The Minnesota Vikings have a strong receiver tradition. They can boast two of the very best to ever play the position in Cris Carter and Randy Moss. One of the highlights of this strong receiver tradition in Minnesota is the rookie seasons of some of the receivers. Vikings players have been named Rookie of the Year on six occasions. Four of the six played receiver.
1963: Paul Flatley
1976: Sammy White
1998: Randy Moss
2009: Percy Harvin
Anthony Carter might've made it five. His 1985 season was his first in the NFL. It was a very productive first season: 43 catches, 821 yards, 19.1 yards/catch, and 8 TDs. It wasn't his first season of professional football as he'd played three seasons in the USFL.
The Vikings tradition of receivers, rookie receivers in particular, has been on my mind due to the first year performance of Justin Jefferson. As with Randy Moss and Percy Harvin, the Vikings were lucky to have Jefferson fall to them in them in the first round of their respective NFL Drafts. The knee-jerk scouting take that Jefferson was only a slot receiver because of the number of times he played there at LSU was lazy scouting. Just take the time to watch the kid play. Analytics is a tool. It'll never top watching football players play football. Jefferson is a technically advanced and nuanced receiver no matter where he lines up on the field. He runs excellent routes. He did it in college and he's doing it as a rookie. He has great hands. He gets separation. He catches contested passes when he doesn't get separation. He knows what to do on the football field and when to do it. He plays like a veteran receiver because he's been playing receiver the right way for a while. It's astonishing that professional scouts and amateur scouts were so damn fixated on where he lined up on the field that they couldn't see the way that he played the receiver position. I've been thanking that lazy scouting from the moment the Vikings lucked into Jefferson with the 22nd pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Justin Jefferson has drawn comparisons to Randy Moss for the receiving production that he's had as a rookie. Those comparisons aren't really fair as Moss is a Hall of Famer, an all-timer. Moss was a physical freak. It isn't fair to compare any receiver to him. Jefferson is approaching/exceeding Moss' rookie production in a very different manner. He isn't as explosive as Moss but he makes explosive plays. Through 12 games it feels like he's only been limited by the number of times the Vikings can get him the ball. Like Sammy White, Percy Harvin, and Randy Moss before him, it's fun to watch Jefferson play football. I'd include Flatley but he's before my time. I only have highlights of him and stories about him. That fun started the moment they caught their first pass as rookies for the Vikings. There's still a quarter of the season to play but Jefferson has to be the clubhouse leader for Rookie of the Year. The quarterbacks that might've had a shot have either fallen or faltered. Actually, Jefferson might not even be eligible for the award since there's nothing about his play this season that looks or feels like a rookie. I've enjoyed watching Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs over the years as they improved and refined their route running and receiving skills. They both have improved to the point of being among the league's best at the finer aspects of the receiver position. Jefferson already appears to be their equal in nearly every way. If he can continue to take apart defenses as he becomes more a focal point of those defenses, well, he's put his ceiling at stratospheric heights. He's playing like one of those special players that forces you to sit back and just enjoy the ride.
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