The Minnesota Vikings still have Stefon Diggs and Xavier Rhodes under contract for the next few years, but will they move on from them this offseason?
The Minnesota Vikings have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL. Though they haven’t won a Super Bowl in franchise history, Minnesota has been a championship contender for much of Mike Zimmer’s tenure in Minneapolis. However, they could be moving on from two of their stars this offseason in wide receiver Stefon Diggs and cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Should they do this?
On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former Vikings offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, look at the high-priced veterans and see if Minnesota is willing to cut bait with them this offseason (40:09).
“I think they move on from Rhodes for sure,” said Schwartz. “Diggs I don’t quite know. Ideally, I think you want to keep as many weapons around as you can around [Kirk] Cousins. Obviously, the package you get back for Diggs would be important in this conversation. I think Rhodes is definitely gone. Diggs, I don’t know.”
“Rhodes is going to be gone,” said Verderame. “He has not played well since signing his new deal. They need cap space in the worse way. In fact, I think they’re over the projected cap by $10 million. They’ll need to get under that cap number, so he’ll be gone. Diggs has been tweeting out all these cryptic things…obviously, earlier in the year, he wanted to get traded…”
Rhodes is under contract through 2022 and would be a $12.9 million cap hit this spring. Diggs is under contract through 2023 and would be a $14.5 million cap hit this year. So you can understand why the Vikings will want to dump some salary to free up some precious cap space. It seems as though Rhodes is good as gone, but if Diggs will be back remains to be seen.
Verderame mentioned how Vikings general manager Rick Spielman may have had enough of Diggs’ shenanigans. This is arguably the deepest wide receiver draft in NFL history. If the Vikings do garner a big return for Diggs on the trading block, then they might deal one of their better offensive playmakers this offseason after all. Let’s keep an eye on what the Vikings do here.
Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:
- Schwartz walks us through an Andy Reid play call (33:10)
- Have we heard last of Mason Rudolph–Myles Garrett feud (34:40)
- What to watch for at NFL Combine? (47:15)
- Schwartz talks stretching, yoga in his old age (50:30)
All this and more!
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