Justin Jefferson has a message for the Philadelphia Eagles after being passed on at pick 21 in the 2020 NFL Draft.
For months, Philadelphia Eagles fans thought that we were all bearing witness to a sure thing. Sure, there were some early mock drafts that sent Kristian Fulton to Philly. Hey, Bucky Brooks even said Laviska Shenault’s name once, but as time went on, one name kept coming up over and over again, one that belonged to former LSU Tigers star Justin Jefferson.
For a while in March, as the 2020 NFL Draft neared, you couldn’t find a mock draft in which Justin Jefferson wasn’t going to Philly, but as most media members and football pundits do, we began to overthink things.
We reached the middle of April, and there was a shift. People started saying Jefferson wouldn’t be available at 21. The draft opened, virtually, but it opened, and as it wore on, something started to come into focus. Jefferson was, indeed, going to be available at 21.
What did Philly do? With the 21st-overall selection, the “Birds” took Jalen Reagor of TCU. Jefferson came off of the board one pick later at 22. Fast forward to the present and the new Minnesota Vikings potential star has a message for not only the “Birds” and their fans. He’s taking aim at every team that took a wide receiver that wasn’t him.
“Every single person that picked a receiver instead of me are going to pay”.
Those were the words of Jefferson as he made an appearance on the Zach Gelb show. See, you may have had Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, and Henry Ruggs III ranked higher on your draft boards, but Jefferson can’t figure out why he wasn’t the first wide receiver taken in the most recent selection meeting.
Here’s a quote or two.
"I felt like I was the best receiver in this draft class, and being the fifth receiver off the board, it was kind of was a shocker, but also having that on my shoulder going into this next season with Minnesota, I’m definitely excited to show the world what I have."
Don’t worry. It gets better.
"I’m going to show them that I am the better receiver than the pick that they had. I’m definitely excited to go into Minnesota and (help them compete for (a) Super Bowl."
Honestly, who can be mad at that? What did you expect him to say?
We’re still months away from seeing football that counts again, but whether you think Henry Ruggs should have been taken first or whether you feel like Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb are going to be better pros, than Jalen Reagor and Justin Jefferson, there’s one thing that can’t be denied.
There isn’t an NFL fan on the planet who isn’t going to be watching these guys. For the rest of this calendar year and, probably, for their careers, these five men are connected, and everything that they do will be compared to what the other guys are doing. That’s just the way things work. Don’t worry. They’ll be watching each other as well. You can count on that.