Justin Jefferson broke his elbow as a teenager at Destrehan High School in Louisiana. That’s the only time in his life he has been out of football for longer than the hamstring injury that has forced him to miss a significant portion of this season. He doesn’t even count that previous absence because he wasn’t on varsity at the time.

In other words, the past couple of months have been uncharted territory for the young receiver as he has navigated the recovery process for the first time in his career. He’s struggled to stay patient during that time, joking that he constantly vocalized his displeasure to the training staff.

“Every single day I told them how much it sucked to be in there,” Jefferson said with a laugh. “They knew that I just wanted to be back on the field.”

That time has come, finally, as Jefferson is on track to make his highly anticipated return when the Vikings travel to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium.

It has been a slow build to this point for Jefferson, considering he suffered the hamstring injury on Oct. 8, then got designated for return from injured reserve on Nov. 8. He has started to feel more and more like himself in practices over the past few weeks and is eager to make an impact in games once again.

“It was tough being on the sideline,” he said. “I’m finally back, and I’m very, very excited.”

As much as Jefferson is looking forward to playing, there’s a little bit of frustration when he thinks about what could have been. He started this season on fire with 571 receiving yards at the time of his injury.

He was seemingly in position to accomplish his goal of becoming the first player in NFL history to eclipse 2,000 receiving yards in a single season. That’s no longer possible.

“It’s been hard to readjust those goals,” Jefferson said. “Especially on the pace that I was going.”

It hasn’t helped that he has been forced to watch Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill ball out in his absence. To date, Hill has 1,481 receiving yards, meaning, yes, he’s on pace to eclipse 2,000 receiving yards.

It’s frustrating for Jefferson, because, as far as he’s concerned, he would be right there with Hill f he was fully healthy.

“It’s a little tough to see Tyreek going crazy every single week,” Jefferson said. “It is what it is. I’m always going to do whatever I need to do to help this team win. I’ll just worry about the individual goals next season.”

Asked if he has set a different goal for himself now that he’s back, Jefferson noted that he at least would like to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards. He has done it every season of his career so far, and he’d like to keep that streak going if possible. Not that it’s his main focus by any means.

What is?

“Shoot, trying to get to the playoffs, and then get to the Super Bowl,” Jefferson said. “Now it’s more about getting on the field and helping this team out any way I can.”

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