The Green Bay Packers finished the 2023 season on a very high note. After a rocky start, the Packers began to click at the halfway point of the season.
When it comes to winning the NFC North, the Detroit Lions are expected to be the most formidable opponent for the Packers. However, a different NFC North team had some bad news to report today.
One of the Green Bay Packers’ division rivals has revealed troubling news.
According to an ESPN story:
Star wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who has been in talks with the Minnesota Vikings about a contract extension, was not seen at the team’s training facility on Monday when OTAs began, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Jefferson also did not participate in the first phase of the Vikings’ offseason program, which, like OTAs, is voluntary.
During the NFL draft last month, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah stated that the team and Jefferson were making progress on a deal, despite the fact that talks were stalled.
The Vikings and Jefferson have been negotiating the parameters of the agreement for more than a year. Adofo-Mensah earlier stated that they were “unbelievably close” to an agreement last summer before ending talks at the start of the 2023 regular season.
Jefferson also missed all of the Vikings’ 2023 optional sessions before reporting to mandatory minicamp to work on talks.
How much will the Vikings have to pay Justin Jefferson?
Last month, Schefter reported that Eagles receiver A.J. Brown had signed a three-year, $96 million agreement, with $84 million guaranteed. It was the most expensive contract ever for a wide receiver, with an average annual salary of $32 million and a $84 million guarantee.
When Jefferson sustained a right hamstring injury in Week 5 of last season, he led the NFL in receiving yards (543). In Week 15, after returning for good, he had 476 receiving yards, which was second in the league. He is the only player, aside from Jim Benton (1945) and Wes Chandler (1982), to have caught 68 passes for 1,074 yards in ten games or less.
The Vikings will surely make Jefferson the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver. The annual value of the transaction might approach $35 million. That puts him solidly in “quarterback money” in the NFL.
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