Justin Jefferson has been among the very best NFL players ever since stepping onto the NFL field for the first […]
Justin Jefferson has been among the very best NFL players ever since stepping onto the NFL field for the first time (or the third time, to be exact, after a couple of games mostly on the bench to open the 2020 season). Despite his record-breaking NFL start, not everyone is convinced about his greatness.
PFF Delivered Some Fuel for Justin Jefferson
June and July are the months of rankings as folks await training camp and the preseason, and Pro Football Focus has dropped its annual top 50 NFL players. In the 2025 version, they put Jefferson at 18. According to them, there are 17 better football players than Jefferson.
Even more absurd is the fact that they rank him as their second wide receiver, but not behind the obvious “other” best receiver in the game, Ja’Marr Chase, but behind A.J. Brown. Undoubtedly, Brown is a phenomenal pass-catcher, but nobody would take him over either of the former LSU standouts.
Trevor Sikkema and Dalton Wasserman wrote, “Jefferson remains firmly in the conversation for the NFL’s best wide receiver. Even in 2024—his first season with a PFF grade below 90.0—he still finished among the league’s top 10 at the position. Since entering the league in 2020, he leads all receivers with a 93.6 PFF grade and 2.64 PFF WAR. At this pace, Jefferson could crack the NFL’s all-time top 100 in receiving yards before his 27th birthday and is well on his way to a legendary career.”
Jefferson entered the league in 2020 and dropped all the way to the Vikings. After two slow weeks, he had his breakout game with 175 yards and a touchdown against the Titans and collected 1,400 yards throughout the year.
In 2021, he quickly established that he was more than a one-year wonder, and he even won the Offensive Player of the Year trophy in 2022. An injury slowed him down in ’23, but he still broke the 1,000-yard barrier in only ten games. Last year, he was back for an entire season, and only college teammate Chase had a statistically better campaign.
No player has registered more yards in his first five NFL seasons, and he has the most yards ever for any player before turning 26 years old. And he has done that with various quarterbacks. Primarily, Kirk Cousins threw him the ball, but he also delivered with Nick Mullens and Sam Darnold.
The next major step is to form a comparable connection with new quarterback J.J. McCarthy early in the season. McCarthy is supposed to be the guy to target Jefferson for years to come.
No other Viking is represented on the list. Christian Darrisaw has certainly seen his stock drop in such lists due to his season-ending knee injury suffered in October. Another option could’ve been defender Jonathan Greenard, who posted top-ten numbers in pressures and QB hurries. Teammate Andrew Van Ginkel was outstanding in his first season in purple, too, but no love from PFF.
Jefferson, 26, made it, but the 18th spot can’t make him too happy. The receiver will try to reclaim his receiving title in 2025.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
