What does Josh Dobbs, the Vikings, stand to gain from Justin Jefferson’s return?
Josh Dobbs, the quarterback, will start for the Minnesota Vikings when they travel to Las Vegas to play the Raiders following their bye week, according to head coach Kevin O’Connell. That has been the situation ever since the team traded for Dobbs right before the deadline, following quarterback Kirk Cousins’ Achilles tear.
Although the results have been inconsistent, Dobbs is going to get something that he has never experienced as a Viking or at any other point in his career: a truly exceptional wide receiver.
Prior to the team’s bye, Justin Jefferson was activated off injured reserve. It was a full 21-day practice window during which Jefferson worked with the team to try to catch up. He suffered a hamstring injury in Minnesota’s devastating loss to Kansas City on October 8 and hasn’t played since.
The Vikings were hesitant to send their best player back onto an unproven field because those injuries are difficult to deal with in the first place. Nonetheless, Jefferson practiced fully on Wednesday, which means he will be back this Sunday.
With a 6-6 record, the Vikings are definitely in the running for a wild-card berth, but most didn’t see that coming after Cousins was injured.
Now, the question is whether Jefferson will improve the squad enough to carry on with the postseason push. In Jefferson’s absence, Dobbs has been heavily depending on rookie Jordan Addison, just as Cousins did prior to his injury. Addison has performed admirably, hauling in 54 passes for 686 yards this season. Most remarkably, with seven touchdowns, he has the fifth-highest total in the league.
Two weeks after Jefferson’s injury, Addison recorded his first 100-yard performance. It happened during the most important game of the season, against the San Francisco 49ers, when he caught seven passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Since then, he has averaged almost eight targets per game. He can now return to that supporting role, assuming Jefferson returns to his regular workload.
Additionally, there’s the matter of Jefferson and Dobbs’ potential compatibility. Although the two haven’t performed together before, they have been practicing together over the last few weeks. Additionally, Jefferson is getting a mobile quarterback, something he has never had in the NFL. He claimed that the last time he had engaged in scramble drills with a quarterback was while Joe Burrow was at LSU.
Jefferson stated, “It’s an additional thing the defense has to be aware of.” In addition to our receivers, tight ends, and backs, you also need to be concerned about a quarterback who can run and move around. There are numerous weapons in use.”
With Jefferson available, the offense certainly changes. Since Dobbs arrived in Minnesota a few weeks ago, he and O’Connell have also been in constant communication. Even though the Vikings were on their bye week, that intensified.
Dobbs said, “I texted him after the game,” this week. “I’ve been texting him ideas as we proceed with more installs, or, ‘Hey, got time to go through the first and second-down gameplan?’ I want to play football as well as I can because I know that all of the guys in this room have put in a lot of effort to get to this point where we are in control of our own fate. I want there to be no doubt or hesitation on that field when I have the ball in my hands. I want to play as cleanly as I can when I go outside. It’s been beneficial that there has been two-way communication because Sunday success requires that kind of communication.”
The Vikings will play against a Las Vegas defense that allows 216 passing yards per game, which is 13th in the league. In terms of third-down conversion rate, they rank second to last, allowing teams to convert 46.3% of their third-down attempts into first downs.
With Jefferson back in the lineup, Minnesota might have a chance to turn things around.
