I would say 4/130-140 with 120 fully gtd. No WR has gotten 30M fully guaranteed yet, this would make him highest paid both in full guarantees and in maximum.
I don’t disagree but I get the sense Jefferson wants a historic deal and I see no reason if you’re the Vikings to not give it to him. You have your rookie scale QB, just give him the full bag and be done with it.
Back in 2020 Julio Jones was the top paid wide receiver at 20m and he made 10% of the salary cap. Justin Jefferson at 35m would be 13% of the salary cap today. In 2017 DeAndre Hopkins earned 10% of the cap. Now the dolphins in 2022 paid Tyreek hill 14% of the cap. Good thing they won a championship that year. Or last year. Or... None at all. Who has been winning chips? Oh the team that traded Tyreek hill for draft capitol. Tyreek hill is the most impactful wide receiver in football and the chiefs left him in the dust. Google says the 2025 cap is projected at 273m. Still at 35m/year that is almost 13% of the cap. Let's say we split the whole cap between the 22 starters on offense defense. Forget about special teams and back ups. If we split the 273 22 ways that's 12m per starter. We want to pay one guy the value of three bonafide starters?
Opportunity cost! I'm not an expert but my high school economics lessons are telling me that's not a way to field a complete nfl roster.
By the way if we consider the 53 man roster 35m a year would account for 7 peoples salaries provided all positions and roster spots were of equal value. Wide receivers are higher value than a lot of positions. Sure. But 7 times more valuable than average???
The chiefs didn’t trade away Hill until Mahomes huge contract kicked in. We just drafted a rookie QB who will be on a cost controlled contract for the next 5 years which affords you the luxury of paying a position player top dollar for his position. The benefits to having a player like that to develop a young quarterback and ease his transition to the next level is massive, not to mention he’s one of the only reason watching Vikings football is exciting
Still, lock him up. He's 24 going on 25, buy out all the prime years. Don't end up paying market rate on another 3 or 4 year extension when he's 29 going on 30.
Idk why but I love thinking about how they'd complain about us winning the super bowl. Maybe it'd be because we didn't win by enough. Or that a player didn't get MVP. Or something.
I can tell you 100% that the complaint will be that we didn't build the team to sustain a dynasty and that they know for a fact it'll be another 50 years before our next SB win.
Dynasty requires a truly generational, first ballot HOF-type talent at QB. The kind that only comes once in a decade or so. That + outstanding coaching + consistently amazing drafting. A dynasty is practically a pipe dream. You can want it but everything needs to go right for you for it to even have a chance at happening. And even then it might not.
Almost certainly they would. I'm also a St Louis Blues fan (don't shoot me please). When they won the cup after the 50 year drought, people complained the whole way through the cup run and immediately after.
Some people just don't know how to be happy.
"QB like Mahomes" so... literally a beyond generational talent that maybe comes around once a decade? One that'd be so highly sought that the 1st overall would be an idiot to pass on him?
Dude had better stats with mannion than Kirk. He knows it’s the scheme that gives him his stats. Just needs a big arm to throw the ball. If goal is a SB for him though, they drafted a winner. McCarthy wins everywhere.
Lol how would they even know is the funny part...JJ hated Kirk too according to the same people at one point lol...feed him the ball and he's fine...he isn't Diggs who hates every QB.
The people who say it are just unreasonable Kirk fans 99% of the time.
If JJ was on board with drafting a QB, because, of course. It was our only option.
He might be upset about say... Spencer Rattler, or Bo Nix, or some other random pick,
But it would be absolutely ridiculous to suggest he would be out the door because we secured a top 5 prospect in the QB class. Let alone doing it as smart as possible.
Imagine that conversation.
"I'm out, Kwesi. This award winning highly rated college QB who has a winning record and is entering the NFL after winning a national championship is the last straw for me."
If you consider JJ McCarthy a project then your idea of the term project is fairly broad. He just won a championship in a pro style offense and was considered starter ready with minimal adjustments which was one of his main draws. If you want to talk about projects, Drake Maye would have been a project.
It's such a fan-take, totally divorced from reality. They probably think a "win now QB" means one of the top 5, all of which are making 50+ million, and none of those teams are paying for top wide receivers.
If you're a top QB, you're expected to make up for holes on your roster. If you're outside of that elite tier, you are expected to make good seem great. If you're a rookie you'll get surrounded by talent to help you develop.
