Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs had a very busy week. It caused a lot of problems with the team and created a lot of headlines. Mike Zimmer had to deal with them.
Diggs missed practices and didn't deny rumors that he wasn't happy with his role.
This meant Diggs was fined heftily. However, he wasn't benched for his Week 5 game against the New York Giants.
According to head coach Mike Zimmer, that was never an idea.
Mike Zimmer said he never gave any serious thought to not playing Stefon Diggs on Sunday (Diggs confirmed he was fined more than $200K for his absences).
As to why he was non-committal about Diggs' status on Friday: "I say a lot of things on Fridays," Zimmer said.
— Ben Goessling (@BenGoessling) October 6, 2019
The Vikings entered Week 5 with a 2-2 record. With all three fellow NFC North teams boasting records better than that, they absolutely needed a win against a beatable Giants team.
That meant all hands needed to be on-deck. Of course, that means having your superstar wide receiver available.
Now, Diggs wasn't the star of the game. He reeled in three receptions for 44 yards. Meanwhile, Adam Thielen had seven receptions for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
It was a major step in the right direction for the Vikings. The passing offense looked the best it had all year and quarterback Kirk Cousins had easily his best game of the 2019.
Could things be looking up for Minnesota? Could this be their turnaround? There are definitely reasons to believe players would be much much happier than they were last week. Although he didn't have a big game, Diggs is likely encouraged by their performance as well.
Now we'll have to see if everything is better. Even if he's happier now, is Diggs happy enough? Did he already plant the seeds and now things will forever be fractured?
Winning solves everything and that happened in Week 5. Zimmer says benching Stefon Diggs was never in the plan. That makes it sound like they don't plan on parting with him any time soon.
The headlines are likely far from over. But one thing is certain, Diggs is set to remain a big part of the Minnesota offense.
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