6 areas where Adam Thielen is better than Stefon Diggs
By Dustin Baker
Area No. 1 – Receptions 15+ Yards and Over
Stefon Diggs is slightly more apt (especially with Kirk Cousins) at hauling in the homerun deep balls since 2016. Diggs has 16 receptions of 40+ yards; Thielen has 11. The next-closest Vikings wide receiver for this 40+ yards metric have one apiece: Chad Beebe, Laquon Treadwell, Aldrick Robinson, and Charles Johnson. Make no mistake, the past four seasons has been the Diggs and Thielen Show.
Yet at contributing chunks of yardage via reception, Adam Thielen eclipses Stefon Diggs. In the last four seasons, Thielen has 97 receptions of 15 yard or more. Diggs has 83 such catches. For NFL rankings, Thielen ranks 12th in this parameter, Diggs ranks 18th.
The gulf between these figures is not terribly vast in an outward sense (like most Thielen and Diggs comparisons), but it is fourteen more first downs. And, that’s not nothing.
To be fair, of these 15+ yard catches–15 for Diggs were for touchdowns. Thielen has scored 13 times on 15+ yard catches. In this, a familiar theme is evident of how close statistically the men were in their five-year stint as teammates.