EAGAN, Minn. — Justin Jefferson is someone J.J. McCarthy can lean on.
Forget the glitzy route tree. Stop daydreaming about the receiver's silky footwork and elite hand-eye coordination. This is not an ode to Jefferson, the record-mashing professional football player who keeps on raising eyebrows, craning necks and provoking five words from viewers' mouths: How does he do it?
This is about "Jets" helping along a quarterback who's acclimating to the NFL and dealing with an ocean of criticism; a 26-year-old All-Pro with a worldly swagger leading with reassurances instead of highlights.
When Jefferson isn't doing his thing down the field, he's on McCarthy's shoulder, giving him advice.
"I definitely know how he feels," Jefferson said Thursday, divulging that pressure is territorial as one of the faces of the league. "[I'm telling him to] block it all out, allow yourself to come here and allow this place to be a sanctuary for you – to lean on your brothers, to talk to your brothers about anything – and allow us to help him in any way we can. I feel like that allows him to kind of be stress-free and kind of not really thinking about the negative comments and thinking about, 'I got to be so perfect going forward.' "
McCarthy is in the process of making progress. His passer rating is 61.7 and his QBR is 26.6 in five NFL starts, in which the team has gone 2-3. One day before Jefferson spoke to Twin Cities media members, McCarthy did the same and explained how Jefferson's guidance is steady in a stretch of inconsistency.
"I feel like we have a really great relationship to be honest with each other and not let emotions and egos get in the way," said McCarthy, detailing the discourse between them is auspicious, such as, " 'Let's solve this problem. Let's [find] the solution' – instead of hurting ourselves trying to protect feelings."
Although they've been teammates for about 18 months, the QB-WR duo is in its infancy. McCarthy logged minimal reps with Jefferson in 2024 before tearing his meniscus in the team's initial exhibition against Las Vegas. They weren't afforded time to develop on-field chemistry in this year's training camp – Jefferson sat out for most of it because of a hamstring strain. And their development together was paused again when McCarthy sustained a high-ankle sprain in Week 2 and didn't return to full practice until Week 9, which included an impressive touchdown pass and catch in Minnesota's win at Detroit.
Translation: the stripling quarterback and superstar receiver are scraping the surface of their connection.
When he was asked about Jefferson's leadership through the ups and downs this season, McCarthy shared, "I would characterize it as he possesses the most important quality that any great player, any great individual, wants to achieve, which is consistency. How he comes into the building every single day, he's the same guy, every single day. And just being able to see how he reacts and responds to some of these rough patches, it's been extremely comforting to know that he's going to continue to uplift me, continue to instill confidence, and do the best thing he can for this team, which is just being himself."
As competitive as one gets, Jefferson being himself stipulates a degree of displeasure. Right after the Week 11 loss, Jefferson verbalized "the frustrations are there" and they're "part of figuring things out."
They stem from Minnesota accepting its sixth loss in 10 games, the offense struggling to settle into a rhythm, as well as box scores that aren't on par with the numbers usually beside the receiver's name.
Seven of Jefferson's 25 career lowest totals in receiving success rate have occurred this season.
Note: Pro Football Reference categorizes a catch as successful when it gains at least 40 percent of the yards to go on first down, 60 percent on second down and 100 percent on third or fourth down. The denominator for this metric is the number of targets. Jefferson's 2025 success rate of 47.3 ranks 103rd out of 145 qualified players. The top qualifier on the Vikings is Jordan Addison, at 51.9 percent (tied for 78th).
Jefferson's 56 catches are his fewest through his first 10 games of a season since he had 45 in 2020, when he was a rookie and entered from the bench the first two weeks. His 747 receiving yards, which impressively still ranks seventh in the NFL, are a new low in that timespan – he had 101 more in Year 1 and finished 2023 with 1,074, despite missing seven games. His 13.3 yards per reception also are below his 15.0 average through his first five seasons, and his 8.0 yards per target is short of his prior low-water mark (10.4 in 2022; granted, Jefferson won Offensive Player of the Year honors in that same campaign).
The touchdowns for Jefferson – just two – are the most glaring statistical letdown because he's never tallied more than 10 in five seasons, but he's always managed at least four by this stage on the schedule.
Jefferson's reduction in production is exacerbated by McCarthy's growing pains. In five games together, Jefferson's catch percentage (51.2), yards per target (6.3) and reception (12.3), and receptions and yards per game (4.4/54.0) rank last in career partnerships with five QBs who've started at least twice with him.
