Justin Jefferson Fantasy Football Injury Update: When Will WR Return?

It is a minor miracle that the Minnesota Vikings are sitting at 4-0 today considering how weak their offense has looked in the early-going of the season. The Vikings did not score a touchdown in Sunday’s ugly 15-10 win over the Miami Dolphins, as kicker Will Reichard had to do the heavy lifting with five field goals. Minnesota ranks dead last in the NFL in passing yards per game, averaging just 156 yards.

Kevin O’Connell’s squad does have a decent excuse for Sunday’s performance considering star wide receiver Justin Jefferson was out with an ankle injury. Now the question turns to, “Will Jefferson play this coming Sunday in Week 5 against the New Orleans Saints?”

Below, we will dish out a Jefferson injury update and look at potential return dates.

Justin Jefferson fantasy football injury update: When will WR return? Jefferson left Minnesota’s Week 3 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with an ankle injury and did not return. He was “day-to-day” for most of last week, and fantasy football owners assumed there was a decent chance that the 4-time Pro Bowler would play against the Miami Dolphins in Week 4. On Friday afternoon, however, Jefferson was ultimately ruled out for the Miami game.

O’Connell gave out an update on Jefferson’s status following yesterday’s Vikings win over the Dolphins.

“I know he made great progress last week,” O’Connell said. “We’re going to allow that to be a medical thing from the standpoint of if he’s able to start getting some limited work in. We’ll see how he does throughout the week.

“I don’t have any real projection on if we’ll have him or not [against the Saints]. I think it’s important to go into the week open-minded. He’s so impactful and so important to us. But at the same time, we want to get him back to 100 percent.”

Jefferson will surely be pushing hard to get back in the lineup against the Saints considering that the game will be held at the Caesars Superdome in O’Connell’s home state of Louisiana. The former LSU star has never played an NFL game in front of a full house at the Caesars Superdome. Jefferson and the Vikings played there in 2020 but in front of a limited crowd due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vikings do have a bye following Sunday’s game against the Saints, so Minnesota could elect to hold out their star one more game in an effort to get him 100 percent healthy.

That said, this ankle sprain is believed to be on the mild side. It is likely that Jefferson gives it a go in Week 5.

Justin Jefferson fantasy football stock
Jefferson is typically one of the first wide receivers off the board in fantasy football drafts. This past summer at FantasyPros he had an ADP of 17. He was typically WR6.

Jefferson has had a solid start to the season, highlighted by his 8-catch, 92 receiving-yard, 2 TD day against the Packers in Week 1.

In a 9-3 Vikings win over the Bears in Week 2, Jefferson had 3 catches for 55 yards but did not find the end zone.

He played less than one quarter against the Buccaneers in Week 3, but still managed to have 2 catches for 32 yards.

Vikings odds
The Vikings were +4000 at Fanatics Sportsbook to win the 2027 Super Bowl prior to the start of the season. Thanks to their perfect start, they are now +2200 to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in franchise history.