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WR Justin Jefferson, MIN (3 Viewers)

Some reports are saying they don't expect Jefferson to play vs the Bears.

The Bears say they are preparing for Jefferson to play.

No one knows. I am guessing he won't since they have the bye to give him extra time to practice. He was a limited participant in the most recent practice report.

The Head coach pretty much said he wants to see a full practice from Jefferson before he plays when asked a question directly about this.
 
Monday night only complicates the matter coupled with all these pre Sunday games where on a lot teams people have to pick a Thursday or Friday player or leave themselves with waiver wire pickup if Jefferson don't go. In a few of my important leagues (meaning those I still have a shot to make playoffs) I have Jefferson and DJ Moore so that kind of stinks sitting DJ Moore if Jefferson is ready to go I can't really afford to sit any of the other guys on Thursday - Sunday. Example one league I was forced to put in Reed otherwise my option was a Powell on Monday night if Jefferson did not go and I played DJM. Ect ect same for everyone else in the world I am sure.
 
Yeah it's tough to know I get that.

Best I can say is wait for a full practice from Jefferson before expecting him to play. I think they will still practice on Saturday.

Even that is not a sure thing as they will check if Jefferson has any soreness following a full practice that if he does might rule him out.

But that is the next step.

If this were Jefferson having a limited practice but coming back to play with Kirk Cousins it would be different.

But this is Jefferson coming back after having missed many weeks and not having full practice with Dobbs and how the offense is changing to suit Dobbs now rather than what they were doing with Cousins.
 
Biabreakable said:
Yeah it's tough to know I get that.

Best I can say is wait for a full practice from Jefferson before expecting him to play. I think they will still practice on Saturday.

Even that is not a sure thing as they will check if Jefferson has any soreness following a full practice that if he does might rule him out.

But that is the next step.

If this were Jefferson having a limited practice but coming back to play with Kirk Cousins it would be different.

But this is Jefferson coming back after having missed many weeks and not having full practice with Dobbs and how the offense is changing to suit Dobbs now rather than what they were doing with Cousins.
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Thinking of trading for Jefferson for the stretch run, but there's no guarantee like you say that Dobbs and Jefferson will click like he did with Cousins. Talent should raise Dobbs performance, but it may be a stretch to think Jefferson just immediately returns to his previous production.
 
kyoun1e said:
Biabreakable said:
Yeah it's tough to know I get that.

Best I can say is wait for a full practice from Jefferson before expecting him to play. I think they will still practice on Saturday.

Even that is not a sure thing as they will check if Jefferson has any soreness following a full practice that if he does might rule him out.

But that is the next step.

If this were Jefferson having a limited practice but coming back to play with Kirk Cousins it would be different.

But this is Jefferson coming back after having missed many weeks and not having full practice with Dobbs and how the offense is changing to suit Dobbs now rather than what they were doing with Cousins.
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Thinking of trading for Jefferson for the stretch run, but there's no guarantee like you say that Dobbs and Jefferson will click like he did with Cousins. Talent should raise Dobbs performance, but it may be a stretch to think Jefferson just immediately returns to his previous production.
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Yeah we don't know what that will be like.

Dobbs is a good player, I like him, but he does not throw as well as Cousins. There is a big gap there I think.

Dobbs makes up for some of that with his running ability, but that does necessarily help Jefferson perform at his previous level? Probably not. It will be different.

I hope Dobbs keeps improving. The gap is real though.
 
Biabreakable said:
Weebs210 said:
FairWarning said:
Hoping he plays as I think it helps Addison.
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Maybe with Cousins it would of. No chance in hell Dobbs can support Jefferson, Hock, and Addison
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It will help Addison as far as the coverage he draws.

But yes KOC and Dobbs are not going to throw as often as the Vikings would with Cousins.
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Sure it will help with coverage but his targets will go down. No idea how that would help overall but okay.
 
Last edited:
Weebs210 said:
Biabreakable said:
Weebs210 said:
FairWarning said:
Hoping he plays as I think it helps Addison.
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Maybe with Cousins it would of. No chance in hell Dobbs can support Jefferson, Hock, and Addison
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It will help Addison as far as the coverage he draws.

