Jefferson calls out Kubiak

Head coach Mike Zimmer seemed to get the Diggs vibes to questions about Jefferson’s postgame comments and tried to cut them off at the pass on Monday.

“I think Justin was just frustrated,” Zimmer said. “Hey, we’re all frustrated. When we don’t win a game, we all get frustrated, we all say things 10 minutes after the game we wish we wouldn’t have. But, you know, every time I’ve talked to him when he’s been frustrated, he’s said, ‘I got you, Coach. We’re good. And let’s go.’ In my opinion, he just wants to win. Part of that is he wants to get the ball if he can. I don’t think he’s calling out anybody, that’s not the type of person that he is. He’s a guy that wants to go out and play, and play his best every single week.”

Translation: Don’t go calling him Diggs.

That’s fair considering Jefferson muttered a single line of irritation at his 7-8 club’s failures in the red zone, where they have largely been good all year. He didn’t skip practice. He didn’t tweet cryptically or have any blowups in training camp, as Diggs did leading up to the 2019 season.

He simply let his feelings of frustration show in a tough moment for the entire team. But let’s not pretend like those feelings aren’t a big deal.

Minnesota sports fans have watched as disgruntled stars have tried with every ounce of their souls to win in the Twin Cities and the teams around them never did enough. Kevin Garnett, Joe Mauer and Randy Moss will forever be known as generational stars that were only able to take their teams so far. Karl-Anthony Towns doesn’t live in their air but he’s in the ballpark of another Minnesota athlete whose prime is being spent watching his team fumble around to figure out how to get him to consistent contention.

Future Hall of Famer Patrick Peterson, who suffered through 8-8 and 5-11 years in Arizona to start his career, gave his advice on Monday to Jefferson about how to handle rough times as an up-and-coming superstar.

“I tell guys all the time, ‘Super Bowl rings, that’s a team – that’s a collective achievement,” Peterson said. “'If you want to be recognized as one of the greats, you control your career. You control your outcome of your career. The greatest place to be at the end of your career is in Canton. So just continue sticking to the process, continue sticking to the grind, continue doing what you know, what’s helping you be successful – and all the other stuff’s going to come with it.”

Summarized: There’s only so much you can do.

And while Jefferson is already one of the biggest stars in the NFL, he hasn’t given off much of a Big Star vibe. There have been zero teammates thrown under the bus, including his quarterback who has posted five of his worst six PFF passing grades of the season in the last six weeks. Jefferson even won the Korey Stringer award for being most accommodating to media and held up his certificate with a proud smile.

But you can bet every Moss jersey you own that he isn’t happy living under .500. Jefferson won the national championship at LSU. LeBron James tweets about him. Odell Beckham has a close friend and mentor. Heck, he wore a “Free Odell” shirt after Beckham became disenchanted with the Browns.

Jefferson has also grown up in an era where players of his caliber control their destinies. Diggs, Beckham, Julio Jones, Aaron Rodgers, LeBron, Durant, Kyrie. How about every college athlete who isn’t thrilled by their amateur athlete experience entering the transfer portal?

It may not be a situation where Jefferson starts burning Alan Page jerseys on Instagram and wearing Cheesehead hats in public to force a trade but the clock has started ticking. The Vikings have received two of the greatest receiving seasons in their incredible history of wide receivers and presently sit with an 11% chance of making the playoffs, per FiveThirtyEight. In no world is a dude who’s getting tweets from LeBron going to be cool with that much longer.

The Vikings refused to consider Diggs’ feelings and lost him. They can’t do the same with Jefferson. In his two years, he’s seen an organization stuck on repeat, consistently taking one step forward and one step back, fading in the moments where he wants to shine the most, like on Sunday against the Rams. He’s been locked into being close to the playoffs yet so far away from competing for a title. You could say Jefferson probably feels like you do, Vikings fans.

Again it speaks to the core difference, where Diggs felt like they were letting the final shot with the 2017 group go to waste, Jefferson hasn’t seen his team succeed at all.

That’s why all considerations for the future should be with Jefferson in mind. He isn’t a cog in the machine, he’s a nearly unstoppable force that can drive the offense for a decade — if he’s here for a decade. When Cousins has targeted Jefferson over the last two years, he’s produced a 114.9 QB rating.

