Vikings WR Stefon Diggs gives cryptic answer on trade speculation: ‘There’s truth to all rumors’ – USA TODAY

Though he didn’t care to elaborate on reports that he might be seeking a trade from the Minnesota Vikings, wide receiver Stefon Diggs seemingly further fueled speculation that he wants out.

“I feel like there’s truth to all rumors, no matter how you dress it up,” Diggs told reporters Thursday. “I won’t be speaking on it at all, but there is truth to all rumors, I guess.”

Asked to elaborate, Diggs didn’t directly confirm that he has requested to be traded, but he did acknowledge that he has been working through frustrations with the Vikings, the offense, and the overall direction of the franchise.

“There’s truth to all rumors,” Diggs continued. “So what I mean on that, so I can politely explain, is there’s a lot of speculation on me being frustrated. Of course, being a receiver and wanting to have success and wanting to win, if you want to win and you’re not winning, of course you’d be frustrated. That’s my answer.”

Diggs was absent from Wednesday’s practice. And though he told reporters Thursday it was due to illness, the Vikings officially listed Diggs with a “not injury related” designation as the reason for the absence.

“The cold kind of snuck up on us, a little bit,” Diggs said. “I was feeling a little under the weather, that’s all.”

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Minnesota travels to New York to face the Giants Sunday, and Diggs said: “I hope they let me play” when asked about his availability for the game.

Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski deflected when asked the same question.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Stefanski said. “Our focus is on today, and practice, and we’ll see how it goes.”

The Vikings are 2-2, currently in last place in the NFC North. The offense, in its second year with quarterback Kirk Cousins, has sputtered. Minnesota ranks 24th in the league with 324.2 yards a game and is tied at 18th in scoring with 21 points a game.

The Vikings are second-to-last in passing offense with just 169 passing yards per game. And Cousins has thrown for only three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Diggs, 25, has 13 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown. In 2018, he posted career highs of 102 catches, 1,021 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

“The space that we’re in right now, there’s definitely a lot of questions,” Diggs said. “I can’t sit up here right now and act like everything is OK, ’cause it’s obviously not. But I can say that, at this point, we’re just trying to work through it.”

Diggs isn’t the only player to express frustrations. Fellow receiver Adam Thielen – after he caught just two passes for six yards in a 16-6 loss against the Bears – expressed disappointment with the lack of production.

“At some point, you’re not going to be able to run the ball for 180 yards, even with the best running back in the NFL,” Thielen said after the game. “And that’s when you have to be able to throw the ball, you have to be able to make plays, you have to be able to hit the deep balls. You have to do that because otherwise it’s too easy for teams to just tee up and rush the quarterback. We have to be able to run the ball and pass the ball.”

Cousins, for his part, had Thielen on as a guest on a weekly radio show to publicly apologize for his poor performance and for failing to feed Thielen with opportunities.

“No, like he said, it’s reality,” Cousins said. “I really want to apologize to him because there’s too many opportunities where we could have hit him on Sunday, and postgame when I talk to the media, I always say until I watch the film, it’s hard for me to really give you a straight answer. Well, now it’s Tuesday night. I’ve watched the film. And the reality is there were opportunities for him.”

Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.

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