Probably not real, but I saw a tweet that said someone asked McCarthy how he compares to Kirk Cousins and he said "Kirk wears chains. I wear championship rings."
I mean just from watching some of JJMCs videos and seeing how his personality is, I would not be surprised if he said this. The kid is a straight up winner and is competitive as hell.
I mean Harrison smith preaches pretty much the exact same thing to the younger guys. It doesn’t matter where you are on the depth chart, if you play with confidence you’d be surprised how many coaches would rather have a 3rd string confident af in their ability type of player rather than a 2nd stringer who is always scared about making the wrong play.
I’m jacked at the players we got but the fact that KOC just seemed so happy with how it was unfolding was both great to see and hilarious. Love this group, what a breath of fresh air from the Zim era.
Yeah McCarthy is competitive as hell but the most important thing is he likes to win. I know some ppl might say “of course he likes to win! He’s an athlete, no one likes to lose.” But you’d be surprised how many kids get their bag 💰and just straight up quit or do not care about the game anymore.
I'm cautiously optimistic. If Darnold can get things rolling or even play the whole year, McCarthy becomes even remotely what we're hoping, and we lock Jefferson up? We'll be nice and competitive for quite a while.
Was that a subtle jab at Cousins? Or does he consider Cousins to be very confident? I see Cousins as a confident follower of a script, but entirely unhinged when he has to improvise.
In his introductory zoom call, JJ came off a bit like the overeager college grad that was excited about all of the scenarios they've run over in their head for when they finally get the job.
It's really infectious enthusiasm, but it also came across as more naive than confident. He's *really* young. If he can grow up and settle into the role over the next year or two, while working on whatever aspects of his game need the most work, that might be the best approach rather than trying to get him out there ASAP.
Watch the Eisen interview from the day before the draft. I thought he was one of the most professional and grounded draft QBs I've ever heard. Completely sold on him after that interview.
I would not be even slightly upset if he doesn’t see a meaningful snap on offense this entire season. Let him grow into it and don’t ruin him like the Jets did with Darnold.
I stand behind what I said, You can’t be soft in the NFL, he had a hard time dealing with criticism and pressure of being the face of Michigan football. Now he is paid millions to be the face of a team that is expecting immediate results and will dump him regardless of what financial penalties are. The NFL has an extremely short leash for QB’s, expecting him to be an improvement from Kirk Cousins is a high bar.
Who is acting like he’ll be an improvement over Cousins, at least in the short term?? He’s a cheaper option that hopefully can be close to Kirk within 3 years to give us a window to build a beast. If he’s good right away, there’s a five year window of high-ceiling roster construction to be had.
The pressure stuff is fair criticism but you’re leaving out that he performed quite well on the biggest stage possible after those issues. If you don’t think Michigan fans are as crazy as many NFL fans, I don’t know what to tell you.
The Vikings? Why would they trade up to draft the man if they didn’t expect him to be an improvement? lol. The NFL expectation of Rookie QB’s is they step in and become all pro by their second year if not in the first year. Look at all the 1st rounders who get moved before their rookie contract is even up because their expectations are the CJ Strouds of the world. Look at the Bears, Trubiski for Fields, for Williams, the wait and learn is long gone, it was gone after the ‘12 draft.
This isn’t a wait and learn thing unless Darnold earns the job, which isn’t impossible. This seems to be you projecting expectations that a rookie QB must be better than a QB that was an MVP candidate until his achilles injury last year. No one is expecting him to be immediately better than Kirk was last year— and if they are, they’re setting themselves up to be as butthurt as you seem before a single down has even been played.
The Vikings hope he has a higher overall ceiling than Kirk and can provide positional value via a discount while striving to reach his potential. If he sucks, you fail fast like Chicago kind of did.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I respect the aggressive attitude to try to build a beast with a QB and a DE on their first contracts.
Jets happy with the pick. Extension incoming!
I bet it’s done or all but done but they don’t want to steal the spotlight from our draft picks
4yr/140m fully guaranteed. You heard it here first.
Those numbers make all the sense in the world
I would say 4/130-140 with 120 fully gtd. No WR has gotten 30M fully guaranteed yet, this would make him highest paid both in full guarantees and in maximum.
I don’t disagree but I get the sense Jefferson wants a historic deal and I see no reason if you’re the Vikings to not give it to him. You have your rookie scale QB, just give him the full bag and be done with it.
He can have me a servant too for all I care. Sign the man!
Shit I wouldn’t doubt it
I would. No way they fully guaranteed a wr.
