Vikings coach uses dangerous phrase to describe Justin Jefferson situation

At the Scouting Combine on Tuesday, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was asked about trading All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

For the last few weeks, we've been seeing a number of random rumors pop up about the Minnesota Vikings possibly trading All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson this offseason.

To begin with, let's just make this clear. Almost all of the talk this year about Minnesota potentially sending Jefferson to another team has been based on pure speculation and not information from actual legitimate sources.

Despite the majority of the trade talk surrounding the talented wide receiver being mostly speculation, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell still had to answer questions on Tuesday about the team possibly trading away the best offensive player on their roster this offseason.

Kevin O'Connell says Minnesota Vikings have "no intent" to trade Justin Jefferson

Surprisingly, O'Connell wasn't asked a single question about Jefferson during his media session behind the podium on Tuesday at this year's NFL Scouting Combine.

However, in an interview on "PFT Live" on Tuesday, the head coach was asked by ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio if he could say that Minnesota has no intent to trade Jefferson this offseason.

O'Connell said the following in response to Florio's question.

"I can tell you that we have no intent to trade Justin Jefferson.

Let me dissect it for you. We have had zero discussions, dialogue about that, either internally, externally, on this planet or another planet."

The Vikings head coach went on to talk about how signing arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL was never going to be a simple task.

"Anytime you're trying to negotiate a contract to really reset the receiver market, which we know who he is, we know what Justin's earned through his first four years in this league. Anytime you're trying to [negotiate a deal] with the type of player and the confidence Justin has in himself, it was never going to be something that would just be easy to get done.

The intent is still stronger than ever to get something done with Justin, and I look forward to the time we get to do that because I don't like the idea of looking down at a call sheet, those words and letters, they don't look as good to me when I know that No. 18's not attached."

Combine this with Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah saying on Tuesday during his media session at the Scouting Combine that trading Jefferson is "not something that's once crossed my mind" and the odds of the Vikings holding onto their star receiver for at least another season currently seem fairly high, if not extremely high.

But back to what O'Connell began his answer with by using the phrase "no intent" when asked about the possibility of trading Jefferson this year.

Florio knew exactly what he was doing with this question because this phrase is one that was used by former Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman back in February of the 2013 offseason when he was asked about trading former Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin.

Spielman said, "there is no intent to trade Percy Harvin" in February, and then in March, Minnesota traded Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks.

It doesn't seem like something similar will happen with Jefferson after O'Connell used the "no intent" phrase on Tuesday. But, unfortunately, until the wide receiver officially signs an extension with the Vikings, there is likely still going to be speculation about the team potentially moving on from him this offseason.