Justin Jefferson not at Vikings voluntary workouts and, seriously, who cares?

It’s really not a big deal

The Minnesota Vikings, along with several other NFL teams, started their offseason programs today with voluntary workouts. I would like to emphasize the word “voluntary” in this case because one particular player is not at the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center and there will be people that make a much bigger deal about it than they need to.

You’ve probably heard by now that wide receiver Justin Jefferson is not in attendance at the Vikings’ workouts this week. Again, these are voluntary workouts, and Jefferson wasn’t with the Vikings for most of the offseason program last year, either.

Still, there will likely be no shortage of Really Smart Football People™ who will be sure to let you know that this means that Jefferson no longer wants to be in Minnesota or that negotiations on his (almost certainly) record-setting contract extension are going poorly. Many of them are the same people that have been predicting since last offseason that the Vikings would be trading Jefferson with a success rate of zero.

I mean, I’m not the brightest bulb on the string when it comes to this sort of thing, but at least we’re not out here actively insulting your intelligence.

There are plenty of players that don’t attend voluntary workouts with their teams because they’re, you know, voluntary. Justin Jefferson isn’t the first member of the Vikings to not attend voluntary workouts with the team, and the odds are good that he won’t be the last, either.

The Vikings’ mandatory minicamp will take place this year from 4 – 6 June. If Jefferson’s extension isn’t done by then and he misses that get-together, maybe then we can start sounding the alarms. Until then, however, there isn’t anything to worry about when it comes to the league’s best wide receiver and his current status with our favorite football team.