday night and watch the talking heads make these exact proclamations about No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama — the 7’2″ unicorn French big man.
And folks are already rushing at the chance to compare Williams to Patrick Mahomes. While there’s definitely a case to be made about the similarities in their games, it’s simply not fair to Williams for the football world to set the bar at the best quarterback in the game today.
Williams is the rare quarterback prospect where his film forces us to think, “Have we seen anyone like this before?” The sheer velocity, accuracy, pocket presence, ad-libbing, and mobility checks all the necessary boxes of being a franchise-changing signal caller. Just in case the film isn’t enough, his gaudy production last season at USC backs it up.
- 66.5 completion percentage
- 4,539 passing yards (third-most in college football)
- 42 touchdowns
- 5 interceptions
- 8.4 TD:INT ration (best in college football)
- 382 rushing yards
- 10 rushing touchdowns
Justin Jefferson, like Randy Moss and Cris Carter before him, can only have so much impact on winning without having a true game-changer throwing him the football. Just ask Andy Reid, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill how many playoff games they won together with Alex Smith as their quarterback.
And for this completely unrealistic hypothetical, trading Jefferson for the opportunity to select Caleb Williams is the definition of a no-brainer. Quarterbacks will always reign supreme in this sport. And NFL organizations would start wars if it meant a realistic chance of having Williams as the face of their franchise for the next decade-plus.
If you’re on the other side of this dog-day Vikings internet fodder, my only ask is to spend just one Saturday this coming fall watching future Hall of Famer Caleb Williams force your jaw to the floor with his play. And then tell yourself that he isn’t worth giving up anything and everything — including Justin Jefferson — for him to be the franchise-altering quarterback the Vikings have needed for nearly 50 years.