But yes KOC and Dobbs are not going to throw as often as the Vikings would with Cousins.
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Sure it will help with coverage but his targets will go down. No idea how that would help overall but okay.
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I never said it would help overall.

Cousins has averaged 38 passing attempts per game in 2023. Josh Dobbs 32 attempts per game.

Addison has averaged 7.5 targets per game in the 6 games after Jefferson was injured compared to 5.8 before Jefferson was injured.

Jefferson has averaged 10.6 targets per game before he was injured.

Hockenson has averaged 11 targets per game with Josh Dobbs and I think he has shown a tendency to target TE a lot prior to coming to MN as well. McBride had 14 targets in the game prior to Dobbs being traded to the Vikings and Zach Ertz had two 10 target games earlier in the season with Dobbs. You put McBride and Ertz targets together, then Hockenson and Dobbs has targeted TE about 10 times per game.

Now there are other factors to consider here such as Addison being a rookie, but yes his targets have gone up by about 2 per game in the absence of Jefferson.

Dobbs tendency to target TE highly seems consistent and that may continue to be the case even after Jefferson returns, although it should be pointed out that Hockenson has been used on some routes that would normally be for Jefferson as Hockenson has said himself.

But yes I think it would be reasonable to assume that the return of Jefferson will draw more targets his way and that Dobbs continues to target Hockenson at a high rate as well with lower total passing attempts of Dobbs compared to Cousins that Addison may see a reduction in targets per game by something around two.

I would add to that, that Dobbs has shown some chemistry with Brandon Powell that likely won't go away completely although Powell will likely not play as much when Jefferson returns. Dobbs will still throw to other players than the main 3 at times.

Is two targets per game significant? Yes I think it is. At the same time the quality of Addisons targets may increase which mitigates that reduction somewhat in terms of catch rate and yards per target as defenses focus more coverage to stopping Hockenson and Jefferson.

So bottom line I think its a reduction for Addison but maybe not as significant a reduction as one might think.

Addison has scored 7 TD so far this season. All of those have been from Cousins. 4 of them were after Jefferson was injured. This is where the main impact of Addisons fantasy scoring has already occurred without Cousins.
 
At this point it seems like Jefferson is deliberately dragging his feet and trying to stay on IR as long as possible. I think he feels the season is lost and returning doesn't benefit him.

It certainly seems like he could've been ready 1 or even 2 weeks ago.
 
BladeRunner said:
At this point it seems like Jefferson is deliberately dragging his feet and trying to stay on IR as long as possible. I think he feels the season is lost and returning doesn't benefit him.

It certainly seems like he could've been ready 1 or even 2 weeks ago.
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Highly doubt he considers the season lost, they're 6-5 and in the playoffs if season ended today (think they'd get the tiebreaker w/ Seattle...)
 
Mitchie said:
BladeRunner said:
At this point it seems like Jefferson is deliberately dragging his feet and trying to stay on IR as long as possible. I think he feels the season is lost and returning doesn't benefit him.

It certainly seems like he could've been ready 1 or even 2 weeks ago.
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Highly doubt he considers the season lost, they're 6-5 and in the playoffs if season ended today (think they'd get the tiebreaker w/ Seattle...)
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They are a full 1 game ahead of Green Bay who is #8 right now. 7 teams make the playoffs both Minnesota and Seattle would make it as of today.
 
BladeRunner said:
At this point it seems like Jefferson is deliberately dragging his feet and trying to stay on IR as long as possible. I think he feels the season is lost and returning doesn't benefit him.

It certainly seems like he could've been ready 1 or even 2 weeks ago.
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I think you're wrong about this and you have been listening to media speculation about this too much.

Jefferson has stated many times that he wants to be the best player he can be and his goal is to perform well enough in his career to be considered for the hall of fame one day.

He is a competitor and wants to play as well as he can at all times regardless of the circumstances.

This is just short sightedness on your part and impatience saying Jefferson is dragging his feet and doesn't want to play.
 
I just listened to Jefferson and KOC's press conferences from today.

