NOW IS THE TIME TO TRADE DIGGS
Teams would pay hefty price to acquire star receiver from rush-heavy Vikings
WILL THE VIKINGS TRADE RECEIVER STEFON DIGGS?
News: Diggs has been unable to hide his apparent frustrations with Minnesota’s rush heavy offence and with scattershot quarterback Kirk Cousins. When Diggs was a no-show at Wednesday’s practice, speculation instantly swirled he was about to be traded. Later Wednesday, Nbcsportsboston.com reported the Vikings had no plans to deal him.
On Thursday Diggs showed up and held a news conference. Asked about reports he wants to be traded, Diggs said: “I feel there’s truth to all rumours, no matter how you dress it up. I won’t be speaking on it at all. But there is truth to all rumours, I guess.”
View: It would not be uncommon for an NFL team in 2019 to trade away its star franchise wide receiver, just one year after signing him to a monster long-term contract. In March, the New York Giants did that very thing, sending Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland, only a year after signing him to a five-year, $90-million extension.
The Vikings similarly re-signed Diggs to a five-year, $72-million deal a year ago. But will they trade him? Look, it has to be incredibly frustrating for a receiver of Diggs’ talents, who is in the prime of his career (a five-year veteran at age 25), to be targeted only 19 times by Cousins through the first quarter of the season — which extrapolates to just 76 targets this year. Last year Cousins targeted Diggs 149 times and connected 102 times for 1,021 yards and nine touchdowns.
Through Week 4 this season, Diggs has just 13 grabs for 209 yards and one score. What a waste of talent.
On first glance, you would think the Vikings wouldn’t want to part with Diggs, the heroic recipient of Case Keenum’s lastplay TD pass two seasons ago, to beat New Orleans in an NFC divisional playoff game.
But if head coach Mike Zimmer and his offensive coordinator, Kevin Stefanski, are so determined to mostly just run the ball, why not get something now for Diggs with the trade deadline less than four weeks away?
What might a receiver-needy team such as — ohhhhhhhhh — the New England Patriots offer up for a receiver of Diggs’ impact? Last October it cost Dallas a first-round draft pick to acquire Amari Cooper. Surely several other teams would be interested in Diggs.
Don’t be surprised if a deal goes down.
WILL PATRICK MAHOMES SHATTER PASSING YARDS RECORD?
News: The third-year pro and second-year Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback is on fire in 2019. Mahomes leads the league in passing yards, with 1,510. That’s on pace for 6,040, which would destroy Peyton Manning’s NFL season record of 5,477.
View: Mahomes on Thursday was named the AFC’S offensive player of the month for September. He threw for 10 touchdowns without an interception, for a scorching league-leading passer rating of 120.4.
Right. He’s even better this year. Last year, en route to being named NFL MVP, Mahomes earned the same AFC player-ofthe-month honour. He became only the eighth player, and second youngest, to crack the 5,000-yard plateau, with 5,097.
Often when a quarterback throws for a gazillion yards in a season, it’s because his team is often behind in games.
In other cases, it’s because the passer is at the top of his game, his receiving weapons are elite, and the schemes he’s running are transcendent. In other words, the team is choosing to pass the ball that much because defences rarely can stop them.
That’s what happened with Manning and Tom Brady in their best passing seasons. And it’s happening now with Mahomes.
At this point, it would be a surprise if the 24-year-old Mahomes didn’t pass for 5,000 yards again. Just as it shouldn’t surprise anybody if he breaks Manning ’s single season passing yards record.
PERCY HARVIN SAYS HE GOT HIGH BEFORE GAMES
News: The former NFL receiver/ returner (Minnesota 2009-12, Seattle 2013-14, New York Jets 2014, Buffalo 2015-16) in an interview with Bleacher Report said: “Yeah I smoked weed before every NFL game to deal with anxiety. It was a better option and worked better for me than the medications the doctors had me on. I was high during every game of my career and it helped me.” View: Harvin was an infamous, cancerous locker-room presence, at least in Minnesota and Seattle. He complained constantly about the migraines he battled. He even got into a fight during Super Bowl week with a fellow Seahawks wide receiver, Golden Tate.
Now Harvin is attributing his odd and discordant behaviours to frequent, extreme anxiety attacks.
“My anxiety is at its worst when I go into unfamiliar situations,” Harvin said of his time after being dealt to the Seahawks.
Harvin said he “didn’t acknowledge” when he was diagnosed with an anxiety problem. Team doctors prescribed a bunch of meds.
“I had at least seven prescriptions that I was to take, from Zoloft and all the other ones I was taking,” Harvin said. “And the only thing that really seemed to work is when I would smoke marijuana.”
Harvin suggested heavy pot use ought not be derided. Nor punished. there having fun. I’m out here on the PGA Tour again.”
After two years at home, taking the kids to school each day, he admits it’s going to take a while to get back into the swing of things on the PGA Tour. This week he forgot to change the time zone on his ipad, so the alarm he set Wednesday night for 4:15 a.m. was actually 3:15 a.m. Then he woke up 30 minutes early at 2:45 a.m. for his 7 a.m. tee time.
“I’ve been awake a long time,” he said. “I don’t even have a routine right now. I don’t know what I’m doing out here.”