Biggest concerns for the top five Vikings rookies from the 2020 NFL Draft

Top concern about Justin Jefferson:

Production before monster 2019 season

Justin Jefferson was a gift who fell to the Vikings at the 22nd pick. He boasts a great combination of speed, size, and hands while also possessing the ability to be used in the slot or on the outside. He won’t replace the production of former Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs in year one, but he should be able to ease the pain of losing that great pass catcher and route runner.

The biggest concern about Jefferson, and it’s kind of splitting hairs, is his lack of production prior to his huge 2019 season. Jefferson’s production a year ago has been well documented. He had a historically good season where he caught 111 passes for 1,540 yards and a whopping 18 touchdowns. That kind of production is rare and as good as Jefferson has become, that production really kind of came out of nowhere.

As a freshman, Jefferson barely got his feet wet. He played in just two games and he didn’t register a catch, but he did have one rushing attempt. He did much better his sophomore season when he played in 13 games and hauled in 54 balls for 875 yards and six touchdowns.

That’s not horrible by any means, but it’s not first-round worthy.

While it’s good to see Jefferson take the next step and develop into an explosive weapon, one has to wonder if all the stars just aligned for him, new Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, and the entire LSU team in 2019.

Seeing him play one more season in college would’ve let teams know if this kind of production is the norm for Jefferson or if his 2019 campaign was an outlier.