Contrary to popular belief, the Vikings might not have been motivated to get Stefon Diggs out of Minnesota.
Diggs’ final season with the Vikings appeared to be tumultuous. The star wide receiver never hid his lingering frustration, and even missed a practice. This carried over into the offseason when Diggs deleted all Vikings-related content from his Instagram page.
But behind closed doors, Diggs reportedly was a “model teammate” and Vikings coaches were confident in their ability to keep him focused. So, what then prompted Minnesota to send Diggs to the Buffalo Bills?
“…What triggered the trade more was Diggs kind of ambiguously tweeting earlier that day about potentially going somewhere,” NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said on NFL Network. “What happens is, when a player brings up his own future and discusses maybe being traded, teams start calling and go, ‘Oh, could we trade for this guy?’ I know the Buffalo Bills — I believe the Eagles were a little bit, kind of in the mix there — but the Bills were very serious about it. It was more so them giving the Vikings an offer they couldn’t refuse than the Vikings wanting to deal him.”
The tweet Rapoport is referring to came on the first day of the NFL’s legal tampering period. Diggs that afternoon tweeted “it’s time for a new beginning” and by day’s end, the Bills and Vikings agreed to the blockbuster deal. Minnesota acquired four total draft picks from Buffalo, including the 22nd overall selection back in April which was used on LSU wideout Justin Jefferson.
As for Diggs, he now finds himself on a team poised to make the ascent to Super Bowl contender, and he apparently has a 30-character tweet to thank.
