Wes Phillips hasn’t lined up under center since his UTEP days. Aside from a brief stint with the defunct San Diego Riptide arena football team in the early aughts, Phillips has mostly been on the other side of the headset. Like his father and grandfather before him, he’s become adept at designing plays and reading the defense from the sideline.
But as he stepped up to the podium before Wednesday’s practice, he imitated a quarterback quieting the crowd before taking a crucial snap. “I do have a nugget for you,” he told the assembled media. “Justin Jefferson will be taking a pre-planned rest day today, so no need for concern.”
Phillips had a knowing smile as he said it. Jefferson elicits euphoria and panic in Minnesota. His signature Griddy dance brings people out of their seats. However, people will also sit on the edge of them when an opposing safety flattens him on the ensuing drive. Still, aside from Joshua Dobbs’ hospital ball in Sin City last year, Jefferson always gets up.
Jefferson is the rare franchise player who’s not a quarterback, and fans were concerned that he would eventually play elsewhere after he and the Minnesota Vikings didn’t come to a contract agreement last offseason. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said that Jefferson and the Vikings came close to signing an extension before last season and that he had no intention of trading Jefferson.
Still, trade rumors persisted until Jefferson reset the market by signing a $140 million extension earlier this summer. One of the more unsubstantiated but persistent rumors was that the Vikings wanted to move up to No. 5 in the draft to take Nabers and then trade Jefferson.
“Pssst,” Charlie Walters whispered in one of his Pioneer Press columns. “There was buzz at draft time that the Vikings wanted to move from No. 11 to No. 5, not to pick a quarterback but to get LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was picked No. 6 by the Giants. Had that trade occurred, Jefferson would have been traded and Nabers would have been the No. 1 receiver.”
“I heard it on draft night. Chris Simms heard it on draft night,” Mike Florio, who posted about it multiple times on Pro Football Talk, shared after the draft. “Obviously, this hasn’t been widely reported because it falls in the bucket of ‘things they don’t want us to know.’ And also because, if true, it complicates the Vikings’ ongoing effort to re-sign Jefferson.”
The rumors became amplified enough that The New York Post published an article titled “How Justin Jefferson trade ‘buzz’ at NFL draft nearly had major Giants impact.”
“There was at least one scenario in the 2024 NFL Draft where wide receiver Malik Nabers didn’t end up going to the Giants at No. 6,” posited writer Andrew Crane, “and where All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson was dealt to another team.”
Was there, though?
HBO has an offseason Hard Knocks series that follows the Giants through their draft process. Eps. 4 and 5 follow general manager Joe Schoen and his front office as they prepare and then navigate the draft. Never once does Schoen or any of his staff mention Jefferson’s name. Schoen didn’t mention Jefferson when discussing his draft strategy with owner John Mara or talking to head coach Brian Daboll.
Logically, Schoen would have told Mara and Daboll if he thought the Vikings were looking to move up to pick 5 to snipe Nabers. Schoen sweats it out when the Los Angeles Chargers were on the clock before they take Joe Alt at 5, and he takes calls from Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard and New York Jets GM Joe Douglas once the Giants are on the clock. However, he tells his staff that Indianapolis is too far back at 15, and he tells Douglas that the Giants will stay and make a pick at 6.
Throughout the show, the cameras repeatedly show Schoen talking to his staff about how much he likes Nabers. Had he heard rumors that the Vikings would move up, wouldn’t he have said something? And if he had, wouldn’t HBO have wanted to show that? It would have built drama, highlighting the draft-day tension organizations experience.
It’s a five-episode show, so they can’t include every meaningful conversation Schoen has with his staff. Also, much to Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s consternation, HBO granted the Giants editorial rights. Perhaps the Giants didn’t want to reveal the source of that rumor. But why would they care? What do they owe that source?
Furthermore, they showed Saquon Barkley telling Schoen that he wanted to stay with the Giants, only for him to sign with the rival Philadelphia Eagles. Early in the series, Mara tells Schoen that he thinks the fans would be upset if Barkley left. Barkley says he found out that HBO recorded the conversation between him and Schoen after the episode aired. Additionally, New York’s executives openly discuss Daniel Jones‘ alternatives – and he’s their $40 million quarterback!
Many unsubstantiated rumors float around the NFL, especially during the draft. Like moths to light, the rumors are attracted to fans who are so emotionally invested in their teams and in their best players that they fret over everything. There probably was nothing to those Nabers rumors, and the Vikings were always adamant that they would sign Jefferson.
Likewise, Phillips probably didn’t need to open a press conference by saying that Jefferson was taking a rest day on Wednesday. It was over 90 degrees out, and it’s not like Jefferson is fighting for a roster spot. But who’s going to blame Phillips for getting out in front of it?
