The New York Jets were apparently among the teams who were interested in trading with the Minnesota Vikings to acquire Stefon Diggs before he was sent to Buffalo.
When word spread that Stefon Diggs was being made available for a trade recently, the Minnesota Vikings quickly had multiple teams interested in hearing what it would take to acquire the receiver.
Ultimately, the Buffalo Bills are who the Vikings were able to make a deal with and they sent Diggs packing to upstate New York in exchange for multiple draft picks.
Along with the Bills, the New England Patriots and New York Jets were among the teams who had expressed an interest in landing the receiver.
The Patriots decided to pull out of the discussion for Diggs once it came clear that Tom Brady wasn’t going to re-sign with them this year. While Jets general manager Joe Douglas recently said the team did their, “due diligence,” on acquiring the former Minnesota receiver.
Despite Buffalo giving up a lot of valuable draft capital to land Diggs, it doesn’t sound like trading for him was their first attempt to try and upgrade their receiving talent this offseason.
Free-agent receiver Emmanuel Sanders was apparently in talks with the Bills before the trade and he asked the team if he could have a night to decide if he wanted to sign with them or not. Buffalo clearly didn’t have time to wait for Sanders though as they went on to complete the deal for Diggs later on in the night.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane also recently mentioned that the team had contacted the Vikings about Diggs’ availability prior to last season’s trade deadline. Minnesota was unwilling to part ways with him at that point in time, but things obviously changed once this year’s offseason began.
It’s unfortunate that the Vikings ever had to trade Diggs at all. Most were hoping he would remain in Minnesota for his entire career. But frustrations between the receiver and the team clearly got to a point where the Vikings felt it was best if they sent him elsewhere.
Luckily, Minnesota was able to receive some great compensation from Buffalo in return for Diggs. Now the Vikings must figure out how to use their new assets to make up for the loss of one of the best receivers to ever put on a purple and gold uniform.