Justin Jefferson alleviated many injury fears after the Minnesota Vikings’ 23-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
“Not overly concerned.” Jefferson told reporters, “Just a li’l thigh bruise, contusion, whatever you want to call it. Something that happens.”
That was the best possible news after Jefferson exited the game in the final minute of the third quarter after reeling in four catches for 133 yards. Jefferson was hurt when he got tangled up with 49ers linebacker Fred Warner and Vikings center Garrett Bradbury away from the play.
Initially, the injury looked concerning. Jefferson missed six games with a hamstring injury last year, and it could have affected him for the remainder of the season due to how long it can take to recover from damage to the hamstring.
As Jefferson limped to the blue tent and eventually to the locker room, the Vikings held on for a statement win. However, people still feared that Jefferson could be suffering from a severe injury. With his post-game quotes and the benefit of more information since, we can assume that he is suffering from a right hamstring contusion or bruise.
What is a contusion? And why did Jefferson miss the remainder of the game? Those questions still linger for fans before Minnesota plays the Houston Texans in Week 3.
A contusion is just another word for a bruise. Jefferson is suffering from a bruise, just like someone reading this may have hit their thigh against a desk earlier this morning. Take a closer look at a bruise; thousands of microscopic blood vessels break and release blood into the surrounding tissue, causing swelling or the egg that comes with some bruises.
Reddened areas will appear as the blood pools in the tissues beneath the skin. The swelling can also cause tightness around the muscle from the decrease in space it would use to expand and contract.
Just like Jefferson limped to the blue tent, the reader may limp to the freezer, grab an ice pack, and place it on the thigh out of instinct or because their grandma placed a bag of peas over their black eye. The ice will help stop the swelling and slow blood pooling from the vessels that burst. Minnesota’s trainers undoubtedly applied cold packs to Jefferson’s thigh in the locker room. Cold packs are the gold standard for immediate relief after a contusion or bruise.
The reader who bumps their thigh on the desk may mutter an expletive as they put the ice away after using it for 30 minutes. They likely will go about their day. The bruise may be sore and get warm to the touch, but they likely won’t think about it again — that is until they get home and notice the red areas are now changing to purple or blue as the hemoglobin content in the pooling blood changes.
Their thigh is likely tender to the touch, and they will have the pleasure of explaining to their spouse why they have the bruising. As the hemoglobin changes to bilirubin under the skin and gets absorbed, the bruise will change again from purple or blue to green or yellow before becoming light brown and disappearing altogether.
The pain also likely gets better day by day as the body absorbs the swelling. Usually, with bruising, this swelling causes the pain. The pooling of blood can turn into a hematoma (clotting blood). As the hematoma or swelling fades away, the pain will decrease. Eventually, the bruise will become a distant memory.
However, the memory may not fade away as quickly for Jefferson because he has dealt with hamstring issues before. That’s likely why the Vikings removed Jefferson from the game. If he had harmed his hamstring and played on it, the damage could have been exponential and changed from just missing the fourth quarter of the 49ers game to another six-week-long injury. The other difference between Jefferson’s injury and our hypothetical reader’s run-in with the desk is that Warner and Bradbury hit Jefferson significantly harder than anyone could possibly hit a desk.
The fear of injury and the likely immense pain that Jefferson felt led to the trip to the locker room. If the injury is a contusion or bruise, the outlook for Jefferson to play this weekend should be relatively positive. However, bruises can be incredibly painful. They can affect bones and organs and even be so deep in the tissue that ice and medications offer little to no relief.
The Vikings have a chance to start 3-0 for the first time since 2016 with a win over the Texans. However, they will likely need Jefferson to pull off the upset. As Minnesota’s injury reports continue to come out, we should learn more about Jefferson’s wound. However, regardless of what the reports say, he’s likely battling through pain, but not a muscle tear or something much worse.
