Throughout the recent history of the Minnesota Vikings, Randy Moss and Justin Jefferson have been attached at the hip. While the Vikings drafted them 22 years apart, they are the most dynamic receivers in franchise history. Fans have watched as Jefferson has broken Moss’ records, which many felt were untouchable when Minnesota released Moss after his second stint during the 2010 season.
But while Moss has occasionally been a measuring stick, the two may share a common timeline. Moss’ first stop in Minnesota lasted seven seasons, and Jefferson is entering his seventh year with the Vikings. While Jefferson has been less mercurial than Moss, he finds himself in a similar situation on a team where he’s the focal point of the offense, but hasn’t been able to lead them to a deep playoff run.
With the Vikings trying to figure out their quarterback situation, Jefferson’s future in Minnesota is on everyone’s minds. And if the Vikings don’t turn things around, Jefferson could follow the same path that Moss did when they initially traded him to the Oakland Raiders.
This isn’t meant to be the typical “Get Up” segment where I tell you the top-five trade destinations for Jefferson if things go wrong. It also isn’t meant to be a comparison between the two players. Jefferson could shatter Moss’ franchise records and become the best receiver in Vikings history. But there are interesting parallels between the two, beginning when Minnesota drafted them.
Moss was a top talent in the 1998 NFL Draft. However, he slid after Notre Dame dismissed him and Florida State expelled him, and he ended up playing at Marshall, an FCS school at the time. The Vikings stopped his slide, and Moss immediately took over the league, catching 69 passes for 1,313 yards and 17 touchdowns in his rookie season.
The rookie campaign was so dominant that the Green Bay Packers drafted four defensive backs, including three with their first three picks, in the 1999 draft in an effort to stop Moss. But Moss kept on piling up numbers.
Over his first seven seasons in Minnesota, Moss caught 574 passes for 9,142 yards and 90 touchdowns. But things started to sour during the 2004 season. Locker-room leaders, including Matt Birk and Daunte Culpepper, grew tired of Moss’ antics off the field. When he left the regular-season finale early after faux-mooning Packers fans in a Wild Card victory seemed to be the final straw that sent him to Oakland.
Jefferson isn’t in danger of rubbing locker-room leaders the wrong way. He’s one of the most prominent voices leading the Vikings into battle. But while Jefferson is a saint compared to Moss in the 2000s, he seems to be heading down a similar path.
Over his first six seasons, Jefferson has caught 579 passes for 8,480 yards and 42 touchdowns. He’s made either the first or second All-Pro teams four times and is a focal point of Kevin O’Connell’s offense. But the state of the Vikings makes things unclear.
The Vikings haven’t won a playoff game since Jefferson arrived in 2020, and the team has been scrambling to find ways to keep him happy. The worst of the chaos has been at quarterback, where Kirk Cousins set a baseline early in his career, and the team is now deciding between J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray.
The state of the NFC North is another factor. While the Vikings may have improved, so has the rest of the division. The Green Bay Packers should have Micah Parsons back after the first month of the season. The Chicago Bears are entering the second year of a partnership between Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. The Detroit Lions still have a talented core in place. While the Vikings have encouraging aspects, no one knows what will happen when they pull the slot machine lever.
While many felt Jefferson was inevitable, he was proven to be human last year. His final stats were 84 catches for 1,048 yards and two touchdowns. That would be cause to celebrate for Mike Evans, but it wasn’t a Justin Jefferson season. If he goes through another year like last year, serious questions will have to be asked, and Nolan Teasley could be the person answering them.
Teasley isn’t the only person in charge of the franchise; O’Connell has a strong voice. But Teasley helped make many difficult decisions as the Seattle Seahawks’ assistant general manager. Russell Wilson and D.K. Metcalf’s desire to get out helped Seattle build a Super Bowl contender on the fly. If Jefferson does the same, it could be that experience that fulfills all of the trade speculation videos we’ve seen on social media.
That’s where Jefferson and Moss’ careers have a fork in the road. If the quarterback can get Jefferson the ball and he can show the dominant form where he came a few touchdowns short of a triple crown in 2022, Jefferson will likely remain in Minnesota for the rest of his career and reach an even bigger height than Moss did with the Vikings.
If the Vikings can’t do that, Jefferson could finally have enough and share another similarity to Moss after seven years in Minnesota.