At first blush, it seems like Justin Jefferson’s continued ascendance means that the Minnesota Vikings will have to move on from Kirk Cousins. The maligned quarterback is on the wrong side of 30. He has only one playoff win to his name since signing the first fully guaranteed deal in NFL history four years ago. And it feels wrong to pair the league’s most staid quarterback with Minnesota’s most exciting receiver this side of Randy Moss.

But while echoes of “C’mon, throw the ball” may ring in fans’ ears every time they hear Cousins’ and Jefferson’s names mentioned in the same sentence, Kirk offers stability the Vikings rarely have had at the quarterback position. He’s comfort food. Cousins has been available for every game since the Vikings signed him in 2018. He goes through his reads, has the arm strength to make most throws, and isn’t afraid to check down. Cousins is a micromanaging coach’s dream, a football robot they can program to make the right throw – most of the time.

Conversely, Jefferson is effortlessly cool, endlessly entertaining. The Griddy, an homage to a Louisana rapper, has spread across the league since Jefferson started dancing in the end zone during his rookie season. He’s as spicy as a Creole delicacy. Sweet as tea. Smooth as New Orleans jazz. His hips lie to opposing receivers, and he’s fast enough to break 35E’s speed limit in St. Paul. Jefferson’s eyes light up when he sees one high safety, and the ball seems magnetically attracted to his fingertips. He’s unpredictable, unstoppable, and the Vikings have not fully unleashed his full potential yet.

So why would the Vikings consider extending Cousins? To quote the great Dennis Green, he is who we thought he was. No, he won’t throw the ball behind his back like Patrick Mahomes, and he doesn’t toss it on a frozen rope like Justin Herbert. He doesn’t have Joe Burrow’s swagger or Lamar Jackson’s wheels. But he gives the Vikings a floor. Hardwood, stained. Occasionally creaky, sure. But who’s to say that a guy you get in the draft is going to be any better? He could be the next Mahomes. Or he could be Mitchell Trubisky. Or Sam Darnold.

At the risk of giving Mike Florio heart palpitations, I’m going to list some quarterbacks that Randy Moss played with:

Brad Johnson. Good quarterback. Thirty years old when the Vikings drafted Moss in 1998. Former ninth-round pick. There are only seven rounds now.
Randall Cunningham. Exciting player. A great athlete with a big arm. Retired in 1996.
Daunte Culpepper. Longest-tenured quarterback during his time (2000-04). Made a cameo in an Adam Sandler movie. Was great when healthy; had knee issues before he turned 30.

Here are some other quarterbacks who made starts during Moss’ time in Minnesota:

Jeff George. Former first-overall pick. But his hometown team gave up on him as he was entering his prime.
Todd Bouman. St. Cloud State legend. St. Cloud State, though.
Spergon Wynn. Played for the Gophers, but transferred to *checks notes* Southwest Texas State. Other stops included the Amsterdam Admirals, BC Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the Toronto Argonauts. Those aren’t NFL teams.
Gus Frerotte. Let’s get off the bus, Gus.

There are many reasons Moss left Minnesota. Twice. Red McCombs was cheap. He went Rodney Dangerfield on a caterer. Brad Childress (Chilly Willy!) fired him. But quarterback instability is one reason. And, if nothing else, Cousins provides stability. Yes, he’ll occasionally fumble when he should take a sack. Sure, he loves dumping the ball off to C.J. Ham and Tyler Conklin. And fine, it’s a little flummoxing why he throws the ball away at the end of halves. But he’s a by-the-book, strong-armed quarterback who you can count on to be available to start every Sunday.

As I see it, the Vikings have three options:

Trade him and see what you can get on the open market. But the Vikings need a competent quarterback right now, and who’s giving one up?
Extend him for cap relief. It makes sense for a team that always needs to bolster the offensive line and has many defensive players on expiring deals. But you’re married to Cousins throughout his mid-30s.
Let the contract expire. Cousins comes clean off the books, but can you get a reliable quarterback in the draft by the time he’s done?