Dealing Stefon Diggs not crazy idea for Vikings

The Twins, Timberwolves and Wild pulled off big-time trades in the last week. Minnesota United has had plenty of offseason action, while WNBA free agents can start signing this week.

In the NFL, though, not much probably will happen for at least another month. The new league year starts March 18, at which time free agents can sign and players can be traded. So why am I so interested in the future of Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs?

The short answer is that he's a talented player with an uncertain path going forward, We started going down this path on the Access Vikings podcast Friday, prompted by a direct reader question: "Do you expect Stefon Diggs to be a Viking Week 1?" Let's look at it from both a perspective of what the Vikings might be thinking and what Diggs might be thinking.

If you're the Vikings, there are strangely a lot of compelling reasons to trade someone who led the team in receptions and receiving yards last season, was the NFL's best deep threat for much of the year and made arguably the most memorable single catch in franchise history.

For starters, the Vikings are pressed tight against the salary cap and face some difficult decisions. Diggs has a $14.5 million cap hit in 2020, tied for second most (with Danielle Hunter) behind Kirk Cousins, and trading him for draft picks would free up space.

Second, the Star Tribune's Andrew Krammer made an excellent point on the podcast: The Vikings maintained a certain amount of continuity by promoting Gary Kubiak to offensive coordinator, and they figure to move forward with an offense heavily predicated on running the ball and play-action. In that system, does it make sense to have two top-flight, high-paid wide receivers in Diggs and Adam Thielen?

And third, if your answer to that question is "no," doesn't it make more sense to keep Thielen — the local product who had been very durable before last season and who didn't get fined $200,000 for unexcused absences presumably linked to his dissatisfaction with the offense in 2019 as Diggs did?

The Vikings, too, have proved to be loyal with homegrown players. Diggs, one of Rick Spielman's best choices as GM with a fifth-round pick in the 2015 draft, is a shining example of that.

So what might Diggs be thinking? The answer is shrouded in mystery or at least contradictions. After being fined in 2019, Diggs famously said, "I can't sit up here and act like everything is OK. It's obviously not" and added "there's truth in every rumor."

Later he tried to twist that into some outside conspiracy theory.

"It was never not good," he said.

So which is it? Maybe it depends on how much he's getting the ball. Maybe he sees other pass-heavy systems and thinks he could put up even bigger numbers elsewhere.

I like Diggs personally. As an interview subject, he shows you his personality and engages in a playful way. On the field, his production tends to match his high opinion of his own skills.

But the combination of salary cap, offensive direction and last year's turmoil seem to say the smart money is on Diggs not being here at the start of the 2020 season.