In what has been an already full news day for fans of the Minnesota Vikings, it appears that their star player has dodged a pretty significant bullet on the injury front.
Numerous reports have come down saying that wide receiver Justin Jefferson suffered an ankle sprain in Minnesota’s 23-16 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, but that he avoided any serious injury and that there’s even a chance that he could play this coming Sunday when the Vikings face the Miami Dolphins at U.S.
Bank Stadium.
Jefferson caught two passes on the Vikings’ opening drive against the Buccaneers, the second of which was a screen pass that set up a Will Reichard field goal to give the Vikings the first points of the game. On the play, Jefferson went down awkwardly and went to the blue medical tent, where he was deemed questionable to return with an ankle injury. He stayed on the sideline until just before halftime, when he went back to the locker room. He did not come back out with the team for the second half and was ruled out for the game shortly thereafter.
My guess is that we won’t know for sure whether Jefferson will play until the final injury reports come out on Friday afternoon, but at least we know that, at least for now, this doesn’t appear to be a long-term injury for the Vikings’ star wide receiver. Given the way the Vikings’ offense looked at Raymond James Stadium without him on the field, that can only be seen as a good thing for their hopes going forward.
