Justin Jefferson was the fifth wide receiver to come off the board in the first round of this year’s draft, but he’s made his way to the top of the rookie class.
Jefferson had nine catches for 121 yards in Sunday’s 27-24 overtime win over the Jaguars and he’s now up to 1,039 yards on the season. That puts him in fourth place among all receivers this season and it made him the fifth player in league history to pick up at least 1,000 receiving yards in his first 12 games.
“It was a goal that I wanted to achieve,” Jefferson said of getting 1,000 yards, via Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press. “I know it’s not likely as a rookie. That’s just a goal that I had in the back of my mind. That’s what I wanted to achieve. I just come out here and get the job done.”
Randy Moss is one of the other players to hit the 1,000-yard mark so early in their careers -- Anquan Boldin, Marques Colston and Odell Beckham are the others -- and Jefferson could wind up passing his Vikings rookie record of 1,313 yards. At the rate Jefferson is going, Bill Groman’s record of 1,473 receiving yards could also be in jeopardy before the season is out.