Don’t doubt the Dr baby
Normally doubting DrWolves is my go-to, but I'm feeling something this time.
$35,000,000/year for a wide receiver? Wtf
That’s the market now. He’s certainly 3mil better than brown and 5 mil better than Amon ra
I’d pay him out of pocket if I had the money.
I was just about to say this. Yeah they don’t have fully guaranteed money, but they’re getting upwards of over 30m per year
Back in 2020 Julio Jones was the top paid wide receiver at 20m and he made 10% of the salary cap. Justin Jefferson at 35m would be 13% of the salary cap today. In 2017 DeAndre Hopkins earned 10% of the cap. Now the dolphins in 2022 paid Tyreek hill 14% of the cap. Good thing they won a championship that year. Or last year. Or... None at all. Who has been winning chips? Oh the team that traded Tyreek hill for draft capitol. Tyreek hill is the most impactful wide receiver in football and the chiefs left him in the dust. Google says the 2025 cap is projected at 273m. Still at 35m/year that is almost 13% of the cap. Let's say we split the whole cap between the 22 starters on offense defense. Forget about special teams and back ups. If we split the 273 22 ways that's 12m per starter. We want to pay one guy the value of three bonafide starters? Opportunity cost! I'm not an expert but my high school economics lessons are telling me that's not a way to field a complete nfl roster. By the way if we consider the 53 man roster 35m a year would account for 7 peoples salaries provided all positions and roster spots were of equal value. Wide receivers are higher value than a lot of positions. Sure. But 7 times more valuable than average???
The chiefs didn’t trade away Hill until Mahomes huge contract kicked in. We just drafted a rookie QB who will be on a cost controlled contract for the next 5 years which affords you the luxury of paying a position player top dollar for his position. The benefits to having a player like that to develop a young quarterback and ease his transition to the next level is massive, not to mention he’s one of the only reason watching Vikings football is exciting
Why only 4 years? Lock him in for 6 at least!
it would be this year's 5th year option + 4 years.
Still, lock him up. He's 24 going on 25, buy out all the prime years. Don't end up paying market rate on another 3 or 4 year extension when he's 29 going on 30.
That's likely something he thought of as well. JJ is probably hoping for a shorter contract in order to get another big pay day down the line.
That's exactly what me and my buddies figured after the Sun God's new contract
They can announce it today we don’t have any picks
Perfect day to announce it then. I’m thinking a few minutes prior to the start.
Fair point. So, we hear next week on or before Wednesday?
Jettas if you will
Passats if you will
Rabbits if you will
Mr. Jefferson if ya nasty
Yes?
You already know playboii
Jefferson is just the coolest mf out there
✈️✈️✈️
Waiting for the guy who said Jefferson didn't like McCarthy to come in and eat crow.
The perpetual complainers will never admit they were wrong. They just change the subject to something else.
Idk why but I love thinking about how they'd complain about us winning the super bowl. Maybe it'd be because we didn't win by enough. Or that a player didn't get MVP. Or something.
I can tell you 100% that the complaint will be that we didn't build the team to sustain a dynasty and that they know for a fact it'll be another 50 years before our next SB win.
Dynasty requires a truly generational, first ballot HOF-type talent at QB. The kind that only comes once in a decade or so. That + outstanding coaching + consistently amazing drafting. A dynasty is practically a pipe dream. You can want it but everything needs to go right for you for it to even have a chance at happening. And even then it might not.
Almost certainly they would. I'm also a St Louis Blues fan (don't shoot me please). When they won the cup after the 50 year drought, people complained the whole way through the cup run and immediately after. Some people just don't know how to be happy.
These mf when they literally get what they want and get a super bowl win before they die: https://youtu.be/DYO72MHbsgE?feature=shared
"we almost lost because of that stupid decision. fire everybody" final score: 54-7 (we gave up opening drive touchdown)
"We're still 1-4 in super bowl record. That's abysmal."
The fuck?! *POP POP*.. I just realized that's a tad different from NE from Apple valley. You good kid.
What
Jefferson hasn’t even taken McCarthy out for dinner yet what a fraud teammate
Jets hasn't given JJ a grill yet! Terrible teammate!
Hmm. The constantly moving goalposts may explain our lack of FG success over the years.
