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Randy Moss Demands More from Minnesota Vikings Superstar
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- Randy Moss Demands More from Minnesota Vikings Superstar
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell will speak with local media 10 days from today, signifying the start of 2025 Minnesota Vikings training camp. That's right friends, football is nearly back.
And when you turn on ESPN on Monday evenings this fall, a Vikings GOAT will be back on your screen. After announcing that he is cancer free, legendary wide receiver Randy Moss is returning to set of Monday Night Countdown at the start of this season.
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In order to announce his clean bill of health and his return to TV, Moss has been doing a few media rounds the last couple days, including a recent interview with TMZ Sports . During his virtual sit-down, the MN Vikings legend was asked if current Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson is on pace to be one of the greatest wide receivers of all time.
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MN Vikings legend weighs in on Justin Jefferson's GOAT trajectory
The headline making the rounds Saturday, after the Moss + Jefferson clip surfaced, is from a quote near the end of Moss' interview, where he does say that Justin "is on pace to be arguably the greatest ever".
"I think Justin Jefferson is on pace to be arguably the greatest ever and definitely the greatest Viking to ever do it."
– 🐐 @RandyMoss on Vikings Superstar WR Justin Jefferson.
High praise from one of the very best to ever do it.
🎥 @TMZ_Sports pic.twitter.com/IClvHqv52M— The Purple Persuasion (@TPPSkol) July 12, 2025
But before Moss got around to the quote that our friends at The Purple Persuasion ( @TPPSkol on X ) have captioned for the video above, the MN Vikings legend started his answer with a very important important qualifier.
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In order for him to consider Justin Jefferson as the greatest wide receiver in either Minnesota Vikings or NFL history, he needs more from the 25-year-old out of LSU. More what, you ask? More touchdowns.
Should he find a way to start scoring more often, it's then that Moss has no doubt Justin Jefferson will be a major factor in the "greatest of all-time" wide receiver conversations in no time.
"First of all, I'm a big fan of Justin's and the reason why is because I've always been a fan of a complete football player where you can score from anywhere on the field, and Justin brings that to the table.
I think when you look at the overall picture of how they changed the game, you take less runs out of the game so you're throwing the ball [more]. For him to go down as the greatest Vikings and arguably the greatest wide receiver to ever do it, I think I need to see more of Justin getting in that box."
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Moss wasn't finished yet, and the rest of his quote is posted below, along with the headline many of you have probably seen elsewhere by now. But first, let's take a look at Justin Jefferson's numbers, in order to see if Randy has a point. And at first glance, sure enough, it's Jettas' 7,432 career receiving yards that immediately stand out.
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To add some context to that massive statistic, consider how Jefferson has only played in 77 games during his 5-year NFL career . For those non-mathematicians out there, that's an average of 96.5 receiving yards per game, the highest yard-per-game receiving average in NFL history.
1 minute of Justin Jefferson COOKING opposing DB's 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/mpJTT2Ge0Z
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) July 3, 2025
Does Justin Jefferson need to get in the endzone more often?
But just as Moss noted, touchdowns have been harder to come by, for Justin Jefferson. Since he arrived in the league five seasons ago, the former 1st round pick has found paydirt through the air just 40 times.
In fact, only twice in Jefferson's Hall of Fame trajectory NFL start has he ever posted double-digit touchdowns in a season, catching exactly 10 touchdowns in both 2021 and 2024.
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For comparison purposes, Randy Moss caught 17 touchdowns in his rookie season (1998), which led the league, something Moss did a total of five times during his 14 year HOF career. So pile up the yards all you want, young buck… but you need to score to win.
"I think, at our position, it's not about the yards. The yards are what gets you the likes and the hearts and all that. But if you really want to be legendary, and this is speaking for all wide receivers, not just Justin Jefferson, you've gotta find ways to get the ball in that endzone and bring the fans in the stands up out of their seats.
But to answer you question, I think Justin Jefferson is on pace to be the greatest ever, and definitely the greatest Viking to ever do it."
Randy Moss was a TD machine with/without Minnesota Vikings
The 23 touchdowns Randy caught from Tom Brady , as a Patriot in 2007, are three more than Justin caught in 2020, 2022 and 2023 combined (20). Through Moss' first five NFL seasons (80 games), he caught 60 total touchdowns, 20 more than Justin Jefferson has so far during his career.
Nobody could outsmart Randy Moss on the field.
🎥: NFL pic.twitter.com/eLx5gD6qBv— SleeperVikings (@SleeperVikings) June 30, 2025
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During his 113 total games as a Viking, which were spread across eight different seasons, Randy Moss caught 92 total TDs wearing purple. At his current pace, Jefferson would have to 178 games as a member of the Minnesota Vikings, in order to surpass 92 receiving touchdowns, or almost all of the next six seasons.
Unless Jefferson can start getting in the endzone more often, he'll need a clean bill of health and incredible amount of longevity during the remainder of his professional football career, if he wants to get into those GOAT conversations, though Moss admits he's currently on that trajectory right now, even without the TDs.
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