Zulgad: The Rare Receiver: Justin Jefferson is great on the field and low-maintenance off it

The Vikings star managed to get his record-setting contract without a holdout, hold-in or causing any friction. The same can't be said for many other standouts at his position.

(Image courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings)

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Justin Jefferson has been lauded as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. What we don’t discuss enough is the fact that Jefferson is one of the lowest-maintenance star receivers in recent memory.

That point was driven home this summer as Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb and San Francisco’s Brandon Aiyuk — like Jefferson, members of the 2020 draft class — stayed off the practice field because they wanted contract extensions beyond the fifth-year options that existed on their rookie deals.

Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, a teammate of Jefferson’s at LSU and the fifth pick overall in the 2021 draft, also spent training camp refusing to participate in practice because he wanted an extension before the fourth season of his five-year contract.

It’s Chase’s decision to play hardball with the Bengals that provides the best example of how fortunate the Vikings were to get Jefferson with the 22nd pick of the 2020 draft. One year ago, Jefferson was in the exact situation in which Chase currently finds himself.

Jefferson had a case to stay off the field during training camp last summer, having no security beyond his rookie deal and coming off a season in which he led the NFL with 128 receptions for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns.

Instead, Jefferson did his best to downplay his contract, didn’t have a negative word to say about the Vikings and participated in practice every day.

“One, it was for my teammates to really show that I’m (not) all about the money and the contract,” he said of his approach. “Just being about myself. That’s not something I grew up on, that’s not something I wanted my teammates to have over my name, so just being here, having a smile on my face and wanting to come to work every single day, even when I didn’t have that contract. I knew that contract was going to come whenever it comes, and I wasn’t going to let that stop me from coming out here and making greatness and being great.”

Jefferson got off to a fantastic start, catching 36 passes for 571 yards with three touchdowns in the first five games before suffering a significant hamstring injury early in the fourth quarter of an Oct. 8 game against Kansas City at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Jefferson easily could have shut it down for the season, but, instead, returned in Week 13 against the Las Vegas Raiders. He suffered a chest injury in that game that caused him to be taken to the hospital after he coughed up blood. Jefferson played the next week and caught seven passes for 84 yards in Cincinnati.

The Vikings rewarded Jefferson with a four-year, $140 million extension in June that includes $110 million in guarantees. The average annual value of $35 million makes him the highest-paid non quarterback in the league.

Jefferson and the Vikings not only managed to avoid any public acrimony in their negotiations — for which the team also deserves credit — but also set the market for Lamb (taken with the 17th pick) and Aiyuk (taken with the 25th pick).

Lamb received a four-year, $136 million extension late last month that has $100 million in guarantees and carries an average annual value of $34 million. Aiyuk followed this week by agreeing to a four-year, $120 million deal that has $76 million guaranteed and is worth $30 million per season.

Chase, who has 268 receptions for 3,717 yards with 29 touchdowns over his first 45 games, told Cincinnati-based reporters on Friday that he would be willing to play this season without an extension, but then said it would be his decision if that happens on Sunday in the Bengals’ opener against New England.

Chase, who staged a hold-in during camp, meaning he was with the team but not practicing, participated in practice the past three days but is listed as questionable for Sunday.

O’Connell was asked how pleased he was to avoid a situation like that one and have a guy that was willing to play without the extension.

“To be honest, I really don’t know much about (Chase’s) situation,” O’Connell said. “Maybe if we hadn’t got that deal done with Justin and be as excited as I am about it, maybe I’d be monitoring some of those things a little closer. I can just say, (Jefferson) had every option of how people can handle those situations, and there’s time during the type of dialogue that I have with players that conversations get real. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. But I think, and I hope, at the end of all of this, Justin has known since day one that I’ve got his back and I’m always going to try to help him be the best version of himself.”

Jefferson, meanwhile, sympathizes with what Chase is going through but is focused on a season in which he again will be one of the Vikings’ captains and appears to be relishing the opportunity to be one of the most important voices in the locker room.

“It’s tough, it’s tough,” Jefferson said of Chase’s situation. “I don’t know who’s talking to him or in his ear. I was in that same type of situation last year, but I wasn’t staying away from practice, I was participating in everything. I was just really getting my business done. I understood that I was two years early and it wasn’t very likely that I was going to be able to get a contract done before the season.

“So just take care of your business, you know that you’re going to have a good season, go out there and have it. Let that contract be an even bigger (talker) after the season and in the offseason after a big season that you’ve had. … I understand it but I hope everything goes well on his end, and I hope he’s back there on that field and able to compete like he always does.”