Winner: Buffalo Bills
Late on Monday night, the Buffalo Bills made sure that they didn’t get left out in the cold when it came to the hullabaloo that surrounded Day 1 of the legal tampering period in 2020 NFL free agency. In need of a No. 1 wide receiver, they made a big move as they traded four picks, including their 2020 first-rounder, to the Vikings for Stefon Diggs (and a seventh-round pick).
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Make no mistake, the Bills are paying a heavy price for Diggs. However, they are getting a player who has back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and will be just 26 years old in the 2020 season and, essentially, gave up the No. 22 pick that they likely would’ve used on a possible No. 1 receiver anyway.
When you think about a team that has eyes for competing for a Super Bowl right now but needed this piece on offense, making this type of move is a big win for the Bills.
Winner: Minnesota Vikings
On the flip side of the Diggs trade, the Vikings also came away as winners from the deal. Though they often denied it, there was too much smoke that the wide receiver was disgruntled in Minnesota to not believe that the situation might become untenable. That indeed turned out to be the case but, rather than getting taken to task in a trade (a la the Texans), the Vikings got great value.
Minnesota now has the No. 22 and 25 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, which opens up their options tremendously. They can go after a cornerback and a potential replacement for Diggs in the first round. Furthermore, they save some money, which is critical for a team that entered the offseason with some salary cap issues.
Overall, the value they got in trading Diggs is tremendous, especially when it happened on the same day as the Hopkins trade.