Vikings cameras on Saturday captured Jefferson briefly taking over O’Connell’s radio to relay a play call to the huddle.
O’Connell said he’s “let him call a few short ones” — upon which Jefferson has realized the job might be a little more difficult than it looks.
“He complained about how long the play was, and then the quarterbacks complained that, you know, they didn’t quite understand things that Justin maybe said a little different than the kid from San Diego,” O’Connell quipped of himself. “And ‘kid’ is a loose term for me, obviously.”
Although Jefferson and McCarthy aren’t able to get live reps together right now, the receiver-quarterback duo is spending plenty of time together on the sideline or in the meeting rooms.
O’Connell said he appreciates their dialogue post-practice as well as during, with Jefferson staying mentally engaged from behind the play.
“There are some things that are kind of ‘for Justin’ that we’ve built over the past three years,” O’Connell explained, “so we’ll give some other guys some reps at that, and it’ll be a huge opportunity for not only J.A. (Jordan Addison) and T.J. [Hockenson] and Speedy (Jalen Nailor), but some of our down-the-line guys that are trying to make our team, as well.”