Minnesota’s barnstorming duo of Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson is receiving national respect.
ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky on Monday released his ranking of the NFL’s top 20 quarterback-receiver tandems of 2024 and the Vikings were third behind a couple twosomes that have played 40-plus games together: Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown.
Chase, for what it’s worth, is on Triple Crown pace, leading the league in catches (93), yards (1,319) and receiving touchdowns (15). Brown is 47th in receptions (48), 17th in yards (836) and tied for 43rd in TDs (5).
The Darnold-Jefferson link has resulted in 75 completions, 1,170 yards and seven trips to pay dirt. They’ve climbed since mid-October when Orlovsky and former NFL wide receiver Harry Douglas pegged them the fifth-best duo, with Houston’s C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins a bold No. 1 selection (now sixth).
Orlovsky wrote: Darnold-to-Jefferson is one of two duos over 1,000 yards on the season (Burrow/Chase), but these two do it with more coming through the air. Darnold averages 11.6 air yards per pass attempt when targeting Jefferson, who runs the explosive crossing routes as good as anyone in the game.
Working to the Vikings favor is that Darnold throws “explosive crossing routes” as well as anyone, a note that Head Coach Kevin O’Connell has repeated across Minnesota’s 11-2 start and Darnold’s renaissance.
The players exemplified that this past Sunday against Atlanta, in Game 13 together, uniting for 68 yards and a score on four catches that occurred on in-breaking routes over the intermediate area of the field.
On the first, Darnold threw Jefferson to a soft spot in coverage that demanded the record-setting receiver to stretch forward and hit the turf, but the placement protected him from contact with a couple zone-dropping linebackers. The second featured Jefferson reaching up to pluck the ball between a Falcons cornerback and safety, and it tacked on six points. Later on, Jefferson squeezed a 15-yard hisser from Darnold that had enough heat to fit into a tight window. Their last such play was the longest (21 yards) and is why it’s problematic to go mano a mano vs. ‘Jets’; he slinked past single coverage toward the Vikings sideline.
Jefferson, obviously, was a top threat pre-Darnold – but the quarterback is earning his own respect.
The rival pairing of Detroit’s Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Zay Flowers complete Orlovsky’s top five connections. Review the entirety of Orlovsky’s QB-WR duo hierarchy here.
First-round impact
Mark Craig of the Star Tribune on Monday spotlighted a very deserving Vikings player. …
How soon we forget that Jamin Davis was the 19th overall draft pick out of Kentucky in 2021. Or that Davis had 279 tackles and seven sacks while starting 36 of 45 games at inside linebacker in his first three seasons for Washington. Or that Davis, who turns only 26 on Thursday, can still play.
Davis signed with the team Nov. 26 to fill a void that was born when Ivan Pace, Jr., was placed on Injured Reserve with a hamstring injury. In losing Pace, the Vikings lost a leader in play style and fantastic blitzer.
Davis proved against Atlanta, on his 12th day in Minnesota, he can do the latter strongly.
Davis logged nine defensive snaps and needed only seven to notch the lone sack of the club’s former quarterback. Not by accident, either, the style of it resembled things we’ve watched Pace do in 2024.
On third-and-1 with 6:55 left in the first half, Davis and inside linebacker Blake Cashman walked up in the A gaps, conflicting the assignment of Falcons center Drew Dalman. Both players crashed forward at the snap, and Dalman opted to slide to Cashman which left Davis 1-on-1 with running back Bijan Robinson. It was a mismatch. Davis quickly ran through and around a block attempt, lunging at Cousins.
Davis twisted Atlanta’s passer to the turf for a loss of 6 despite a holding penalty on Robinson.
“I had a feeling before the snap that I was going to get one,” Davis said.
Davis more than doubled his snaps from his Vikings debut against Arizona (four snaps) and in addition to his sack registered a pressure of Cousins a little more than halfway through the first quarter. On that play, Davis screamed downhill from an off-ball stance, put a move on Falcons right guard Chris Lindstrom and worked to Cousins on a play-action pass. He was a fraction of a second late from a big, early impact.
Davis has traits beloved by Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores: speed, aggression and smarts.
Pro Bowl check-in
Four Vikings players are No. 1 in the NFC at their positions as of Monday’s updated fan vote totals.
It’s the same four as last week: Jefferson, outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, cornerback Byron Murphy, Jr., and long snapper Andrew De Paola. Jefferson and DePaola outrank all AFC players, as well.
Three others – fullback C.J. Ham, outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard and special teams ace Trent Sherfield, Sr. – are No. 2 at their positions, while free safety Camryn Bynum is No. 4 and center Garrett Bradbury, Darnold and strong safety Joshua Metellus are each listed No. 5 among their NFC brethren.
Pro Bowl Games voting extended its reach to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, so it’s possible to vote for players using #ProBowlVote with the player’s first and last name in the copy of the post or pairing that hashtag with the player’s official social handle. Reposting counts as votes, too – post, share, and tell friends!
