Justin Jefferson broke a crazy record, why didn’t anyone notice?

On By Littum

You ever heard the old phrase, “if it bleeds, it leads?” That might explain why there was so little discussion about Justin Jefferson’s latest record.

On Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, Jefferson passed Torry Holt for the most receiving yards ever through the first five years of a player’s career. Also notably right behind him on the list: Jerry Rice and Randy Moss.

He didn’t just break the record, he passed those legends with seven games left in the season.

Before you nod your head at yet another Jefferson feat and move on to worrying about right guard against Chicago, can we just stop for a moment and think about this one? Jefferson’s 6,811 yards through 70 games is nearly 1,000 more than Larry Fitzgerald’s 76 games. Moss had 80 games to gain 6,743 yards. AJ Green, Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, Marvin Harrison — these guys all look up to Jefferson through five years.

By the end of this season, Jefferson will be up several hundred yards on Holt and the rest of the receiving GOATs. And even crazier is that he missed a handful of games last year. Had he not picked up a hamstring injury, it would have been even more of a blowout. It’s bananas. Wild. Insane. Nuts. Bonkers. Batty. Impossible. Unhinged.

Mostly crickets though.

The broadcast mentioned it when he passed the record and didn’t bring it up again.

A Google search revealed a few web posts about it. Nothing on the front page of ESPN, CBS or Yahoo! Sport. I can’t say I watched every minute of every TV debate show, but I didn’t come across any discussions about whether or not Jefferson has a chance to be the greatest receiver of all time or any other contrived topic surrounding his newest record.

Of course, the Cowboys disaster, Jets disaster, Bengals disaster and Bears disaster got most of the NFL’s Monday talk. If it bleeds, it leads.

Jefferson has entered the world of Larry Fitzgerald or Andre Johnson for being so consistently excellent and uncontroversial that he doesn’t move the needle. He doesn’t get the debates going. He doesn’t rake in clicks. He just captures everything in his stratosphere week after week.

This offseason Jefferson made headlines quite often, but not because of anything he did. “Should the Vikings trade Jefferson for _____” was widely used to clickbait unsuspecting football fans who somehow believed there was some universe where the Vikings would trade a player capable of winning more yards through five years than any other human being has ever lived.

After the draft passed and the thousands of keystrokes wasted on fake trades, there was one last desperate hope for Jefferson to be at the center of the NFL conversation: If he held out while negotiating a long-term extension.

Boy, for the few OTA practices he missed while finalizing negotiations, it was a pretty good time for those who dreamed of using the word “diva” to describe him.

No such luck. He signed a new deal before minicamp and started with Sam Darnold.

It was completely in line with all his non-controversial behavior regarding the contract. In 2023, when negotiations began, he continued to practice during training camp instead of sitting out like Ja’Marr Chase did this year. As the process proceeded, there were no leaks. No cryptic posts on social media. No interviews where he talked about his value to the franchise.

But hey, maybe he’ll hate his new quarterback, right? You can imagine Internet agitators holding their phones up to the TV, trying to record any sign that Jefferson is frustrated with Sam Darnold. Sorry, none of that either. Turns out there’s more than one quarterback who can throw the ball his way and make magic happen.

Meanwhile, if you Google Jordan Addison’s Instagram post from a few weeks ago where he wrote “Free3,” apparently a phrase of his for years, you’ll find hundreds of trade suggestions as there was a spark of the Viking receiver diva – the dream that came true.

Jefferson told local media that he suggested to Addison that he should remain patient and continue to do his best. I don’t think it did Stand up‘s wear and tear.

No one wants to put leaders at the receiving end. Guys who write books called Just give me the damn ballor pulling out cell phones after scoring a touchdown or dumping popcorn on themselves or changing their names to ungrammatical Spanish numbers or arriving at camp in a helicopter… that’s what the world wants that position to be, even though the majority of The big stars are more like Jefferson than Chad Ochenta y Cinco.

There might be an exception if Jefferson had a ring. Not that a receiver could win a ring alone, but major NBA media has taught us all that no one is good at their sport without rings. Jefferson’s lack of playoff time will likely have to change to ever enter the toxic chatter topics. Maybe if his trainer was a media magnet like Dan Campbell there would be more to it, but I don’t see Amon-Ra St either. Viking Killer get a lot of TV time.

Anyway, Jefferson has the second most yards in the league and the team is 8-2. Jefferson has between 4-8 catches per game and has gone over 80 yards in eight of 10 games. Nothing to see here.

If the Vikings are going to make the playoffs and make some noise, they’ll need Jefferson’s consistency — and likely patience at times — to get there. If they win, the Vikings’ discussion will likely revolve around whether Darnold gets a contract extension or whether they’ll switch to McCarthy, regardless of how many receptions Jefferson has. It’s the nature of the beast, I guess.

This is just a long way of saying: Don’t forget what we’re witnessing with Jefferson just because it doesn’t bleed. The Vikings have had so many star receivers along the way that it’s easy to take for granted the invaluable part of the organization that he has become. These guys only come around so often. Appreciate it, even if it doesn’t get talked about as much as another failed Jets GM on a Monday morning.