Ahead of this 2025 NFL season, we took a look at the number of ways in which Justin Jefferson could rewrite Minnesota Vikings history during the year, and the four-time Pro Bowler did just that on Sunday in the team's much-needed 27-24 victory over the rival Detroit Lions.
Coming into this divisional matchup, Jefferson needed just four catches to surpass teammate Adam Thielen to move into solo third on the Vikings' all-time receptions list, and he ultimately ended up hauling in six passes on nine targets from J.J. McCarthy for 47 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
Here's an up-to-date look at the list:
- Cris Carter: 1,004
- Randy Moss: 587
- Justin Jefferson: 542
- Adam Thielen: 539
As you can see, Jefferson now needs just 46 receptions over the Vikings' final nine games to pass the great Randy Moss. If Jefferson maintains his current average of 5.9 catches per contest, he'd add 53 catches to his current total, thus putting him at 595 and into second place.
Seeing as how we're at the midway point of this 2025 campaign, let's check on Jefferson's standing in some of the other categories.
Justin Jefferson likely won't catch Randy Moss for second on Minnesota Vikings all-time receiving yards list
Coming into the year, Jefferson sat in fourth place on the Vikings' all-time receiving yards list with 7,432, but needed just 205 to take over the No. 3 slot from Anthony Carter, which he did during Minnesota's Week 4 loss in Dublin to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With his 47-yard outing against the Lions on Sunday, Jefferson now has 649 yards for the season, thus putting him at 8,081 for his career. But he'll need a monster second half to catch Moss for second.
- Cris Carter: 12,383
- Randy Moss: 9,316
- Justin Jefferson: 8,081
- Anthony Carter: 7,636
As you can see, Jefferson still needs 1,236 yards to take over the second spot from Moss, which means he'd need to average 137.3 yards per game the rest of the way. If anyone can pull that off, it's certainly No. 18, but even that seems like a little too much to expect.
That said, however, with those 8,081 yards, Jefferson, who already owns the NFL records for the most receiving yards by a player through his first two seasons (3,016), three seasons (4,825), four seasons (5,899), and five seasons (7,432), needs only 295 yards to pass Moss for the most receiving yards through six seasons.
- Randy Moss: 8,375
- Torry Holt: 8,156
- Justin Jefferson: 8,081
As mentioned, Jefferson caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy in the opening quarter against Detroit, but that was just his second score of the season thus far, his first coming all the way back in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears.
As such, Jefferson has 42 receiving touchdowns for his career and would need eight more the rest of the way to tie Sammy White to move into the top five in Vikings history.
- Cris Carter: 110
- Randy Moss: 92
- Adam Thielen: 55
- Anthony Carter: 52
- Sammy White: 50
- Kyle Rudolph: 48
- Justin Jefferson: 42