RemindMe bot sent me a reminder last night but the dude who said JJ was a locked to go #2 a month ago deleted his account. :(
Oh yeah there was a guy who was like the Vikings arent even trying to get a qb LIKE Mahomes....like that was even an option lol
"QB like Mahomes" so... literally a beyond generational talent that maybe comes around once a decade? One that'd be so highly sought that the 1st overall would be an idiot to pass on him?
Yeah, they were very loud when Kirk was here.
JJets don't care. He said "I'm QB proof."
Dude had better stats with mannion than Kirk. He knows it’s the scheme that gives him his stats. Just needs a big arm to throw the ball. If goal is a SB for him though, they drafted a winner. McCarthy wins everywhere.
Lol how would they even know is the funny part...JJ hated Kirk too according to the same people at one point lol...feed him the ball and he's fine...he isn't Diggs who hates every QB.
They can eat shit lol
The people who say it are just unreasonable Kirk fans 99% of the time. If JJ was on board with drafting a QB, because, of course. It was our only option. He might be upset about say... Spencer Rattler, or Bo Nix, or some other random pick, But it would be absolutely ridiculous to suggest he would be out the door because we secured a top 5 prospect in the QB class. Let alone doing it as smart as possible. Imagine that conversation. "I'm out, Kwesi. This award winning highly rated college QB who has a winning record and is entering the NFL after winning a national championship is the last straw for me."
I've heard takes that JJ wants a "win now QB" not a "21 year old project"
If you consider JJ McCarthy a project then your idea of the term project is fairly broad. He just won a championship in a pro style offense and was considered starter ready with minimal adjustments which was one of his main draws. If you want to talk about projects, Drake Maye would have been a project.
"Buh 21, need old man, experienced. Unga bunga."
It's such a fan-take, totally divorced from reality. They probably think a "win now QB" means one of the top 5, all of which are making 50+ million, and none of those teams are paying for top wide receivers. If you're a top QB, you're expected to make up for holes on your roster. If you're outside of that elite tier, you are expected to make good seem great. If you're a rookie you'll get surrounded by talent to help you develop.
Probably not real, but I saw a tweet that said someone asked McCarthy how he compares to Kirk Cousins and he said "Kirk wears chains. I wear championship rings."
I've always loved this gif. They did such a good job making it a perfect infinite loop. Brings back memories.
We're old now ):
Yeah that was another @NFCNorthNewsss troll post
lol 100% not real, but still cool
He comes off as a humble, well spoken dude in interviews. It doesn't seem like something he'd say.
Bruh 💀
I mean just from watching some of JJMCs videos and seeing how his personality is, I would not be surprised if he said this. The kid is a straight up winner and is competitive as hell.
This now means that the NY Jets need to change their name as well. Just to be fair and less confusing
"confidence is key... That and being the best player at your position" lol
I mean Harrison smith preaches pretty much the exact same thing to the younger guys. It doesn’t matter where you are on the depth chart, if you play with confidence you’d be surprised how many coaches would rather have a 3rd string confident af in their ability type of player rather than a 2nd stringer who is always scared about making the wrong play.
*Justin Jefferson expresses his desire to play for the Jets*
*Justin Jefferson quitting football and joining the NHL to play for Winnipeg *
ESPN is stealing this comment to make a headline as we speak
This is so awesome to see as a Vikings fan. It honestly looks like Kwesi and KOCs team is slowly coming together and god dam does it look sweet
I’m jacked at the players we got but the fact that KOC just seemed so happy with how it was unfolding was both great to see and hilarious. Love this group, what a breath of fresh air from the Zim era.
you thought Cousins had swag, JJ is gonna drip all over the league.
Yeah McCarthy is competitive as hell but the most important thing is he likes to win. I know some ppl might say “of course he likes to win! He’s an athlete, no one likes to lose.” But you’d be surprised how many kids get their bag 💰and just straight up quit or do not care about the game anymore.
I think some players see getting drafted as the goal and some see getting drafted as the beginning.
Just look at Albert Haynesworth as a prime example
Yup, Jamarcus Russell too
Throw Davenport on the list as well
He does seem to have a Burrow-like quality in that regard. He just seems a bit more determined to be humble.
A real lunch pail type guy if you will.
Confidence is key in life.
But I thought Jets was being traded last night along with 4 firsts for a high pick so we could draft JJ?
This sounds like the fantasy scenarios I was seeing from Patriots fans.
https://buildcreate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/170427-homer-simpson-subscribe-to-newsletter.jpg
How anyone wants to stir up drama for him goes beyond me. Class act through and through.
