Should Minnesota Vikings fans be rooting for Stefon Diggs?
By Adam Patrick
Trailing the San Francisco 49ers 7-0 midway through the first quarter of an NFC divisional round playoff matchup last year, the Minnesota Vikings faced a 3rd-and-2 from the 49ers 41-yard line.
With an empty backfield, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins took the snap and tossed a pass to the left side of the field in the direction of Stefon Diggs, who was in single coverage.
Diggs hauled in the pass around the 20-yard line, sped past the San Francisco defender, who had fallen down next to him, and trotted into the end zone for the game-tying score. That play would turn out to be the last time Diggs scored a touchdown in a purple and gold Minnesota uniform.
Stefon Diggs experiencing playoff success in first season away from Minnesota Vikings
Almost a year after catching that touchdown in San Francisco, Diggs found himself in the end zone of a divisional-round playoff matchup again on Saturday. But this time, it was as a member of the Buffalo Bills.
Diggs scored the only offensive touchdown for Buffalo on Saturday during the team’s 17-3 win over the Baltimore Ravens. With the victory, the Bills advanced to the AFC Championship for the first time since the 1993 season.
Diggs finished the matchup with eight catches for 106 yards and a score. During his last six games in a Buffalo uniform, Diggs has scored six touchdowns while averaging 8.5 catches and 122 yards per matchup.
As he’s been doing all of this, his former Vikings teammates and coaches have been watching the playoffs from home. The majority of them are probably rooting for Diggs to succeed, but what about Minnesota’s fans?
There are certainly some Vikings fans cheering on their team’s former receiver as he attempts to help get the Bills into the Super Bowl. But there are also Minnesota fans that feel completely different about the situation.
While some might applaud Diggs’ decision to put himself above the team and force the Vikings to send him to a place that would make him a true No. 1 receiver, others believe the young receiver decided to just give up on his old team.
Instead of being a “team player” like he has claimed to be numerous times in the past, Diggs recently admitted that he needed to get out of Minnesota because it would be better for his own career. Those are two extremely different behaviors and they certainly make his claims of being a “team-first” guy much less genuine.
Due to all of this, some Vikings fans feel betrayed by Diggs. They were led to believe that the receiver was willing to do whatever it took for Minnesota to succeed. When in reality, this wasn’t the case at all.
But then there are the Vikings fans who don’t have a problem with how Diggs forced the Vikings to trade him. They know players only have a short time in their NFL careers to achieve their goals and he did what was necessary to achieve his.
At the same time, many of these Minnesota fans who approve of Diggs’ efforts to improve his career in the league also have a problem with Kirk Cousins getting paid as much money as he possibly can while he’s in the prime of his career.
Both are situations where a player has to be a bit more selfish than a team’s fan base would like. But we have to remember that the NFL is made up of thousands of players and not all of them have the same goals.
Some will do whatever they can to deliver their team a championship, while others are going to try and earn as much money as they can with this incredible opportunity they have been given. This is just how it is and it’s probably never going to change.
So here’s the thing. It’s completely fine to root for Diggs to succeed in Buffalo while also not liking how he forced his way out of Minnesota at the same time. It’s also okay for Vikings fans to feel disrespected by the receiver and have zero desire to watch him play in a different uniform.
There’s really no right or wrong way to go about this. As is the case with just about everything in life, everyone is entitled to their own opinion regardless of who agrees with it or not.