After trading away wide receiver Stefon Diggs this offseason, here are three reasons why that was the right move for the Minnesota Vikings to make.
In an offseason that was a very busy one for the Minnesota Vikings, one of the biggest moves involved now-former Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs. Diggs, who has spent the entirety of his five-year NFL career in Minnesota since breaking into the league in 2015 as a fifth-round draft pick, was traded away by the Vikings this offseason, sending him to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a large amount of draft picks.
Diggs has been publicly frustrated with his role in Minnesota for at least the last year-plus, and a mix of locker room issues and cryptic social media posts resulted in the star wideout ultimately being moved from Minnesota to Buffalo to get a fresh start in 2020.
Recently, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer made one of his first public comments surrounding the Diggs trade when he appeared on the Rich Eisen Show, noting that it initially wasn’t the organization’s intent to trade their No. 1 wide receiver, via NFL.com.
"“Diggs did not have to go. We didn’t really have any intention of trading him. Quite honestly, he put out a couple tweets, and there’s some things going on there,” Zimmer told Eisen. “What happened was Buffalo came in and gave us all those picks, and we were up against it with the salary cap, so we just felt like we could save some money, get a bunch of picks and maybe get a young receiver like (Justin Jefferson).”"
Although Diggs’ time in Minnesota was most recently filled with some drama, Zimmer added that there wasn’t much issue in dealing with the wideout on the team and wasn’t the reason the team traded him away.
"“Really, if you said somebody was a pain in the butt, you probably wouldn’t say him,” Zimmer said. “I’ve been around way worse guys than him. I hope he has a great career and finishes up strong.”"
Whether his frustration and drama off the field surrounding his production on the field was the sole issue or not, Diggs is now absent from the Vikings while he gets a new start with a different NFL team for the first time in his professional career.
With Diggs set to kick off his Bills career in 2020, here are three reasons why trading away the wide receiver was needed for Minnesota and was ultimately the right move for the Vikings to make this offseason.