The Minnesota Vikings have arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.
At least, most people agree that Justin Jefferson is among the top three.
Numbers don’t lie, and his statistics certainly back up his status.
According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, Jefferson is just 40 yards away from becoming the fastest player to reach a significant milestone.
“Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson will play the 84th game of his NFL career tonight against the [Los Angeles] Chargers, and in it he is likely to surpass 8,000 career receiving yards. That would make him the fastest player in NFL history to do so. Former [Atlnata] Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones reached 8,000 receiving yards in his 85th career game, which is currently the record for the fastest to reach that milestone. Jefferson has 7,960 receiving yards through 83 career games, so he only needs 40 yards tonight to get to 8,000 faster than Jones did,” Smith wrote.
Jefferson has been one of the most dominant pass catchers since he entered the NFL as a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and the fact that he can reach this mark despite missing time with injuries makes it even more impressive.
Then again, those 40 yards are not a given.
The Chargers have a strong defense, and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter likely made plenty of adjustments after giving up 38 points to Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 7.
More than that, the Vikings will continue to have backup Carson Wentz at quarterback.
He tends to struggle going through his progressions, and that leads to forced throws and interceptions.
Of course, he will always try to connect with Jefferson, who’s the type of elite wide receiver who can make life easier for any quarterback.
But with all eyes on him, he will have to put in a lot of work to make NFL history on “Thursday Night Football.”
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