Respectfully: Justin Jefferson isn’t worried about 49ers clamping down Garrett Wilson

What looked like a tough Week 1 matchup for the San Francisco 49ers proved to be anything but, as they defeated the New York Jets by a final score of 32-19. If we're being honest, the final score felt closer than the game did. The Niners dominated most of the way.

Jordan Mason went nuts on the ground with Christian McCaffrey out, but the real story of the game was the Niners' defense. Despite the Jets actually having a real quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, they were able to lock New York down completely for most of the game.

They limited Breece Hall to a minuscule 3.4 yards per carry on the ground, limited Aaron Rodgers to just 167 yards passing, and even did pretty well against Garrett Wilson, holding him to six receptions and 60 yards.

For reference, despite having the likes of Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle throwing him the football in 2023, Garrett Wilson averaged 5.6 receptions and 61.3 yards per game. Aaron Rodgers being the quarterback was supposed to change that, but his statistics looked rather pedestrian.

San Francisco defending Wilson as well as they did caused the media to ask Justin Jefferson whether he used tape on how the Niners defended New York's star receiver to help him prepare for his Week 2 matchup against that elite defense. Jefferson was respectful, but made it clear that he wasn't worried at all about the defense that he's about to face.

Justin Jefferson is not worried at all ahead of tough matchup vs. 49ers

Jefferson makes it clear that he is not Garrett Wilson. He was sure to be respectful, but what he really was saying is that there are levels to this.

Wilson is a star receiver; Jefferson is another tier or two above. When healthy, Wilson is probably one of the 10 best receivers in the sport, which is awesome. Jefferson, though, can make the argument that he is the best receiver in the league. In fact, he probably is the best receiver in the league.

Teams cover Wilson with respect, as they should, but they cover Jefferson differently. He said that there are things he can pick out, but he's a completely different player, and will be treated differently.

"There are things that I can take from that game for sure, things that I can take from how they played us last year, but I've seen it a tremendous amount of times; teams play me totally different when I'm on the field."

He's watching and reviewing the tape from last week, but Jefferson believes there's a lot that he can get from last year's matchup against the Niners. Unfortunately, he was injured, which makes this an interesting claim, but his replacement as Minnesota's clear-cut No. 1 receiver, Jordan Addison, had seven receptions for 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a winning effort.

Jefferson has only faced the Niners once, and that was back in 2021, his second season in the NFL. He reeled in four receptions for 83 yards.

At the end of the day, while it's always important to watch film, it's harder for a receiver like Jefferson who is 1-of-1 to take much away from what he sees. It'll be interesting to see how San Francisco chooses to cover him and if they'll have the same amount of success as they did against Wilson.