Zimmer: Vikings weren’t going to trade Stefon Diggs

While it wasn’t as blatant as the misdirection that the Minnesota Vikings pulled prior to Percy Harvin being traded in 2013, it really felt like all of the buzz surrounding a potential trade of wide receiver Stefon Diggs this offseason was just that. . .buzz. And nothing else.

Then, just before the start of the new league year, the deal happened that sent Diggs to the Buffalo Bills for a bevy of draft picks, including the 22nd overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. The Vikings turned that pick into LSU star Justin Jefferson, who they’ll be counting on to step in and replace some of Diggs’ production in the Minnesota offense.

In his appearance on the Rich Eisen show today, head coach Mike Zimmer certainly made it sound like the team really didn’t have any intention of trading Diggs away this offseason. Then, the Bills came along and made the Vikings an offer that they couldn’t turn down.

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.

Zimmer then went on to say that the Vikings were “up against it” with the salary cap and that they could hopefully use that pick from Buffalo to get a good, young receiver, which is what they ultimately ended up doing.

I’m sure that there are plenty of people out there that are still sore that the Vikings traded Diggs away, despite the haul they got in return for him. It’s worth noting that the Vikings got significantly more for Diggs than the Houston Texans got in exchange for trading three-time All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals a day before the Diggs trade went down. However, it doesn’t sound like the Vikings planned on moving #14 this offseason. . .they just got an offer that was just too good to refuse.