There’s always a local angle, we like to say in Minnesota sports journalism. Big stories have a way of touching our state in some way, even if we have to strain to find it.
Stefon Diggs trade: Vikings fans have been there, watched that unfold once before
Talented receiver Stefon Diggs was traded from a successful team for the second time in his career. The ending in Buffalo is very similar to how it ended in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 4, 2024 at 7:49PM
Wednesday’s news that Stefon Diggs was traded from Buffalo to Houston requires no such stretching. As a matter of fact, that news has two Minnesota angles.
The first is obvious: Diggs, a fifth-round pick of the Vikings in 2015, played five seasons in purple. After the 2019 season — a year in which he was fined for missing practices and his relationship with the Vikings seemingly deteriorated — he was traded to Buffalo.
The Vikings were coming off a playoff trip and a road postseason victory over New Orleans. They were hardly in rebuilding mode. But the situation with Diggs had become untenable enough that they started over at a key position.
They famously used the first round pick Buffalo sent in return for Diggs to select Justin Jefferson in the 2020 draft, making the swap truly great for both sides. The Bills won AFC East titles every year from 2020-23, with Diggs playing a starring role. Jefferson emerged as the best receiver in the league. Everyone was happy.
Until Diggs, again, seemingly wasn’t — as I talked about on Thursday’s “Daily Delivery” podcast.
Things started to deteriorate last offseason between Diggs and Buffalo. This is a good look back at the fractured nature of the relationship particularly between Diggs and star QB Josh Allen, as seen primarily through social media posts from Diggs — very reminiscent of the beginning of the end in Minnesota.
Diggs’ frustration boiled over in a blowout playoff loss a few months ago.
And now he’s on to a third team — once again finding himself in a great situation with an emerging Houston team and standout young QB C.J. Stroud.
We might not know the full story of what went wrong for a while, but eventually Diggs will likely talk about it as he did about the end of his Vikings’ tenure.
Will Buffalo be able to have as seamless a transition as the Vikings did at wide receiver? Well, that’s where the other Minnesota angle comes into play.
If the Bills are so inclined, they could draft a receiver with the second-round pick they received from the Texans in the trade.
That pick is No. 42 overall — the one the Vikings sent to Houston in order to add another first-round pick this year.
Here are four more things to know today.
*Also on Thursday’s podcast, I had a very fun conversation with Star Tribune outdoors writer Tony Kennedy about his work on Big Ten deer hunting power rankings. Yes, you read that correctly. Where did Minnesota land? You’ll have to listen to find out.
*Former Vikings and Cal quarterback Joe Kapp, who died in 2023, had advanced CTE, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
*Things are rough for Ben Johnson’s Gophers in regard to the transfer portal, but how about Louisville: Every single scholarship player is in the portal (including former Johnson recruit Dennis Evans). Maybe that’s not such a bad thing considering Louisville went 12-52 over the past two years.
*The Twins’ home opener is at 3 p.m. today on what looks to be a pleasant early April afternoon. Star Tribune beat writer Phil Miller is expected to join me on Friday’s podcast to talk about that game and the start of the season for the Twins.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
