Thirty minutes into his third season, Justin Jefferson was raising eyebrows and questions, three of them being:
Is he better than Randy Moss?
In the Vikings' new offense, could he become a candidate for NFL MVP?
Is his next contract going to be for all of the world's money, gold and bitcoin?
"If he continues having games like this,'' Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson said, "he's going to be the highest-paid receiver in the NFL."
Jefferson wants to become the first NFL receiver to gain 2,000 yards. We didn't know he would try to get there in one half.
In the Vikings' season-opening, 23-7 dismantling of the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Jefferson caught nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. At the half, he had six catches for 158 yards and both scores.
After 34 career games, Jefferson has caught 205 passes for 3,200 yards and 19 touchdowns. After 34 games, Moss had 159 catches for 2,901 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Jefferson has five games with 150 receiving yards. The only player with more by the age of 23? Moss.
"Justin is probably the best football player I've ever played with," offensive tackle Brian O'Neill said. "I don't necessarily know what his individual goals are, but whatever he's going to set his mind to, I'm pretty sure he's going to be able to do it."
Moss and Jefferson are easy to compare. Both joined evolved passing offenses already boasting an excellent veteran receiver (Cris Carter then; Adam Thielen now).
Comparing Jefferson's pace to Jerry Rice's isn't as simple, because Rice struggled as a rookie. Rice's totals after three seasons: 200 catches for 3,475 yards and 40 touchdowns.
By playing at a high level for 21 years, Rice built seemingly insurmountable records of 1,549 catches and 22,895 yards. To date, Jefferson has demonstrated similarities to Rice in route-running, smoothness in and out of breaks, catch radius, hands, football intelligence and durability.
"I had a conversation with him at the beginning of the year,'' linebacker Eric Kendricks said. "In year three, there's always a difference. It's like he's seeing things a little slower.''
The Packers didn't seem to see him at all. Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander said he asked to cover Jefferson but was told that wasn't the game plan, and in the first half Jefferson found himself often facing linebackers, defensive ends and open spaces.
"We definitely expected a lot of double teams and cloud covers, so it was definitely kind of weird not seeing it," Jefferson said. "But I'll take it every day."
The Vikings' roster is stacked with stars. Dalvin Cook. Danielle Hunter. Za'Darius Smith. Harrison Smith. Peterson. Eric Kendricks. Thielen. They often speak of Jefferson with the same wide-eyed wonder with which Vikings stars used to speak about Moss.
"He's a great player, man," Za'Darius Smith said. "He's fun to watch. He's doing the same things at practice every day. I know he's going to be a great receiver in this league."
Jefferson will need to average 113.5 yards over the next 16 games to reach 2,000 yards. He'll need to stay healthy and hope that defenses don't commit two players to removing him as a viable option.
"We're confident in this offense getting the ball to whoever is on the field,'' Jefferson said. "I mean, it's crazy that we have this kind of receiving corps and this kind of running back room.''
Like Jefferson, Hunter set an otherworldly pace early in his career. Hunter and Jefferson are among the many LSU players — including Peterson, Odell Beckham, Jr., Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase — who transitioned effortlessly to the NFL.
"It's just the LSU Tigers — we compete at a different level," Hunter said with a smile. "It's amazing to see what Justin's doing, but I knew from the get-go that he was going to do it, because I know his family. I know all the Jeffersons."
The Packers might want to Google the name before these teams meet again.
