Two years after the Minnesota Vikings traded Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills, has Justin Jefferson become the better wide receiver in the NFL?
Less than two months after they agreed to trade Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills, the Minnesota Vikings used their top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on former LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
No one expected Jefferson to come in and make up for the production on the field that the Vikings lost when they traded Diggs to the Bills. But in the two years since that trade, Minnesota’s young pass-catcher might already be the better wide receiver than the 2020 First-Team All-Pro over in Buffalo.
Considering what Jefferson was able to do with the Vikings when they had a defensive-minded head coach who took an old-school approach to how he wanted his offense to run, the 22-year-old receiver could potentially take his game to a monumental level in 2022 with former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell now being Minnesota’s head coach.
Is Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson already better than Buffalo Bills WR Stefon Diggs?
During the last two seasons, Jefferson has caught a total of 196 passes for 3,016 yards and 17 touchdowns. Compare that to Diggs, who has 230 catches for 2,760 yards and 18 touchdowns since 2020.
In 2021, the Vikings receiver finished with more catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns than he did during the previous season. Diggs didn’t end up with as many catches or yards in 2021 compared to what he finished with during the 2020 campaign, but he did make two more trips to the end zone in 2021 than he did in 2020.
For his performance during the 2021 season, Jefferson was given the fourth-best wide receiver grade by PFF, while Diggs ended up with only the 12th-best grade among all of the qualifying receivers in the NFL.
Minnesota’s top wide receiver also finished 2021 with a higher DVOA ranking from Pro Football Outsiders (third) than Buffalo’s No. 1 pass-catcher (24th).
Sure, Diggs just got a lucrative contract extension from the Bills and he is still one of the best wide receivers in the entire league. But with him being closer to exiting the prime of his NFL career and Jefferson arguably not even reaching the prime of his tenure in the league, it’s hard to argue against the fact that the former LSU Tiger is already the better receiver when comparing the two.