With 40 yards tonight, Justin Jefferson will surpass Julio Jones for fastest to 8,000

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson will play the 84th game of his NFL career tonight against the Chargers, and in it he is likely to surpass 8,000 career receiving yards. That would make him the fastest player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to do so.

Former Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones reached 8,000 receiving yards in his 85th career game, which is currently the record for the fastest to reach that milestone. Jefferson has 7,960 receiving yards through 83 career games, so he only needs 40 yards tonight to get to 8,000 faster than Jones did.

Jefferson, whose career average is an NFL-record 95.9 yards per game, is rarely held below 40 yards. He's failed to reach that number only 13 times in his career.

In the old American Football League, Lance Alworth reached 8,000 receiving yards in his 83rd game, in 1969. After the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, the NFL incorporated AFL statistics into its official records, so Alworth is still the fastest to 8,000 yards in pro football history.

After Alworth, Jones and Jefferson, the player with the next-most receiving yards through 84 career games was Jerry Rice, who had 7,223 receiving yards in his first 84 career games. Rice went on to play 219 more games and gain 15,672 more receiving yards, retiring as the NFL's all-time record holder with 22,895 receiving yards.

It's probably not realistic to think Jefferson could play long enough to threaten Rice's record. But any time a receiver is ahead of Jerry Rice's pace, that alone is an impressive achievement.