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Hasan breaks down Jefferson's hot start


Although he has started just twice in the first four games of his career, Justin Jefferson has been one of the league's top rookies in 2020.


The 22nd overall pick in the draft, Jefferson had four catches for 103 yards on Sunday as he went over the 100-yard mark for the second consecutive game. The last Vikings rookie to do that was Stefon Diggs in 2015.


Arif Hasan of The Athletic wrote a detailed breakdown of Jefferson's hot start, and noted that the rookie's versatility has been a key reason why he has 16 catches for 348 yards through four games.


Hasan wrote:


Jefferson has won inside, outside and against a variety of coverages, winning at all three levels. He's won on comebacks, crossers, over routes, corner routes, out routes and fade routes. He's winning at the catch point in a plethora of ways as well, from contested catches to high-pointed comebacks to bucket catches in stride and even a back-shoulder catch that takes extraordinary concentration.


He has demonstrated positional versatility, route variety and the ability to win at the catch point, but he has also showcased skills that are more difficult to pin down. His releases off the line of scrimmage have been fantastic, and that was a concern of his coming out of college — not only did he need additional work, he wasn't required to get off of press coverage given his consistent alignment in the slot in his final year.


Jefferson currently ranks eighth among all NFL players in receiving yards, and is second at 21.8 yards per catch among players with a minimum of 10 receptions so far.


Hasan, whose full breakdown can be found here, concluded that "the signs are there early on that the Vikings have found a high-quality receiver."


See it again


Vikings fans in the home marketing area are able to watch a condensed version of Sunday's 31-23 win over the Texans on vikings.com here between now and 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.


The following marketing areas are included:
Minneapolis/St. Paul; Duluth/Superior, Wisconsin; Mankato; Rochester/Mason City, Iowa/Austin;
Iowa: Des Moines/Ames; Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Dubuque; Davenport/Bettendorf/Rock Island, Illinois/Moline, Illinois; Sioux City
Wisconsin: La Crosse/Eau Claire
North Dakota: Fargo/Valley City; Minot/Bismarck/Dickinson
South Dakota: Sioux Falls (Mitchell)
Nebraska: Omaha


Viewers in the Twin Cities are also reminded that Vikings Replay airs at 10 p.m. Tuesdays on FOX 9+ WFTC in a two-hour format that recaps the previous week's game. Vikings Replay: Director's Cut then offers viewers a one-hour recap at 10:35 p.m. Wednesday's on FOX 9 KMSP.