Stefon Diggs' Recent Breakout for Vikings Is Not a Fluke

Stefon Diggs is what the Minnesota Vikings have been looking for.

More specifically, he is what starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been looking for. Since Bridgewater took over as the team's starter early on last season, the quarterback has been searching for a consistent, starting-caliber wide receiver to rely on.

Veteran Greg Jennings was supposed to fill that role during his first season in Minnesota. Jennings' skill set perfectly complemented Bridgewater's in theory, but the receiver couldn't consistently catch the ball and showed off questionable effort too often.

Jennings departed for the Miami Dolphins after the Vikings acquired the Dolphins' former No. 1 receiver, Mike Wallace.

Wallace and Charles Johnson were supposed to be Bridgewater's starters this season. Johnson was the more refined option to work the short and intermediate routes, while Wallace offered a new level of speed as a deep threat.

Although Wallace has played to expectations, his limited route-running ability and inconsistency at the catch point restrain his reliability. Johnson has dropped back down to earth after impressing towards the end of last season. He is a refined route-runner but lacks physical talent and ability at the catch point.

Diggs isn't a superstar talent, but he is talented enough to establish himself as a long-term starting option for the Vikings. That is hugely important because he may be the only receiver on the roster who fits that criteria.

The Vikings need to rebuild their offense around Bridgewater. They need multiple pieces on the offensive line and in their receiving corps. If Diggs can be the quality starter he promises to be over the long term, it will give the Vikings another piece to build around and allow them to spread out their investments more.

For the short term, Diggs can help the Vikings challenge for a playoff spot.

Over the past two weeks, Bridgewater has found Diggs 13 times. With those 13 receptions, he has accumulated 237 yards and one touchdown. That touchdown came against the Detroit Lions in Week 7 and highlighted his strengths as a receiver.

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Early in the third quarter, facing a 1st-and-10 while down 17-15, Diggs lined up wide to the left. He had a cornerback aligned in off-man coverage across from him. At the snap, the receiver released inside before redirecting his route so that it was parallel to the sideline.

This release and stem was hugely important for setting up Diggs' route.

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For the second stage of his route, Diggs begins to bend his route towards the sideline. The defensive back ahead of him responds to this motion from the receiver, drawing him away from the middle of the field. Diggs is aggressive in selling the out route.

He doesn't just make one hard cut upfield after turning towards the sideline, he takes multiple steps to force the defensive back to go wide.

This was a slow developing route that was able to work because of how Diggs released from the line of scrimmage. Every movement he made was designed to sell the out route and draw the defensive back out of position.

It may not be an ideal double move in terms of speed and decisiveness, but it was a precise and effective one.

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For all of Bridgewater's strengths, he is not a good deep passer to vertical routes. This is a vertical route from Diggs, so Bridgewater overthrows his pass. Diggs is not only able to accelerate to catch up to the ball, but he also makes an impressive extended reception.

This is an extremely difficult catch to make because the receiver had to watch it come over his shoulder and fully extend in the direction he was already sprinting.

Making this kind of reception is something Vikings receivers have struggled to do on any kind of regular basis. Not only can Diggs do this, but he also offers his quarterback greater consistency catching the ball than anyone else on the roster.

According to Pro Football Focus, Diggs has just one dropped pass on 25 targets this season. That drop came against the Denver Broncos when he made his debut and also had two fumbles. Although Diggs' overall display in that game was disappointing, his strengths still stood out.

They stood out against some top quality cornerbacks.

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On separate occasions against Bradley Roby, Diggs was able to adjust to the ball in the air before making a contested catch. The first came on an underthrown pass he worked back to, and the second came on a high pass he extended for on a post route.

Both plays resulted in 25-yard gains.

Whether Diggs can consistently get off press coverage against the better cornerbacks in the NFL still remains to be decided, but he is an adept route runner against off-man coverage. On this play, he works against Aqib Talib.

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For his touchdown against the Lions, Diggs beat the cornerback with a slow-developing double move. On this play against Talib, he runs a much quicker out route by being more aggressive with his plant through his break.

Talib's technique isn't good as he is ultimately forced to turn his back to the receiver, but Diggs' route set him up to make that mistake.

When the receiver turned towards the outside, he had a huge amount of separation against Talib to make the reception. If Bridgewater's pass had arrived further infield, he would have had an opportunity to catch the ball before turning downfield.

Instead, he was drawn out of bounds but still for a big gain downfield.

Almost all of the signs for Diggs at this point are positive. However, the Vikings themselves have remained wary of his development and are clearly concerned about the receiver getting ahead of himself. Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner was quick to calm down the hype last week, per Andrew Krammer of 1500ESPN:

"

Diggs has been impressive since he got here. I'm going to slow that down, he's got a lot of work to do...He's going to be a real good player. He just has a lot of work to do. The good thing about him is, he understands that. And that's the way he approaches it and when he comes in here every day with a mindset he's going to get better.

There's a reason he was a fifth-round pick. He had injuries in college his last year, he had some inconsistencies. One of the things when we got him here was we made it clear to him he needs to overcome those inconsistencies if he's going to make it. And he's worked hard to do it. There's a lot of things he can get better at.

"

Turner isn't scared of being the wet blanket of reason, and it's unlikely that Diggs' display against the Lions will have altered his stance on the young receiver.

Like head coach Mike Zimmer, Turner understands that the Vikings are a rebuilding team. He understands that they could be a playoff team this season but that the long-term outlook is always going to take precedence.

Diggs has excited the fanbase because he has the potential to be a significant part of both the short and long term. Bridgewater needs more receivers like him.