Stefon Diggs makes PFF Top 25 Under 25, Danielle Hunter does not

We’ve got more rankings to take a look at as the offseason continues to drone on. This time, it’s Pro Football Focus’ annual look at the 25 best players in the NFL under the age of 25, and while one member of the Minnesota Vikings made the list, it might be more surprising that another one did not.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who won’t turn 25 until this coming November, was #15 on PFF’s list.

Diggs has been nothing but solid during his first three years in the NFL. In 2017, he elevated his game into “very good” territory by earning the eighth-highest wide receiver grade at 85.4 overall which landed him on the PFF Top 101 for the first time. For a smaller receiver, Diggs sure has a knack for helping out his quarterback leading all receivers in contested catch rate in 2017 (64.9 percent).

We’ve said this more than once recently, but it seems that the only thing that’s holding Diggs back from getting into the realm of truly elite NFL receivers is injury issues. He’s missed some games in his career because of injuries and has been slowed in others. If he can put together a completely healthy season, he’s going to rise up the ranks of NFL receivers very quickly.

One player that I was surprised to see not make PFFs list is defensive end Danielle Hunter. Hunter, who doesn’t turn 24 until this coming October, has been very good in his first three seasons with the Vikings. Like Diggs, Hunter is in line for a big-time contract extension coming up here in the near future. In his first three seasons with the Vikings, Hunter has collected 25.5 sacks, including 12.5 in 2016.

Because Hunter was drafted so young, he’s likely going to get multiple big-time contract extensions. Then again, with all of the contracts that the Vikings have coming up here after this season, he could also be a candidate for the franchise tag, something that the Vikings have rarely used over the years.

The Vikings have a lot of young talent, that’s for sure.