Jefferson is listed officially as having a limited practice today and is listed as questionable to play Monday night vs the Bears. In my opinion following this whole thing this is not quite what I want to see before having confidence that he will play Monday night. However there is a new wrinkle to this compared to last week. KOC said that Jefferson did participate in some team drills. It was not all just individual practice on his part, and this is a step in the right direction.

"Justin was limited. We ramped up his work all week long. He'll go in as questionable," O'Connell said. "He took part in some team reps, consistent work here and there." LINK
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You can hear for yourself from Jefferson and KOC imbedded in the link.

This sounds like a game time decision to me. Jefferson is closer to playing than he was last week. Just based on the tone of the comments I am guessing he wont play on Monday but that he is closer to playing than he was last week.
 
My Sunday Morning No Inside Info on what do do with Justin Jefferson today. My guess is there's a 30% chance he plays Monday night.

Importantly, the Vikings have a bye next week.

You can hear Kevin O'Connell on it here. https://x.com/CoachspeakIndex/status/1728514448548397485?s=20

I'd say I think they're leaning toward holding him out one more game and then returning in Week 14.

But clearly, if Jefferson did play Monday night, he's always a threat to put up big numbers, even if less than 100%. In my opinion, the actionable advice for Sunday morning is it's my guess (and I'm stressing it's a guess) there's a 30% chance he plays Monday. So if you have Jefferson in your lineup, it should be only if:
A. You're in a desperate "Hail Mary" type situation and you're ok to take a zero for Jefferson.
B. You have a decent pivot option of players like K.J. Osborn or Darnell Mooney or other reasonable flex players Monday Night.

That's where I am early Sunday morning.
 
Joe Bryant said:
My Sunday Morning No Inside Info on what do do with Justin Jefferson today. My guess is there's a 30% chance he plays Monday night.

Importantly, the Vikings have a bye next week.

You can hear Kevin O'Connell on it here. https://x.com/CoachspeakIndex/status/1728514448548397485?s=20

I'd say I think they're leaning toward holding him out one more game and then returning in Week 14.

But clearly, if Jefferson did play Monday night, he's always a threat to put up big numbers, even if less than 100%. In my opinion, the actionable advice for Sunday morning is it's my guess (and I'm stressing it's a guess) there's a 30% chance he plays Monday. So if you have Jefferson in your lineup, it should be only if:
A. You're in a desperate "Hail Mary" type situation and you're ok to take a zero for Jefferson.
B. You have a decent pivot option of players like K.J. Osborn or Darnell Mooney or other reasonable flex players Monday Night.

That's where I am early Sunday morning.
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This sounds about right.

I have seen some polls of Vikings fans about this on some of the Vikings sites and about 30% think he will play.

Jefferson did have some practice reps with all 11 in full pads, so this is more than he had done previously to be ready to play.

In Jeffersons press conference he did say he really wants to play.

It's a game time decision. They are likely checking to see if he has any soreness after Saturday.
 
My guess is they have him sit tonight and use the bye to give it more time as well as a few more full practices with Dobbs first.

But there is a chance he plays. I wouldn't rule out that possibility completely.
 
Biabreakable said:
My guess is they have him sit tonight and use the bye to give it more time as well as a few more full practices with Dobbs first.

But there is a chance he plays. I wouldn't rule out that possibility completely.
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That's how I see it too.

I'd guess maybe a 5% chance he plays tonight. The win streak to put them back in the playoff race, probably has made it a lot easier to be patient.
 
Read the SI article I just posted that talks about other Vikings players who have come back too soon from this injury and how that affected them.

That's just Vikings players. It's something that has happened to players league wide as well. Some have had their whole careers ruined by the injury and rushing back to play too soon after it.

It's your whinging that is absurd.

Thankfully or unfortunately Jefferson has turned off his social media accounts now so he doesn't have to listen to this baseless nonsense anymore.
 
Wholeheartedly agree, the Vikes should be approaching this like the Rams and getting their star receiver back in the game ASAP so that he can be plagued by this the remainder of the year, likely miss more games, and be wholly ineffective when he’s available. 👍🏻
 
If you participated in sports and had a hamstring issue, you would understand that they are tricky. You can feel like you are 100%, but you go out and reinjure it really easily. With the bye week coming up next week anyway, it would be silly to risk that for tonight in my opinion.
 
