Diggs trade shows Texans are the model for the Vikings
Stefon Diggs was traded, Vikings fans pointed and laughed... and missed the point that pertains to them
By Matthew Coller
On Wednesday, a lot of Minnesota Vikings fans were acting like Nelson Muntz giving their hardiest “ha ha” to the Buffalo Bills for trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans.
If Twitter banned the word “diva” then many Minnesotans would have had their social media privileges taken away. Of course, that’s quite the banner to raise after Diggs won four straight division titles with the Bills and was routinely a Mahomes away from the Super Bowl but nonetheless sports fans have to take their moral victories where they can get them. It’s quite remarkable that the player who provided the greatest moment of the last 13 Vikings seasons could be treated like dog meat by his former fan base or that there could be claims he ripped teams apart when the Vikings and Bills went to the playoffs in all but two years that he’s been in the NFL.
Not to mention he was right about his beef with Mike Zimmer leaning too heavily on the run, as Kevin O’Connell quickly proved after arriving in Minnesota. Oh yeah, and the head coach that Diggs just left in Buffalo became famous last year for somehow comparing football to a successful terrorist attack. Diggs is also 2-for-2 in seeing the writing on the wall when a team becomes old and expensive and no longer has a great chance to win a title.
But none of this is really the point that anybody should be focused on. While you’re crowing the Vikings for having traded away a guy who put up four straight 100-catch, 1,000-yard seasons, you are not focusing enough on the Houston Texans part of this. Diggs’ new team is exactly who the Vikings can be going forward if they pick the right quarterback.
Think back to where the Texans were in 2022. On the final day of the season, Davis Mills led them to a bizarre victory on the final day of the season to push ahead of the Chicago Bears in the standings, thus landing in the No. 2 overall spot in the draft. They fumbled the bag! Until they didn’t. Houston picked CJ Stroud from Ohio State and then hired an excellent head coaching candidate in DeMeco Ryans and he brought along a mini Kyle Shanahan in the form of Bobby Slowik.
What we didn’t realize is that the Texans had been building up talent. Nico Collins just needed someone to get him the ball. Tank Dell wasn’t actually too small. Dalton Schultz was worth more than the Cowboys were willing to pay. When healthy their offensive line was pretty darn solid, anchored by an elite left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
The Texans made some savvy draft picks on the defensive side too. By “savvy,” I mean they took great talents super high like Derek Stingley and Will Anderson and they hit their stride in 2023.
Houston overachieved vs. expectations by a mile by winning 10 games and getting to the divisional round of the playoffs. Their quarterback is cheap and phenomenal and his supporting cast and coaching are good. Football rebuild heaven.
Now they are going crazy with all the dollars and draft capital they can spend. They signed Danielle Hunter to a contract with $48 million guaranteed, added Denico Autry, Azeez Al-Shaair and several other cornerbacks and rotational rushers and then put the cherry on top with the Diggs trade.
This is what it’s like when you nail the QB pick and have a good support system around them. You can be the team that acquires the expensive player who is either disgruntled or whose team can’t afford them anymore because their QB is getting paid massive dollars (which were probably both at play in Buffalo).
The Vikings might not need do follow this model to get another weapon considering that they already have Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and TJ Hockenson but their goal on the defensive side should be to put together so much talent that Brian Flores can occasionally take a day off from scheming his brains out. The Chicago Bears traded for Khalil Mack under a similar circumstance when Mitch Trubisky was on his rookie contract. Somewhere along the line the opportunity will arise for the Vikings to get someone like that and they won’t have to bow out of the discussion because their QB is taking up 15% of the salary cap.
Where the cheat code really kicks in is the fact that the next QB shouldn’t have to be Stroud in order to succeed. He appears to be a truly special quarterback but Brock Purdy’s club went out and grabbed Christian McCaffrey and Jalen Hurts’ franchise gave him AJ Brown to take their offense to a Super Bowl level.
The Vikings, of course, cannot be haphazard about all this. They are going to have lots of competition for the players who end up with a “for sale” sign on them in the next few years. The Bears have already taken advantage of their cap space by getting Montez Sweat and Purdy won’t be expensive in San Francisco for a while, so they will need to still be aggressive and strike when the iron is hot. But at least they can strike rather than chasing middling free agents and praying they outperform their pasts.
None of this is to downplay how important picking the right QB truly is. It’s just that the chances of him being Mr. Right go up when you have good coaching, great offensive weapons and a top-notch defense. Imagine how jealous Bryce Young is of Stroud right now.
The Texans hammer home the point that the Vikings had the right idea all along, even if they got there because Kirk chose a club that was willing to offer him three helicopters worth more guaranteed dollars.
Anyway, let’s not be too concerned with popping champaign over fake wins like Diggs getting traded to another team that’s about to make a more legitimate multi-year chase for a championship than the Vikings have since Daunte Culpepper was heaving moon balls to Randy Moss. Put that energy into the next few years where the Vikings’ door can be similarly open if they play their cards right.
Think of it this way: You want to be the team who is acquiring the player where the other fan base is whining about them being a diva, not the one doing the whining to rationalize a great player exiting stage left. Welcome to that age.
To quote the philosopher Galadriel, "The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true."
Just a little Lord of the Rings nerdery for you, but it's kind of where the franchise is right now.
All respect to Diggs, he’s very good and lucky. Truth be told he’s a bit pouty I like Josh Allen, he’s a step behind Mahomes, perhaps Stroud is a half step behind. I’m confident Diggs will do well, I think I’ve seen enough of Diggs to know it’s all about Stephon. A team can succeed with him, his long term viability is questionable. I’ve watched both the Diggs brothers. I think if I was building a team I would look elsewhere than these two. If this sounds like “sour grapes” oh well, just the opinion of an old fart.