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Justin Jefferson attends Vikings’ mandatory minicamp. Danielle Hunter does not.

dane mizutani, pioneer press
·3 min read

Shortly before Vikings practice got underway on Tuesday afternoon at TCO Performance Center, star receiver Justin Jefferson emerged from the locker room. He danced his way onto the field, then went on to participate mandatory minicamp, putting to rest any speculation that he might skip amid ongoing contract negotiations.

It’s safe to assume general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell, not to mention every Vikings fan across the state of Minnesota, breathed sighs of relief in that moment. Not only does Jefferson bring an infectious smile to the field, his presence ensured he wouldn’t be holding out.

“You can just tell when he’s walking the halls in our building,” O’Connell said. “Just the energy and the juice he brings.”

Meanwhile, star edge rusher Danielle Hunter was not in attendance, which was not surprising considering he has been trying to secure a pay raise himself. He is only set to make $5.5 million this season when taking into account his base salary and bonuses.

“I’ve got all the respect in the world for Danielle as a player, a leader and a person,” O’Connell said. “We hope to have continued dialogue and have a really positive outcome.”

It’s clear the Vikings still see the potential for a resolution with Hunter and the situation at hand. Even if both sides aren’t seeing eye-to-eye at the moment, the relationship can still be repaired with the right offer.

“I definitely see that as a real outcome,” O’Connell said. “There’s a lot to be determined there and I want to be very sensitive to allowing that process to play out.”

As for Jefferson, it’s assumed that he will at some point sign a deal that could make him the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback. He certainly has earned the money fresh off a historic season during which he had 128 receptions for 1,809 yards en route to being named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Nonetheless, any time the contract negotiations came up with reporters, Jefferson referenced how his agent is handling those conversations. He’s set to make a base salary of $2.4 million in 2023 and a base salary of $19.7 million in 2024.

Though the contract extension would techinally begin in 2025, Jefferson will presumably get a bunch of guaranteed money up front whenever he puts pen to paper. Not that he’s getting to wrapped up in that part of it.

“I’m here to play football,” Jeffers said. “Not really here to talk about contracts.”

The only reason Jefferson being on the field at mandatory minicamp was even a question was because he missed all of organized team activities recently. Asked why he opted out of the voluntary workouts, Jefferson cited a busy schedule due to various endorsement deals.

“I had a lot of stuff going on,” he said. “They didn’t really force me to come back.”

In that same breath, Jefferson made it known that there shouldn’t be any speculation about his presence at training camp. Yes, he plans to be in attendance for that, too.

“I love being around the guys,” Jefferson said. “We want to win the Super Bowl this year, so it’s good to be back with the team and back to normal football.”

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