The Vikings just screwed Kirk Cousins by trading Stefon Diggs
By John Buhler
Fresh off getting a two-year extension, the Minnesota Vikings then pulled the rug out from Kirk Cousins by trading away Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills.
What did the Minnesota Vikings just do to Kirk Cousins?
Not even 24 hours after getting a nice two-year extension with his team, the Vikings just traded away arguably his best receiver in Stefon Diggs. FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer was the first to report Diggs was being dealt to the Buffalo Bills.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Bills are getting Diggs and a 2021 seventh-round pick for Minnesota’s first-round pick, a fifth-round pick, a sixth-round pick in 2020, as well a fourth-round pick in 2021. Buffalo gets a No. 1 wide receiver for promising young quarterback Josh Allen, while Cousins loses a guy who has gone over 1,000 yards receiving for him the last two seasons.
Bills have acquired @stefondiggs in a trade from the Vikings. @NFLonFOX
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) March 17, 2020
Compensation update: Bills are trading a 1st-round pick, a 5th-round pick, a 6th-round pick and a 2021 4th-round pick for Vikings WR Stefon Diggs and a 2020 7th-round pick, source tells ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 17, 2020
Though Diggs has voiced his frustrations for the better part of a year, parting ways with him may have closed the Vikings’ slim Super Bowl window with Cousins. Minnesota needed everything to go right for them to win a Super Bowl with Cousins as their quarterback. He’s a good player, but can’t carry a team by himself to a league championship. He needs guys like Diggs.
Of course, one could argue the Vikings could use their two first-round picks to re-establish a receiving corps in Minneapolis, but those picks are only coming at No. 22 and No. 25. This might be a deep receiver class, but the Vikings need more than Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph for Cousins to throw the ball to. They can only pound the rock with Dalvin Cook so much.
Cousins is an accurate passer and will find ways to make it work with whoever steps up in the Vikings receiving corps. However, “Mr. Minneapolis Miracle” has played his last snap in Vikings purple. The player on the receiving end of the greatest throw in franchise history now has to play outdoors in a smaller market with a guy who has the antithesis of Cousins’ accuracy in Allen.
Next: NFL March Madness: Who's the greatest QB?
The Vikings have enough pieces on both sides of the ball to contend in the NFC North. Heck, they might be good enough to win the division if the Green Bay Packers slip up and the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions continue to be their dysfunctional selves.
However, the Vikings pulled a fast one on Cousins by trading a way a player of this caliber in Diggs. This one hurts them for sure.