Sure, or maybe they feel like if he plays tonight there is a 5% chance that he reinjures it and is out for the rest of the season, but if they gave him tonight off, and essentially two more full weeks to heal, he would be at 100%. Would you risk the 5% chance at losing him for the playoff run if you were the Vikings? If you were Jefferson?
 
Cooper Kupp came back in 4 weeks from his hamstring, looked solid at first and has not looked the same since giving the worst stretch of fantasy production in his whole career.

Dulchich returned after 4 weeks from his hamstring, did not make it a half.

Diontae returned after 5 weeks with his hamstring, like Kupp he looked solid initially and again like Kupp has proceeded to give a stretch of bad games you'd have to go back to his rookie season with Mason Rudolph as his QB to equal.

Friermuth sat out 7 weeks with his various hamstring issues.

Jelani Woods has been out all year with a hamstring he had in camp, and then he recently had an injury to the other hamstring and will never see the field this season.

Just looking at this it sure seems like a return to play in 4-5 weeks has not been going so great. Maybe that's simplistic and there are other things at play with these players, but it's not like the Vikings don't have GPS tracking and all kinds of stuff to have baseline tests for JJ to get an understanding of his health status now vs pre-injury. If they feel the need to take more time it's likely based on info they have.
 
menobrown said:
Cooper Kupp came back in 4 weeks from his hamstring, looked solid at first and has not looked the same since giving the worst stretch of fantasy production in his whole career.

Dulchich returned after 4 weeks from his hamstring, did not make it a half.

Diontae returned after 5 weeks with his hamstring, like Kupp he looked solid initially and again like Kupp has proceeded to give a stretch of bad games you'd have to go back to his rookie season with Mason Rudolph as his QB to equal.

Friermuth sat out 7 weeks with his various hamstring issues.

Jelani Woods has been out all year with a hamstring he had in camp, and then he recently had an injury to the other hamstring and will never see the field this season.

Just looking at this it sure seems like a return to play in 4-5 weeks has not been going so great. Maybe that's simplistic and there are other things at play with these players, but it's not like the Vikings don't have GPS tracking and all kinds of stuff to have baseline tests for JJ to get an understanding of his health status now vs pre-injury. If they feel the need to take more time it's likely based on info they have.
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I believe Kupp hurt the hammy like 6 or 7 weeks before playing
 
menobrown said:
Cooper Kupp came back in 4 weeks from his hamstring, looked solid at first and has not looked the same since giving the worst stretch of fantasy production in his whole career.

Dulchich returned after 4 weeks from his hamstring, did not make it a half.

Diontae returned after 5 weeks with his hamstring, like Kupp he looked solid initially and again like Kupp has proceeded to give a stretch of bad games you'd have to go back to his rookie season with Mason Rudolph as his QB to equal.

Friermuth sat out 7 weeks with his various hamstring issues.

Jelani Woods has been out all year with a hamstring he had in camp, and then he recently had an injury to the other hamstring and will never see the field this season.

Just looking at this it sure seems like a return to play in 4-5 weeks has not been going so great. Maybe that's simplistic and there are other things at play with these players, but it's not like the Vikings don't have GPS tracking and all kinds of stuff to have baseline tests for JJ to get an understanding of his health status now vs pre-injury. If they feel the need to take more time it's likely based on info they have.
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The issue hasn’t been how long he’s sitting out. The issue has been perception management. With injuries like this, and our story-hungry media and fans, a team needs to have a script for the PR machine and everyone needs to stick to the script. It seems like that hasn’t happened perfectly here. But admittedly I’m not as close to the situation as Vikings fans.
 
BladeRunner said:
This whole situation is just absurd. There is no reason he should have sat this long. He was ready 2 weeks ago, at least. Whether it's the coaching staff or Jefferson himself, this has gone on way too long.
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I don't know how you can say this situation is absurd. You aren't there and have no idea how Jefferson is feeling. As other's have mentioned in here, pulled muscles are not easily dismissed and can take very different timelines to get back to normal. A reaggravation is very likely coming out of it. So why not be careful about it? It's definitely not absurd.
 
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