Could the New England Patriots have enough capital to acquire Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs? Finally, they do. And perhaps he’ll be on the move soon, considering Diggs has deleted all team -related pictures from his Instagram.
As you may recall, he was upset with the Vikings last year.
As NESN’s Doug Kyed laid out, there is a scenario where the Patriots have enough capital to comfortably get the star wide receiver to come to New England.
The Patriots have roughly $30 million in cap space. Diggs’ $11.5 million salary would be a tight squeeze for a Patriots team that wants to re-sign Tom Brady. Diggs is signed through the 2023 season. New England would take on his four-year, $47.5 million contract.
One of the suggestions in Kyed’s article was that the Patriots could trade wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. Sanu has a cap hit of $6.5 million. In order to make this work, trading Sanu would be an ideal move, as Diggs is in the prime of his career, while Sanu is on the backend of his. Minnesota would undoubtedly want a draft pick as part of the deal too.
If New England wants to ensure that Brady stays in New England, they should go all-in and try to trade for Diggs. Diggs is twice as expensive as Sanu. However, the production from Diggs is worth it. Diggs caught 63 passes for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns. Sanu caught six passes for 207 yards and a touchdown in eight games with New England. To be fair, his numbers with New England are a bit skewed because he was acquired at the trade deadline last fall.
Yes, the salary would put the New England Patriots in a tight spot. Yes, they would have to give up multiple pieces to acquire Diggs. At the end of the day, acquiring a wide receiver of his caliber could help Brady stay in New England with certainty.
With Brady getting older, Super Bowl runs are getting harder to come by. Acquiring the wide receiver could factor into Brady’s decision to stay, and the team’s ability to make another run at the Lombardi Trophy.
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