Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Monday that superstar wideout Justin Jefferson is considered “day-to-day, hopefully with a good chance of playing with us in Cincinnati.”
Jefferson, who returned to the field for the first time since suffering a right hamstring injury in Week 5, left Sunday’s 3-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders with a chest injury and was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons.
Jefferson, 24, is arguably the NFL’s best receiver and has been incredibly effective when healthy this season, posting 38 catches for 598 yards and three scores in parts of just six games. That pace in a 17-game season would land him at 107 receptions for 1,694 yards and eight touchdowns.
And that type of production would be par for the course for Jefferson, who caught 128 passes for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns in 2022.
That was with Kirk Cousins, however, and the Vikings find themselves with a major conundrum at the position following his season-ending torn Achilles.
Joshua Dobbs has struggled immensely in the past three weeks—after winning in his first two appearances with the team—throwing for 469 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions while taking nine sacks. He was bad enough on Sunday to be benched in favor of Nick Mullens, which probably prevented the Vikings from losing a third straight game, or at least succumbing to an embarrassing scoreless tie against the Raiders.
FOX Sports: NFL @NFLonFOX
The Vikings have benched QB Josh Dobbs
Nick Mullens is now in the game pic.twitter.com/IvfpsRKBRK
Warren Sharp @SharpFootball
Josh Dobbs benched
this stat line is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/2DF9mYbDCY
Mullens led the team to the only scoring drive of the game, a field goal with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
FOX Sports: NFL @NFLonFOX
FIRST POINTS OF THE GAME!!!
Vikings hit a field goal with less than two minutes left in the game!
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/3TPt3RZpmu
It’s unclear who will start at the position going forward. But Minnesota’s offense is a wreck at the moment.
“With the types of injuries we’ve had and the way it’s been this season, we’re a week-to-week offense at this point,” O’Connell told reporters after the win. “We’re going to find out who we’re going to have available and figure out the best possible plan.”
Having Jefferson available for a tough matchup on the road against the Bengals would be huge. Both teams are 7-6 and fighting for their playoff lives. It just remains to be seen who might be throwing him the ball.
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