Kevin O'Connell announces Justin Jefferson missed practice with hamstring injury on Friday

Some not-so-great news came across the desk of Vikings fans on Friday. Head coach Kevin O’Connell announced that star wide receiver Justin Jefferson missed practice with a hamstring injury on Friday.

“Head Coach Kevin O’Connell has announced that WR Justin Jefferson has a mild hamstring strain and he will be held out of practice,” the Vikings posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Jefferson will be re-evaluated next week.”

Hopefully, when Jefferson is re-evaluated next week everything will be kosher. It’s a pivotal season for Minnesota in 2025, and the wide receiver will be essential to their operation with quarterback J.J. McCarthy taking over.

He’s coming off an injury after tearing his ACL as a rookie. However, it’s been reported that the quarterback is progressing at a positive pace, and the team believes McCarthy can lead them to the promised land when the time comes, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

 “Coming off that knee issue, they knew he could start a little slow, but they like the way he’s throwing the ball. They feel very comfortable with where he’s at going into training camp,” Fowler reported earlier this offseason.

“They didn’t sign [Aaron] Rodgers and went with McCarthy because they believe in their three-year plan — a young quarterback they like on a rookie scale. So, they’ll be aggressive on the roster without him. They believe they can win a Super Bowl in the next three years.”

It’s easy to see why the Vikings have immense confidence in their quarterback. While at Michigan, McCarthy ended his career with a national title with the Wolverines in 2023-24. He had 6,226 yards, 49 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 67.6% completion percentage in his career.

Now, McCarthy will have a ton of weapons to lean on during his sophomore season, including the aforementioned Jefferson and Jordan Addison at wide receiver. That would make any quarterback confident.

“I feel like it’s more of for the [quarterbacks] than for me,” Jefferson said of building a rapport with McCarthy, via ESPN. “I mean, it really doesn’t matter who’s throwing the ball. As soon as the ball gets close to my face, I’m going to try to catch it. It doesn’t matter how fast the ball is going, the spin of it, or if it’s coming from a lefty or a righty.

“I mean, my job is to catch the ball. So I feel like this is more for the quarterback to see the tempo of the routes, seeing how I run the routes, seeing the different moves that I add on to my routes. And I feel like working with that is more of a quarterback thing than a receiver thing.”

All told, all seems to be going according to plan for Minnesota, as long as Justin Jefferson can stay healthy. We’ll be on the lookout for an update next week on the star wide receiver.