NOTEBOOK: Stefon Diggs Addresses Speculation, Says He Hasn't Requested Trade from Vikings

EAGAN, Minn. — Stefon Diggs was back with the Vikings on Thursday, one day after missing practice because of what he described as a cold that “kind of snuck up on me a little bit.” The Vikings wide receiver met with the Twin Cities media after Thursday’s walk-through to address recent speculation, with Diggs noting that he is frustrated with the offense’s performance so far in 2019 but also saying he has not requested a trade. “I mean, the state that we’re in right now, definitely there’s a lot of questions,” Diggs said. “I can’t sit up here and act like everything is OK. It’s obviously not, but what I can say at this point is that I’m trying to work through it.” Diggs later added: “At the end of the day, I want to win and put my guys in the best position to win. Me specifically, as an individual … and Adam [Thielen] kind of touched on this … but the with the amount of time and effort that you put in, you want to have success and perform at a high level. Right now at this point, just working through it.”Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer met with Vikings beat writers after Thursday’s practice but declined to discuss specifics. Diggs was a full participant on Thursday. “It’s an internal matter, and I’m not going to talk about it,” Zimmer said. Diggs said Thursday that he has had “conversations with everybody at this point.” The 25-year-old was asked if he feels like he is being heard. “I don’t know at this point. With the way things are going and the trend that we’re at right now, I’m not 100-percent sure,” Diggs said. “At this point, everybody has known me to be a team guy. I’ve always put the team before myself. I’ve never made it about me, never been that guy. “My resumé and my persona kind of speak for themselves. I’ve never been the kind of guy to be like, ‘Me, me me.’ Wanting to have success and wanting to have team success is always what I’ve pushed,” Diggs added. “My language will stay the same whether I’m given many opportunities or not a lot. That’s where we are. I know, as a man, who I am and what I bring to the table.” Diggs reiterated at his podium session that he has not asked to be traded from the Vikings, but also said there is “truth to all rumors.” “I haven’t communicated anything,” Diggs said. “More so, the conversations I’ve had have only been about the team and trying to have success on the field.” Diggs has 13 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown in four games so far in 2019. He had career bests of 102 receptions, 1,021 yards and nine touchdowns in 2018. The wide receiver, a fifth-round pick in 2015, has 315 catches for 3,702 yards and 25 scores in 59 career games. “I love it here. I’ve been here for five years,” Diggs said. “I love everything about the community, I love everything about my teammates, and I love everything about my team.” Thielen spoke about the matter after Thursday’s practice, noting that “Diggs is one of my closest friends.” “For me, again, I’m just trying to worry about my job, and those are things that are out of my control, and I’m going to go back to work and try to help this football team win games, as he is,” Thielen said. “He was out there today and grinding. Like I said, everybody on this team is worried about Sunday and worried about putting their best foot [forward].” Zimmer was asked about the wide receiver’s status for Week 5. “We’ll have to see,” Zimmer said. Aiming for faster start in a road game The Vikings have been a drastically different team in home games and away games so far this season. Minnesota built leads of 28-nothing and 21-zip at home against Atlanta and Oakland in Weeks 1 and 3, respectively. The Vikings conversely fell behind by 21 at Green Bay in Week 2 and by 16 last week at Chicago. Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones has opened each of his first two career starts with success, so the Vikings know the importance of trying to get off the field early. “I feel like we can start faster,” defensive end Everson Griffen said. “It’s always a little lag that we have. I feel that we’ve got to come out and not let the opponent score. We’ve just got to start faster. I feel like we can start faster for sure.”New, new, new, New York The Vikings revamped running game had success along the perimeter in the first three weeks of the season, but not so much last week at Soldier Field. Offensive Coordinator Kevin Stefanski credited the Bears defense for the bottleneck. “I think you tip your cap to Chicago, they have a really good scheme. They have really good players,” Stefanski said. “Certainly, there are some things that we wish we did a little bit better. The output wasn’t what we looked for. We didn’t think it was going to be easy, but I think the nice part for us is we can go full-steam ahead this week versus New York and say, ‘New defense, new front, new runs, let’s really get a great understanding of what we’re trying to do and go attack these guys.’ ”

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