The Vikings will wait until after their bye week to put Justin Jefferson back on the field.
According to two league sources, the team will not activate Jefferson from injured reserve before the 3 p.m. deadline to put him on its 53-man roster before Monday night’s game against the Bears, meaning he will miss his seventh consecutive game with a right hamstring injury. With the Vikings off next week, Jefferson is expected to return Dec. 10 against the Raiders in Las Vegas.
Jefferson was cleared to return to practice on Nov. 8, beginning a 21-day window where the team could evaluate whether he was ready to return to the active roster. The Vikings would have to activate Jefferson by Wednesday, though the timing of their bye week effectively gives the receiver another week to rest.
Coach Kevin O’Connell said this week Jefferson took part in some full-team snaps in practice this week, getting “consistent work here and there.” But he also acknowledged the bye week would factor into the Vikings’ thinking about whether to play Jefferson against the Bears.
Though O’Connell said the Vikings have increased Jefferson’s workload during his three weeks of practice, Jefferson has not been a full practice participant during that time.
“We know we have a lot of football left ahead,” O’Connell said Saturday. “We also know that we have the bye week that gives us an extra week of preparation for him to feel like he’s got more and more work ready to go. If you ask some of his teammates, they’d probably say he sure looks ready to roll right now. That’s the tricky thing with an injury like this: he’s getting great work in, he’s preparing himself for when he’s ready to roll and we’re doing the same thing as an offense and as a football team.”
The 2022 NFL offensive player of the year had caught 36 passes for 571 yards and three touchdowns in five games before he was injured Oct. 8 against the Chiefs. He said this week it’s been “definitely frustrating” to miss so much time, but pushed back on the idea he is sitting out because the team did not come to terms with him on a long-term contract before the season.
“Everyone is going to have their own opinions of what they think I’m thinking or what I’m doing. So it is what it is,” he said. “I know my position, I know what I’m doing and I know it’s not for the contract. It’s not for the contract at all.”