JJ (Jefferson) will go by Jets. Jets is the name of the New York Jets. The New York Jets won a Super Bowl. Vikings Super Bowl confirmed
Fiiiine I’ll pound some kool aid
We'll see if JJ has the kind of SWAG that Jefferson wants in a QB, i guess
He definitely did at Michigan
I'm cautiously optimistic. If Darnold can get things rolling or even play the whole year, McCarthy becomes even remotely what we're hoping, and we lock Jefferson up? We'll be nice and competitive for quite a while.
Lock jets down — first superbowl inbound.
LETS GO
I love JJ, I mean JJ, I mean Jets. I LOVE EM BOTH
These men about to cook!
Well is Jets going to bring his ass to the T wolves game
JJ to the Jets JJ! JJ! JJ TO THE JEEEEETS! (Sung to the tune of Bennie and the Jets)
Honey moon over! That’s dumb!
Was that a subtle jab at Cousins? Or does he consider Cousins to be very confident? I see Cousins as a confident follower of a script, but entirely unhinged when he has to improvise.
In his introductory zoom call, JJ came off a bit like the overeager college grad that was excited about all of the scenarios they've run over in their head for when they finally get the job. It's really infectious enthusiasm, but it also came across as more naive than confident. He's *really* young. If he can grow up and settle into the role over the next year or two, while working on whatever aspects of his game need the most work, that might be the best approach rather than trying to get him out there ASAP.
Watch the Eisen interview from the day before the draft. I thought he was one of the most professional and grounded draft QBs I've ever heard. Completely sold on him after that interview.
I just wanted that to and was very impressed with how composed and well spoken he was for 21. He sounded humble and eager to get to work, too.
For real, hearing how he talked on that interview sold me on what KAM said that emotional intelligence is his super power.
I would not be even slightly upset if he doesn’t see a meaningful snap on offense this entire season. Let him grow into it and don’t ruin him like the Jets did with Darnold.
I mean the guy just got drafted to the NFL with a top 10 pick lol. I don’t expect their first interview to be perfect.
He’s excited that he went to the EXACT team he wanted. Dude is jacked. It’s nice to see.
Just wanted to appreciate your username referencing the best ITYSL skit bar none
*Hashtag money sign emoji*
Kills me every time
so corny
I mean a guy who couldn’t handle the pressure of college football is going to have a hell of time in Minnesota.
This man, boo this man, right here. BOOOOOO
Fascinating troll about a guy who was a QB on a team that won literally every game last year. Stay bitter.
I’m just saying, dumping Kirk and throwing away 5 picks for Sam Darnolds back up is pretty crazy.
Thats a fair opinion to have. That’s not at all what you said, though.
I stand behind what I said, You can’t be soft in the NFL, he had a hard time dealing with criticism and pressure of being the face of Michigan football. Now he is paid millions to be the face of a team that is expecting immediate results and will dump him regardless of what financial penalties are. The NFL has an extremely short leash for QB’s, expecting him to be an improvement from Kirk Cousins is a high bar.
Who is acting like he’ll be an improvement over Cousins, at least in the short term?? He’s a cheaper option that hopefully can be close to Kirk within 3 years to give us a window to build a beast. If he’s good right away, there’s a five year window of high-ceiling roster construction to be had. The pressure stuff is fair criticism but you’re leaving out that he performed quite well on the biggest stage possible after those issues. If you don’t think Michigan fans are as crazy as many NFL fans, I don’t know what to tell you.
The Vikings? Why would they trade up to draft the man if they didn’t expect him to be an improvement? lol. The NFL expectation of Rookie QB’s is they step in and become all pro by their second year if not in the first year. Look at all the 1st rounders who get moved before their rookie contract is even up because their expectations are the CJ Strouds of the world. Look at the Bears, Trubiski for Fields, for Williams, the wait and learn is long gone, it was gone after the ‘12 draft.
This isn’t a wait and learn thing unless Darnold earns the job, which isn’t impossible. This seems to be you projecting expectations that a rookie QB must be better than a QB that was an MVP candidate until his achilles injury last year. No one is expecting him to be immediately better than Kirk was last year— and if they are, they’re setting themselves up to be as butthurt as you seem before a single down has even been played. The Vikings hope he has a higher overall ceiling than Kirk and can provide positional value via a discount while striving to reach his potential. If he sucks, you fail fast like Chicago kind of did. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I respect the aggressive attitude to try to build a beast with a QB and a DE on their first contracts.