His most targets this season (12) happened with McCarthy at the helm, but he's been limited so far to single-game highs of six grabs (at Detroit) and 81 yards (against Atlanta) during starts by the 22-year-old.
Jefferson, a team captain, isn't immune from showing his emotions during the heat of games, but he's continued to emphasize a core quality that has served him well previously and is incredibly useful now.
"I kind of had to learn how to have patience with the process, patience with just going about my business, how defenses cover me, you know, how we perform as a whole – all of that stuff has been a learning phase for me," Jefferson said. "And I'm more focused on what I can control and how can I better this team. Of course, given the 'C' on my chest and given the opportunity to be one of the leaders of the team, I take that very seriously, of being that person that people can lean on for an opportunity that we need in the game, being that role model off the field. So all those things kind of play into part of my role. And over the years, having to learn that patience has definitely been one of the main things that I had to learn and overcome."
Adding value in other areas, such as the run game in Week 11, accentuates Jefferson's maturity.
"The perfect example of what makes Justin so special is that Jordan Mason touchdown run," Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said. "If you hadn't had a chance to see that one, that's Justin Jefferson."
On the play mentioned by O'Connell, Jefferson whacked and widened Bears safety Kevin Byard III, helping Mason burst through the initial hole and run untouched past the second level into the end zone.
"He didn't walk the ball over the goal line himself, but he's certainly, in that moment, no matter what the perception of his frustration might be, that's the player that I know we're getting on every snap," O'Connell said.
Jefferson admitted "not too many people really expect that physicality out of me" because they see his gangly build and his famous reputation for route-running. They misjudge. A sweet block excites Jefferson.
O'Connell's sentiments were reciprocated by Offensive Coordinator Wes Phillips.
"My first thing I would say with 'Jets' is [I'm] just extremely grateful to have him, to have a player and a person like him, to be as good of a football player as he is but also show that no matter what the game is like, he's going to go out there and compete. He's never once shied away," Phillips commented. "You've seen guys in this league where things aren't going right and the effort from their part changes because 'I'm not getting the ball' or 'I'm not getting this' or 'Me, me, me.' [Justin] is about winning football games, number one, first and foremost. And he knows that the more times – as well as we know – the more times he's getting opportunities, you know, it's usually going to help us win those football games."
Phillips' remarks underscored the difference between Jefferson and a prima donna. Frustration is inevitable in the NFL (and sports in general), especially when it mounts from newfound challenges, such as Jefferson not attaining the extent of success – and at the frequency – customary to him.
Jefferson, however, has a morality that transmutes frustration into determination.
"When he talks to [reporters] after the game it's not about 'Me.' It's about 'Us.' It's about 'We.' (It's about) going out there and finding ways to win football games," Phillips said. "So just extremely grateful for Justin. Just his demeanor day-in and day-out. He goes out on the practice field [and] he competes.
"I mean, this is what he knows. This is what he does," Phillips added.
Three months ago, during an interview with Vikings.com as part of a deep dive into Jefferson's first 500 career catches, his former teammate in purple and future Pro Football Hall of Fame CB Patrick Peterson described Minnesota's franchise player as "mild-mannered when he's off the field, but when he puts the helmet on and it's time to go to work, he turns into a whole different person. [He's] super, super competitive. He wants to win and comes from winning, so that's the only thing he's comfortable with."
Peterson believes "those are the traits that are going to take him a long way."
Around the same time, Vikings receivers coach Keenan McCardell touted Jefferson as "the most competitive player I've ever seen" and passed along "the most important thing is the competitor in him."
That attribute is what makes Jefferson so prolific in the highest-pressure moments and is why his teammates and coaches are so confident in his abilities. Due to Jefferson's competitiveness, Kirk Cousins singled him out ahead of the legendary fourth-and-18 at Buffalo three years ago and told the receiver he was going to pass to him. No ifs, ands or buts about it. No matter his open-or-not status post-snap.
Can you imagine a pressure so intense? Jefferson has said it's nothing when he's "the only chance."
Understandably, the spirit that has willed wins also is what causes sometimes unblushing irritation.
"I'll never fault him for the competitive drive he has to help his team win," O'Connell said.
View the 2025 Vikings Schedule.
See the Vikings 2026 Opponents.
Check out the Vikings 2026 Draft Picks.
View future opponents for the Vikings.
Buy single game tickets.
Download the official Vikings App.
