There was a time, not all that long ago, that Justin Jefferson was regarded as the best receiver in the NFL, without question.
After 2025, there are plenty of questions about where he fits among the league’s elite pass catchers. He believes that opinions will change in time.
“Not yet,” Jefferson recently told Mike Silver of The Athletic. “Not yet. But they will [know] after this year —I’ll tell you that.”
It helps that he has a quarterback he fully believes in, both as to what he can do with his legs and as to what he can do with his arm.
“What excites me is his ability to just be an athlete,” Jefferson said regarding Kyler Murray. “Everybody knows what he does when the ball is in his hands, running the ball and being able to create time back there in the pocket. When a play might be dead, he’s able to kind of move with his feet and make something happen. So, you’re always alive, and you’re always just expecting that the ball is going to come your way.
“But his throwing ability is also something that has really, really surprised me. While he was in Arizona, I didn’t really keep track and pay attention to his arm talent. And seeing the different type of throws he’s making, where he’s throwing the ball, it’s been really, really surprising me.”
This year, Jefferson may be in position to repeatedly heap praise on his quarterback. Last year, he conspicuously bit his tongue. Because he knew what the reaction would be.
“That one comment that I [might] make about one of my teammates might make headlines and be the trending topic, and that might be a bad look on the team and for me as well,” Jefferson told Silver. “So just keeping it in house, communicating with my teammates personally and letting them know what’s going on . . . even talking with J.J. [McCarthy] last season and making sure his head is on right, with all of the negativity. Never will I downplay anybody in the media, no matter how bad it is.”
Through it all, Jefferson still finished with 1,048 receiving yards — his sixth straight 1,000-yard season.
This year, who knows? Maybe he’ll turn the clock back to 2022, when he was a first-team All-Pro and the NFL offensive player of the year.
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