Lions DC Aaron Glenn on Vikings' Justin Jefferson: 'He's the best receiver in the league'

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn holds Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson in extremely high regard.

"In my opinion I think he’s the best receiver in the league," Glenn said Thursday from the Lions' facility in Allen Park. "And that’s no disrespect to any of the other receivers."

Jefferson, 25, opened his NFL career with four straight 1,000-yard seasons and currently ranks sixth in the league with 450 yards on 26 catches in just five games . Glenn said toughness is the trait that sets Jefferson apart from peers.

"He’s not afraid to go across the middle and he’s going to reach, grab and do whatever he can to catch the ball, and he takes some shots, man, he gets right back up," Glenn said. "He has a swagger about himself. He gets right back to the huddle and he’s ready to go play. And I think that inspires his teammates. You’re talking about a great player that elevates his teammates, that’s one of the reasons why his teammates are elevated because of the way he plays the game."

Jefferson had one of the worst games of his career against the Lions in 2022, when he caught three passes for 14 yards on six targets from Kirk Cousins in a 28-24 Vikings comeback victory . Since then, he has averaged 9.7 catches and 185.3 receiving yards per game in three meetings with the Lions.

"I think the coaching staff did a really good job of trying to get him in positions where you just can’t press him and things like that," Glenn said. "They move him around quite a bit against us and we have to do a really good job with our coverage responsibility to make sure we’re on point. Our alignments are right, understand exactly what we’re trying to do in certain situations, man or zone, to make sure that we’re not out of position. And they do a good job of that."

Snap to it

Along with being one of the best pass rushers in football, Aidan Hutchinson was the Lions' backup long snapper before his season-ending leg injury .

Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said Thursday the Lions have a handful of other players on their roster who can handle long- and short-snapping duties should something happen to starting long snapper Hogan Hatten in a game, including linebacker Alex Anzalone.

It's a situation that rarely comes up in games, but one the Chicago Bears survived last week when tight end Cole Kmet replaced ex-Lion Scott Daly after Daly suffered a knee injury. Kmet won NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his performance.

"It’s something that we work every week with those guys," Fipp said. "We have them snap a handful of snaps. We don’t work it a ton. Obviously, we don’t have a lot of reps for them. A lot of their reps come off to the side, not necessarily in a team drill. Fortunately, for us we do have a number of other guys that can also snap, too. Anzalone being one of them, and we have actually several more but we’ll see where we go from there. But yeah, you hope you never wind up in that situation. ... It's definitely a spot you don’t want to be in. You don’t want to lose a kicker or a long snapper."

Hatten, an undrafted rookie out of Idaho, has played well for the Lions this season. Fipp said he's accurate and fast, routinely putting the Lions below the NFL average times of 1.3 seconds to get a field goal off and 2 seconds on a punt.

Buttered up

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores paid the Lions a high compliment this week, telling reporters he doesn't see any weaknesses in their offense .

"Really, from the backs to the tight ends to receivers to O-line to quarterback to the play caller, all of it is high level," Flores said.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson joked Thursday that Flores was "just trying to butter us up a little bit."

"I’m sure he’s got plenty of things that he’s going to look to go after and look to try to expose from us," Johnson said. "We try to do a great job each week with our self scout and what we’re putting on tape and trying to counter whatever that is. But no, it’s awfully nice and flattering that he’d say something like that, but that’s really a credit to our guys. We have some phenomenal players at every position group, so not only are they talented but I think their style of play is what separates them apart from a lot of these other offenses in the league. They go hard for 60 minutes, and like I said, we’ll have to do that again here this week."

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Michigan Man

Josh Metellus didn't become a full-time starter until his fourth NFL season last year. Now the former Michigan standout is one of the best players on Minnesota's stingy defense.

Metellus has 26 tackles, three pass breakups and one interception this season, and his versatility is key to many of Minnesota's blitz packages . The Vikings rank second in the NFL against the run (67.2 ypg), third in points allowed (15.2 ppg) and fourth in third-down percentage (31%).

"He’s a little bit of a unicorn," Johnson said. "He can do a little bit of everything. Swiss army knife. He’s pseudo linebacker, pseudo safety, pseudo nickel. Lines up all over the place. Great blitzer, great cover guy. I really can’t say enough good things about him cause he’s a great chess piece they like to play around with."

Trial and error

Glenn said the Lions still are getting a handle on how new defensive end Isaiah Thomas fits into their defense.

Thomas, who signed off the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad on Tuesday, has not appeared in an NFL game since 2022, when he had one sack and nine tackles in 10 games with the Cleveland Browns.

"We have to figure out what the player can do well, and once we figure that out, we’ll be able to put him in spots to go in and help us on defense," Glenn said.

Asked how he evaluates newly-acquired players in season, Glenn admitted, "it's always hard to do."

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"But that’s why we practice the way that we practice," he said. "Now, we’re not one of these teams that are going to sit without pads on, we’re going to play. The only way you can practice football is to play, but the only way you can play football is to practice football. So, he’s going to have a chance to go out there and practice against one of the best O-lines in the league and see exactly what he can do, and then that’s going to tell us how we can play him.”

Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline" at 2 p.m. Saturday at La Dona Cerveceria in Minneapolis, and 7 p.m., Monday at 24 Seconds Bar & Grill in Berkley. Order your copy here .

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett .

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions DC Aaron Glenn on Vikings' Justin Jefferson: 'He's the best receiver in the league'