‘At the end of the day, I want to be a Hall of Famer’

Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson is enjoying a scorching start to his NFL career. But he’s not satisfied.

Jefferson told NFL Network’s Patrick Claybon on Thursday his eyes are on a gold jacket.

“I mean, I want to accomplish so much,” Jefferson said on NFL Total Access. “It’s an endless list that I want to accomplish. At the end of the day, I want to be a Hall of Famer. So, in order to reach that, that position is so much more that I have to accomplish, so much more that I have to set for myself to better myself and really to learn. I just can’t wait to really just see how far I can really go. This is just the start of my career, and there’s just so much more I have to learn, so much more I have to do for myself to really get on that platform of being a Hall of Famer.”

Since entering the league in 2020, Jefferson leads the league with 3,016 yards, the most receiving yards in a player’s first two seasons in NFL history. He became the first player with 1,400-plus yards in each of his first two seasons. He needs 1,148 yards in 2022 to set the NFL record for most in a player’s first three seasons (Randy Moss: 4,163 yards from 1998-2000).

Averaging 15.4 yards per reception, Jefferson has earned 27.5 percent of his team’s targets since 2020 — only Davante Adams (29.7) and Stefon Diggs (27.7) had a higher percentage.

With Kevin O’Connell taking over as head coach, the Vikings are expected to become a more pass-dominant team in 2022, which could make Jefferson’s numbers reach new heights.

“Our offensive style, it’s not a run-first offense anymore,” Jefferson said. “Just us being able to put different people in different positions and distribute the ball, really. I’m so excited in this offense. Us just being in OTAs, learning the plays, going through it with our defense, and stuff.

“We’re all excited. We’re all happy to have (O’Connell). It’s definitely a different vibe, a different connection in the building with him there. We’re just excited to start it up, really. We want to see how this season really turns out for us.”

In 2021, Kirk Cousins and Jefferson generated an 80.7 total EPA, the second-highest in the NFL (EPA is the change in the expected points value from pre-play to post-play, per Next Gen Stats). The only duo higher? Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp (115.0 EPA) of O’Connell’s former Rams squad.