The Minnesota Vikings are heading into Week 7 with some new starters potentially taking the field against the Detroit Lions. The Vikings have been dealing with injuries to their wide receiver group as Charles Johnson has been out two weeks with a rib injury and Jarius Wright and Mike Wallace have been limited. That opened the door for rookie Stefon Diggs to earn his first start which could continue in Week 7.
Diggs earned a start against the Chiefs and led the team with 129 yards off seven catches. While only Kyle Rudolph managed to find the end zone, Diggs and Wallace led the team with nine targets a piece as Teddy Bridgewater showed plenty of trust in the rookie. As a result, head coach Mike Zimmer is looking to play Diggs more, but he is uncertain if that means he gets to start again. When Johnson returns, Zimmer plans to put him back as a starter which means someone else would have to go.
"You don't lose your starting job because of injury, but you do lose your starting job because of performance," Zimmer said, via ESPN.com.
Johnson has not performed badly enough to lose his starting job, but Zimmer is putting everyone on notice with the success of Diggs. According to Wallace, the rookie can just straight up play football and reminds him of a young Antonio Brown. This is Diggs' first real amount of playing time for the team, so the question becomes whether or not he can be consistent on the field which is what the Vikings need.
"When you look at a guy, you can tell from day one who can play football. I always felt like he could," Wallace said, via ESPN.com. "Just the skill set, the way he runs his routes, the energy that he has. It reminds me of him."
The issue for Diggs is not becoming the next Cordarrelle Patterson. The receiver was a sensation in his rookie season, but fast forward and Patterson is looking at being released in the offseason. Patterson's value is low if not non-existent altogether. The wide receiver has not gotten a chance to get on the field as Diggs and Rhett Ellison get more time on the field. As Diggs continues to improve, the likelihood of Patterson being released increases for the receiver. According to Diggs, he credits his success to simply being prepared for the game.
"Some people study just the look (of a defense)," Diggs said, via ESPN.com. "I kind of really study different angles of the film. You see how people's bodies are, how they react to certain kind of moves -- what foot they step with, what hand they jab with, and all that. Just little things like that, that you pick up when you watch film. Studying is big for me."