Since the Vikings brought Kevin O’Connell to be the head coach of the Vikings the Kupp role has been mentioned. Most people say Jefferson will fill the role with the sole reason of Jefferson is our best WR. I want to look bit deeper on what that means. (Luke Braun just did a great video on this conversation over on Locked On Vikings. Would recommend watching his video after reading this.)
What is Kupps role?
To answer the question of who will fill the Kupp role we have to know what the Kupp role is. Now obviously Kupp is a great WR, don’t get the triple crown by accident. However, a big part of Kupps role that people don’t talk about is blocking. Kupps blocking ability allows the Rams to basically use him as a TE when they run the ball. With Kupp the Rams can ran everything out of 11 personal so defenses keep that extra DB on the field. After showing he can block they motion him all over the field. Which allows Stafford to see what the defense is doing to see if they’re man or zone, if its a zone he sees a safety or linebacker go over to cover Kupp. Now Kupp gets a great match up.
Does Jefferson fit that role?
Now with that, Jefferson isn’t really great at blocking, but he’s not terrible at it so he could do it. I just remember the Ravens game when he’s running down then field trying to help block for Cook. His arms going around like a windmill and we’re left thinking “What was that?”.
Still can’t get over Justin Jefferson attempting to block 😭😭pic.twitter.com/XnZAA9GbfS
— Nico (@elitetakes_) June 5, 2022
Jeffersons strength is route running, killing CBs with double moves and getting 20-30 yard chunk plays. You know the things a WR is suppose to be good at. A way Jefferson gets CBs with those double moves, he runs fake routes on run plays. Most outsides CBs play the pass first for the first 2-3 seconds. So when the run isn’t going his way, Jefferson uses that to work on different releases and to run fake routes. Showing CBs how quickly he can cut they have to respect that part of his game. Now when Jefferson goes to run a go route and with that set up, he fakes a cut, the CB bites and now Jefferson has 3 steps on the CB and wide open.
Then Who Fills that role?
Now I say all of this because I think the Vikings have a WR on the roster who’s great at blocking and better fills the “Kupp role”, KJ Osborn. Starting from week one of the 2021 season Osborn showed his talent and willingness to block. Here is Osborn cracking down on the Bengals DE so O’Neil can pull around him.
thinking back to when KJ Osborn successfully pin blocked a DE https://t.co/ToyukD4dRa pic.twitter.com/cLQzOR6pcT
— Nick Olson (@NickOlsonNFL) June 23, 2022
Goes without saying how rare it is for WR to hold his own when blocking a DE. Osborn can do more of that dirty work, while Jefferson is setting up his CB. I’m not saying never use Jefferson in the slot and have him in that role where you can motion him around. However, have it more often then not Osborn doing the blocking and the quick 4-5 yard gains. It better matches Osborns skill set better and allows Jefferson to do Jefferson things.
