NFL Trade Rumors: Minnesota Vikings Sign Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson to Record-Breaking Extension

The NFL's best young pass catcher is now one of the league's richest players. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, the Minnesota Vikings are finalizing a four-year, $140 million extension for three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

🚨 🚨 🚨

The #Vikings and All-Pro WR Justin Jefferson have a new deal to reset the WR market and make him the NFL’s highest-paid non-QB, sources tell me & @TomPelissero.

It’s a mammoth, 4-year extension worth $140M — $35M per year — with $110M guaranteed. 💰 💰 💰 😱 pic.twitter.com/g8Tk8DbLmj
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 3, 2024

The deal includes an eye-popping $110 million guaranteed. The $35 million per year makes Jefferson the league's highest-paid wide receiver, eclipsing Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown's three-year, $96 million ($32 million per year) extension signed earlier this offseason. It also makes Jefferson the league's highest-paid non-quarterback, topping San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa's five-year, $170 million extension ($34 million per year) signed in 2023.

If anyone deserves such a lucrative extension, it's Jefferson. He's off to arguably the hottest start the wide receiver position has ever seen: Through his first 60 appearances, he's averaged a preposterous 98.3 receiving yards per game, the most ever for any player with 200 or more receptions. Even more amazingly, that's 12.2 yards per game more than the second-best mark, held by Detroit Lions legend Calvin Johnson, who averaged 86.1 receiving yards per game over 135 appearances in his Hall of Fame career. Jefferson has a real chance to go down as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time and is already flirting with excellence we haven't seen since the days of San Francisco 49ers great Jerry Rice.

Frankly, Jefferson might have been worth an even more substantial extension. Still only 24 years old, he's more efficient, more productive, and more valuable than any wide receiver in the league. Given the way ever-expanding cap space rapidly inflates the market, the Vikings may have been better off trying to sign Jefferson to a longer extension at even bigger money. Instead, he'll have a real chance to reset the market all over again the next time he approaches free agency.