Vikings need to worry about Justin Jefferson leaving in 2023

If the Minnesota Vikings fail to make the playoffs again this year, their star wide receiver Justin Jefferson might want out in 2023 so that he can play for a winner.

Two seasons into his career in the NFL and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson has already developed into one of the best pass-catchers in the entire league.

Unfortunately, the Vikings haven’t been able to capitalize on the success of Jefferson during the last two years. Even though Minnesota’s top young receiver has put up monster numbers in each of his first two seasons with the franchise, the team failed to make the playoffs in both 2020 and 2021.

Jefferson recently alluded to money not really being his primary motivation as a football player, so what does his future look like with the Vikings if the team misses out on the postseason again in 2022?

Could Justin Jefferson force the Minnesota Vikings to trade him in 2023 if they miss the playoffs again in 2022?

On the most recent episode of “The Viking Age Podcast”, co-host Chris Schad talked about why Minnesota is heading into a critical season with Jefferson (begins around the 27:02 mark).

"“There’s a lot on the line this season. It’s not just ‘oh well, if the Vikings go 6-11, everybody’s gone, and we just reset and build around Justin Jefferson.’Justin Jefferson is not going to want to be around [for] a full-blown rebuild. He’s been losing enough at that point. He’s probably just going to say ‘trade me so I can go play with Joe Burrow or somewhere else.’The Vikings have to win this season.”"

In today’s NFL, more and more players are forcing their way out of their current situations in order to land with a team that is better or with a team that gives that player a better opportunity to reach their full potential out on the field.

When it comes to wide receivers, some pretty big names have been traded to other teams just within the last year, including Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, A.J. Brown, Marquise Brown, and Amari Cooper.

Players around the league, especially receivers, are no longer content with just sitting around with their current team if they believe they are in, or heading into, an unfavorable situation.

Jefferson is going to get a big-time paycheck in 2023 regardless of what happens during the upcoming season, and he knows that. Whether or not that paycheck continues to come from the Vikings will likely depend on their amount of success in 2022.