The Minnesota Vikings will have a new quarterback this upcoming season after the departure of Kirk Cousins, who signed with the Atlanta Falcons during the offseason. But it sounds like star wide receiver Justin Jefferson has a lot of confidence in new starter Sam Darnold, and wants Darnold to have confidence in him, too.
Sam Darnold earned the role by default after the season-ending injury to rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy during the preseason. Now, as he takes over the starting role, Justin Jefferson has made it pretty clear that he wants to be a sort of safety blanket for him as he steps into the starting role.
“It’s going to be different,” Jefferson said according to Pro Football Talk. “But I want it to be the same for them to have the confidence in me to go and make a play, just like Kirk did in those opportunities and those situations. I low-key want them to have more confidence than what Kirk had. Kirk is more comfortable in the system, [with] him running it early on in Washington. It’s just to give them an extra boost and extra confidence; I want to go up and make a play for them whenever they give me the chance.”
“I just try to give the quarterbacks confidence to throw me those 50-50 jump balls,” Jefferson added. “Sometimes, it’s a little bit difficult for them to really just give me a chance, knowing I’m going to come down with it. It’s difficult trying to read the different schemes and their normal reads. But when I have that matchup or they see it’s that type of game, I always try to give them that word in the back of their head, that they have me as an option if things get ugly.”
We’ll have to see how the Darnold-to-Jefferson connection looks this season.
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