Vikings WR Justin Jefferson throws shade at Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy and misses Raiders QB Kirk Cousins (Image via Getty: JJ McCarthy, Justin Jefferson, and Kyler Murray)A veteran wide receiver who has seen a storm of quarterbacks in the Minnesota Vikings recently spoke about the 2026 signal-caller situation.Justin Jefferson reportedly misses Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins.The kind of QB-WR connection they built over four seasons from 2020 to 2023 is hard to find; especially now with JJ McCarthy and Kyler Murray.Justin Jefferson talks candidly about Kirk Cousins amid Kyler Murray’s entry Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins spent four seasons together. They created a lethal gridiron combination with Kirk Cousins’ pinpoint accuracy and Justin Jefferson’s impeccable pass-catching ability.In 2024, Cousins left for the Atlanta Falcons, and Jefferson welcomed a rookie called JJ McCarthy. McCarthy struggled with injuries, accuracy, and chemistry with his receivers on the gridiron.For two years, Jefferson played with three different quarterbacks: Sam Darnold, JJ McCarthy, and Carson Wentz. He will be playing with a fourth quarterback in 2026. Enter: Kyler Murray.McCarthy and Murray will be fighting for the starting QB role. And Jefferson cannot wait for the competition to unfold.“Just competition for real,” Jefferson said. “Just to see who’s gonna be that last man standing? Who’s gonna be that dawg? Who’s gonna be that leader to carry us throughout the season?Because that is definitely a missing piece that we’re looking for and something that is very important to our team, which is the quarterback spot.”Jefferson has already chosen his favorite: Kyler Murray. But he is still skeptical about Murray and him developing the kind of chemistry that he shared with Cousins. “That’s definitely something that is…I want that for sure,” Jefferson said. “It’s definitely difficult for those types of things to happen. But just like me being with Kirk [Cousins] for those first four years of my career, just building on that connection, building on that relationship, that’s something that is unbroken, that’s something that you just don’t find just anywhere.” Kyler Murray vs JJ McCarthy in Minnesota VikingsJustin Jefferson admits that having a consistent quarterback for years is difficult in the league, but he will try his level best to create that unmatched chemistry/spark/connection with Kyler Murray over the next couple of years.Murray has only signed a one-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings want to offer Murray a prove-it year, where the veteran tries his level best to prove his worth.Murray will fight for the QB1 role with JJ McCarthy. McCarthy is a 2024 draft pick who has played just 10 games in two seasons.Whoever loses the QB battle may become a backup. And the third-string QB role may go to Carson Wentz, or he could be the backup. Wentz filled in as backup for McCarthy in 2025.“They say it’s an open competition, and JJ McCarthy hasn’t been healthy,” NFL Insider Adam Schefter said via ESPN’s NFL Live.“And we’ve seen quarterback revival stories in recent years from Sam Darnold to Daniel Jones to Baker Mayfield. It seems like there is one quarterback revival story every year. That story could be Kyler Murray this year; it also could be JJ McCarthy.The Vikings have a couple of options right now, but there are a lot of people who believe that Kyler Murray hand-picked that situation in Minnesota. That he could win that starting quarterback job and get his career back on track.”Clues for Fernando Mendoza and Kyler Murray in Justin Jefferson’s 2024 press conferenceAs for Justin Jefferson, his unmatched connection with Kirk Cousins came to light in December 2024. It was the first time Jefferson was to face his quarterback on the other side of the gridiron. That is when the Vikings played against the Falcons. Jefferson spoke candidly about Cousins at a press conference then. He shared what he admired the most about the veteran signal caller.“Just seeing him, and seeing his day-to-day routine, seeing how he comes to work every day, and how he’s on the playbook, how he’s studying hard every single day, how he’s so much in the book --- I love that about him,” Jefferson said.“And just his work ethic, and just him as a person, is great always. It’s always great to have a quarterback that you can joke around with and be yourself with and just to have his locker right next to mine, and talk to him every single day, and be with him every single day --- it was definitely a great experience.”This little confession could offer insights for 2026 draft pick Fernando Mendoza, who will be learning from Kirk Cousins with the Las Vegas Raiders.And it could also offer some clues to Kyler Murray on how to develop an everlasting bond with Justin Jefferson. Because if the off-gridiron chemistry is great, the gridiron chemistry goes unblemished…