The Minnesota Vikings apparently didn't originally intend to trade wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
According to head coach Mike Zimmer, the Vikings didn't want to trade their All-Pro wide receiver. However, Minnesota did end up trading Diggs to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a number of draft picks, including a first-round draft pick they would end up using on wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Zimmer explained during an interview with Rich Eisen how that trade came to be.
Via Tyler Conway of Bleacher Report:
“Diggs did not have to go. We didn't really any intention of trading him. Quite honestly, he put out a couple tweets, and there's some things going on there. … 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].”
One of those tweets involved Diggs merely saying, “It's time for a new beginning.” This cryptic tweet led to a number of different teams reaching out — including the Bills. The trade would literally be completed just hours later.
Despite those aforementioned public frustrations, Zimmer refused to say that Diggs was a “pain in the butt.”
“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, and I hope he has a great career and finishes up strong.”
Diggs established himself as a top receiver and one of the best deep threats in the NFL over the past few years. The 26-year-old ranked fourth in the NFL in yards per reception (17.9) last season and ranked in the top 10 in receiving touchdowns during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Despite the fact that Diggs has arguably yet to reach his peak, the Vikings decided to move on.
Whether or not that was the right decision based upon a “couple” tweets remains to be seen.
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