Category: NFL

In four years with the Minnesota Vikings, wide receiver Justin Jefferson has checked virtually every box necessary for NFL success.

The Pro Bowl? He’s been there three times—every season but this past season, when injuries cost him seven games.

Rookie of the Year? He won that in 2020. AP Offensive Player of the Year? He won that in 2022.

Even in 2023, his ailments disguised a year in which he averaged 107.4 receiving yards per game—a career high.

For Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the choice of whether to keep Jefferson going forward is easy.

“[Trading him] is not something that has once crossed my mind,” Adofo-Mensah told reporters Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine.

Minnesota picked up Jefferson’s fifth-year option in April, and he will make $19.7 million in 2024. Adofo-Mensah then implied that the Vikings may not be done paying the LSU product.

“We think he’s the best wide receiver in the league, and he should be compensated as such,” Adofo-Mensah said.

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who signed a four-year, $120 million extension in 2022, is currently the league’s highest-paid wideout. Time will tell whether Jefferson joins him—in the Twin Cities or elsewhere.

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert admitted he was “fired up” when he learned Jim Harbaugh would be the team’s new head coach.

Herbert said he appreciates the winning mentality of Harbaugh, who is coming off a College Football Playoff national championship with Michigan. Conversely, the Chargers went 5–12 last season, the team’s worst record in Herbert’s four pro seasons. This resulted in coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco being fired before the season ended.

“He’s done such a great job at the NFL level, college level, he’s had success wherever he goes,” Herbert said in a clip from the Chasin’ It podcast posted Tuesday. “He’s a competitor. He wants to win. I’m really excited to play for him.”

Herbert missed the final four games of the ’23 season after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair his fractured right index finger. The Chargers lost all four games with backup Easton Stick starting in place of Herbert.

Raheem Morris took a shot at the Atlanta Falcons’ current quarterback situation, without much subtlety, when he spoke at the NFL scouting combine Tuesday in Indianapolis.

“If we had better quarterback play, I’m probably not standing here at this podium,” Morris said.

Morris, who takes over as head coach from Arthur Smith, who was fired Jan. 8, didn’t name names. But he clearly implied that Atlanta intends to bring in new blood at the quarterback position. The Falcons used both Taylor Heinicke and Desmond Ridder as starting quarterbacks in compiling a 7–10 record last season. 

“I won’t bring up names,” Morris continued, via Pro Football Talk. “But when you’re going through the process, you have everything open. We’ve got so many avenues right now, because we have free agency money, we have the ability to trade, whether it be trade for a player with a team, or be it trade up or back in the draft. It’s just really about the different scenarios you want to have at the quarterback position.”

Ridder threw for 2,836 yards with 12 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions and an 83.4 passer rating in 15 games last season (going 6–7 in 13 starts). Heinicke recorded 890 passing yards and five touchdown passes to four interceptions and a 74.7 passer rating in five appearances (going 1–3 in four starts).

The Falcons hold the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton hinted at a timely resolution regarding the team's quarterback dilemma when fielding questions about Russell Wilson’s future on Tuesday.

After Wilson was benched at the end of the 2023 season, many speculated that he would be released after two unfruitful years in Denver. Payton declined to say exactly what the franchise has in store for the 35-year-old but teased a decision in the near future.

During media availability at the NFL scouting combine, Payton told reporters that a decision could come out in the “next two weeks.”

“Next week, we’ll be in meetings with ownership,” Payton said on Tuesday. “So I expect that we’re going to know fairly quickly. … Somewhere in the neighborhood next week. There’s a couple of factors here, obviously the cap projections came out, we’re further down the road with the draft class, so I would anticipate it being within the next two weeks.”

Payton’s comments undercut the resurfacing drama between he and Wilson following their first year together with the Broncos. Earlier this week, Wilson publicly spoke about his contract situation and the nefarious circumstances surrounding his benching, which painted the Broncos’ front office in a negative light.

“I got that call, ‘Hey, we’re going to bench you for the next nine games if you don’t change your injury guarantee.’” Wilson said on the I AM ATHLETE podcast. “I didn’t want to set a precedent for players to remove their injury guarantees. There was no way I was going to do that.”

At the combine, Payton claimed he “did not hear” what Wilson said on the podcast. Broncos GM George Paton, however, did reportedly listen to Wilson's comments.

Paton said, “We’ve moved forward. Everything we did was above board.” He added that he hasn’t been contacted by any NFL teams about a potential trade for Wilson so far.

Wilson signed a five-year, $245 million extension in Denver following a blockbuster trade with the Seattle Seahawks in March 2022. His potential release this offseason would cost the Broncos $85 million in dead cap money.

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