The Vikings are making Justin Jefferson a part of their quarterback decision

As they should

Exactly one month from today, the Minnesota Vikings are (likely) going to define the future direction of their franchise when they use a higher draft choice on a quarterback than at any other time in franchise history. While they currently have two first-round picks, sitting at #11 and #23, the expectation is that they’re going to use those picks and whatever other ammo they need to part with to move up and select a quarterback of the future.

Whatever their plans are, they’re making sure that the best player on the roster right now is remaining fully apprised as to what’s going on.

Alec Lewis of The Athletic has some of the news from Kevin O’Connell’s talk today at the NFL League Meetings in Orlando, and one of the big takeaways is that the team is keeping Justin Jefferson informed as to what they’re doing in their search for a quarterback.

“That could go a long way for a young quarterback to have a guy like that,” O’Connell said, “in addition to Brian O’Neill, T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Addison and Aaron Jones. You just think about what we have in our offensive framework right now, and I think it’s a pretty special time. I know Justin is looking at it like that as well, and my hope is we’ll get his contract done … and he continues to be that pillar of leadership that I look at him as within our team.”

We’ve said numerous times in this space that if the Vikings want to ensure that Jefferson stays in the fold, he needs to be a part of what the team is doing for the long term. At this point, it’s not entirely clear what Jefferson’s role in this process is or how much input he’s had, but the head coach has made it clear that the NFL’s best wide receiver is being kept up to speed on what the team is doing and that his expectation is that Jefferson is going to be here for the long term.

I’m guessing we won’t know the full extent of Jefferson’s involvement in this process until after the Draft or after his extension is finalized. . .the latter of which will hopefully be coming any day now. . .but he’s definitely a part of the process.