On Tuesday morning, Stefon Diggs became the latest wide receiver to cash in. Despite never having a 1,000 yard or 100 catch season, the Vikings gave him a five-year extension worth $72MM.
Adam Thielen, who had 1,276 receiving yards last season, agreed to a team-friendly deal two years ago that will pay him a fraction of Diggs’ deal for the next three seasons. The Vikings will have to pay in order to keep Thielen beyond 2020, but Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com (on Twitter) wonders whether the Diggs deal is an indication that he’ll take less to stay in Minnesota. For now, Thielen is set to carry cap numbers of $6.1MM, $5MM, and $6.5MM in each of the next three seasons.
Here’s more from Minnesota:
- It sounds like the Vikings will be using offensive lineman Mike Remmers exclusively on the interior. The veteran has been playing exclusively at right guard through the team’s first five practices, Cronin tweets. Remmers worked as the Panthers’ starting right tackle from 2014-16, but he played at right guard towards the end of last season for the Vikings. The 29-year-old is entering the second year of a five-year, $30MM deal he signed with the club in March of 2017.
- Improvement in Anthony Barr‘s pass-rushing production could help him become the next Vikings player to get paid, Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune writes. Barr had four sacks as a rookie, but his numbers have dropped each season as the Vikings have sent him after the quarterback less often and offenses have used linemen to block him more often instead of running backs. Last year, Barr rushed the QB on a career low 16.7% of his snaps, resulting in just one sack on the year.
I love Barr’s athleticism in coverage, but I think he could be the one we let go to make sure others are kept. We can find coverage-first LBs in the draft.