Elijah Southwick
@ecsouthwick
The long-awaited return of Minnesota Vikings wide receiver and fantasy football star Justin Jefferson may soon be coming. He’s missed just four games with a hamstring injury, but losing a player of Jefferson’s caliber for any length of time is irreplaceable in fantasy football. On top of him missing time due to injury, Vikings franchise QB Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury while Jefferson was sidelined.
Jefferson will be returning to a dramatically different offensive environment just weeks before the start of the fantasy football playoffs. He’s a locked and loaded WR1 for the rest of the season, but does that make him a buy or a sell in fantasy football leagues?
For starters, we need to examine his new quarterback situation. The Vikings acquired QB Josh Dobbs at the trade deadline from the Arizona Cardinals just days after Cousins’ unfortunate injury. Dobbs had very limited starting experience in the NFL prior to this season. He started eight games for the Cardinals to start the year and performed admirably, giving his team a chance to compete as they awaited the return of QB Kyler Murray.
The Cardinals went just 1-7 with Dobbs as the starting quarterback, and Dobbs was mostly effective as a fantasy football quarterback via his rushing production. He threw for 196.1 yards per game with an 8:5 touchdown to interception ratio and added 32.3 rushing yards per game and three rushing touchdowns.
The Vikings started rookie QB Jaren Hall in Week 9 with plans to let Dobbs learn the offense and start in Week 10. But Hall was knocked out of the game early with a concussion, forcing the team to throw Dobbs into the fire with minimal game prep.
Despite the difficult circumstances, Dobbs played an incredible football game, leading the Vikings on a 75 yard, game-winning drive in front of his new home crowd fans. Dobbs fed his top receiving options throughout the game. TE T.J. Hockenson finished with 12 targets, and rookie WR Jordan Addison had seven of his own.
Dobbs has proved himself as a capable starting quarterback, and given the fact that the Vikings looked to be in NFL and fantasy football hell after Cousins’ injury, all might not be lost if Dobbs continues to play at this level.
Circling back to Jefferson, whose Week 10 status is still up in the air, does Dobbs represent new life for him to close the season out with potential top five production? My verdict after seeing Dobbs’ first performance as a Viking is a resounding yes.
For starters, we need to remember that Jefferson is currently the NFL’s all-time leader in career receiving yards per game. That doesn’t get talked about enough. He’s not your run of the mill fantasy football WR1. He’s head and shoulders better than Hockenson and Addison from a talent perspective, and they’re both exceptional talents in their own right. With Dobbs showing early on that he’s going to get the ball to his top receiving options, Jefferson could be coming back from injury in a big way very soon.
You may not be able to find the same discount on Jefferson that you might have been able to find when first landed on IR. There was even another potential buy opportunity after Cousins’ injury, but Jefferson is still worth his sticker price.
There are only a handful of receivers producing in a way right now that rival Jefferson’s rest of season value. And considering there are currently no question marks in regards to the situations of Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown and Stefon Diggs, Jefferson may be the most attainable. He’s worth a lot on the trade market, but he’s a major buy for me as he returns from injury.