Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson isn’t for sale via trade, but one team evidently believes it could have a […]
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson isn’t for sale via trade, but one team evidently believes it could have a path to a deal. It’s the Buffalo Bills, a club that hired Joe Brady last week — the same Brady who coached Jefferson at LSU in 2019.
Buffalo’s resources and Allen’s gravity make it the logical match, even if Minnesota keeps the door mostly shut.
With Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah fired last week, along with Brady’s addition to the Bills, Jefferson to Buffalo has become a thing, at least in the rumor mill.
Bills-Themed Media Believes Justin Jefferson Is Available
Don’t expect Jefferson to be traded, but teams will call.
SI.com: Jefferson to Bills Makes Sense
SI.com‘s Alex Brasky started the party this week, writing, “It’s startling to consider what Jefferson could do with a quarterback like the Bills’ Josh Allen, the league’s reigning MVP. If you look at the Bills’ WR corps since the team traded former No. 1 Stefon Diggs after the 2023 season, the team’s leader has been Khalil Shakir, whose high watermark has been 821 yards, set in 2024.”
“Allen has been desperately craving a top-tier pass catcher on the outside, and Jefferson would fulfill that role as one of the most dynamic WRs in all of football. If the Bills were to go out and acquire Jefferson, it would require quite the commitment in terms of trade pieces. Buffalo would likely have to offer up at least one first-round pick, along with several other picks, to sweeten the deal.”
Jefferson also praised Brady on a podcast last week, accelerating the Jefferson-to-Buffalo trade theories for no good reason.
“For example, when the Kansas City Chiefs traded WR Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins in March of 2022, the Dolphins were forced to part with a first, second and fourth-round selection in that upcoming draft, along with a fourth and sixth-rounder the following year,” Brasky continued.
“There is also the Bills’ salary-cap situation to consider, as Buffalo is hard up against the cap as it stands in early February. According to Spotrac, the Bills are around $10 million over the league’s figure of about $301.2M to $305.7M.”
Jefferson said about Brady on the aforementioned podcast, “I feel like he was mostly the reason why I got picked first round. He’s the reason why my hands got better, why a lot of things occurred during that season, so I’m just proud of him to go from the (New Orleans) Saints to LSU, and now he’s back in the league and about to be a head coach.”
Jefferson Might Be the Last Guy Who Vikings Trade
Minnesota’s front-office leadership is in flux and, in fact, fans now have no idea how the offseason will unfold. Free agency is a ginormous mystery, and everything is fair game in the draft because the guy who left clues over four years is no longer employed as the general manager.
What the club probably won’t do is turn around and trade the best player … in a season when Kevin O’Connell must win to keep his job intact.
What’s more, the Vikings would be forced to eat about $47 million in dead cap by trading Jefferson before June 1st. That’s right: the team over the salary cap in February by about $50 million would have to eat an extra $47 million in dead money to get rid of its best player.
None of that makes sense.
Allen to Jefferson Would Be Undeniable Though
The theories sprouting in Buffalo are understandable, however. The Bills cannot get over the hump. Just as they could not win the Super Bowl in the early 1990s after reaching it four times in a row, Buffalo cannot reach the Super Bowl in the 2020s, even with a roster that suggests it should have broken through at least once.
Adding Jefferson as Allen’s main target is tantalizing. Why wouldn’t it be? As of late, Allen has made Khalil Shakir his main target. That’s akin to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls 30 years ago nominating Toni Kukoc as the top guy on the roster aside from Jordan. Shakir is productive — but he ain’t Jefferson.
The Bills very visibly need a WR1, and draft measures finding Keon Coleman, for example, have not worked.
Stefon Diggs Parallels
Why Jefferson as the specific target? In addition to the Joe Brady connection, the Vikings traded Stefon Diggs to Buffalo in 2020, and that plan worked. Diggs stayed attached to the Bills’ roster for four seasons and instantly became Allen’s favorite target. He banked 5,372 receiving yards and 37 touchdowns.
So, what do Bills fans and media do? They look around the NFL landscape and settle on Jefferson to rekindle the magic from six years ago. Ironically, the Vikings wound up drafting Jefferson as direct compensation from the Diggs trade. Bills faithful evidently want everything to come full circle.
It’s just that Jefferson almost assuredly isn’t for sale.
Category: General Sports
