Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs was not at team practice on Wednesday in the portion open to media. Diggs also missed Tuesday’s practice due to illness.
Wednesday’s session was a more extensive practice on Wednesday as Minnesota continues preparing for Saturday’s game against the 49ers, which KWSN will carry with a 2:30 p.m. pregame and 3:35 kickoff.
Also not practicing Wednesday were defensive back Mackensie Alexander — who is having arthroscopic knee surgery and will not play on Saturday — and safety Jayron Kearse. Nose tackle Linval Joseph is back.
Diggs was second in the NFL in yards per catch this season and the leader in most receptions of over 40 yards. In Sunday’s playoff win in New Orleans, he had two receptions for 19 yards on only three targets and was seen visibly upset at one point, throwing his helmet and needing teammates to calm him down on the sideline.
It was far from the first sight of outburst from Diggs during or after a game, and the emotional fifth year player from Maryland also was fined $200,000 by the team in October for missing a couple practices and meetings during a week when he also held a press conference claiming he had been sick and that he wasn’t unhappy with the team in what was translated by some to be a sarcastic manner.
Before that drama in Week 5, Diggs ad 13 receptions on 19 targets for 209 yards and a touchdown in his first four games, during which Minnesota was 2-2. In his next four, his numbers increaded to 24 catches on 30 targets for 496 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings went 4-0 in that stretch.
