In 2026, the only practice receiver Stefon Diggs has experienced is legal.
Cut by the Patriots and still available, Diggs went through a criminal trial in May (the case never should have been pursued, based on the quality of the prosecution’s evidence presented in court). He also has multiple civil lawsuits to navigate.
Via TMZ, a man named Nigel King has sued Diggs for falsely claiming King stole a Ferrari — and for allegedly having Diggs’s friends attack him.
Also sued were Diggs’s brother, Darez, and three of their friends.
In July 2024, King arranged for Diggs’s Ferrari to be transported to Houston. The car was stolen. King claims he was never identified as a suspect in the theft.
King also contends that, in December 2024, Diggs began accusing King of stealing the car. King also claims that, a year later, Diggs’s friend punched King in the face.
Diggs, per the latest report as to a case that first surfaced in February 2026, requested that the case not proceed until the other defendants are properly served. The other defendants have since been served, which should set the stage for the litigation to unfold — likely slowly, as most civil lawsuits do.
In November 2025, Diggs sued a man named Christopher Griffith for falsely claiming Diggs had drugged and sexually assaulted him. Griffith filed a counterclaim, alleging that Diggs did indeed sexually assault him in 2023. Diggs has denied the accusation. That case has been unfolding with a stream of conflicting contentions and salacious details, which will make for a compelling trial if the case isn’t settled or dismissed.
Through it all, Diggs hopes to continue his NFL career. He recently claimed that there’s no WR2 in the NFL better than him. At least five unnamed teams reportedly have “checked in” on the player who had 1,013 receiving yards in his first season with the Patriots.
It was the seventh 1,000-yard season of the 32-year-old receiver’s career. Whether he’ll have a chance to do it an eighth time remains to be seen — but it was obvious last year that, even though his Ferrari was stolen, he still has gas in the tank.
Vikings Clips
When it comes to the NFL’s effort to send the Brian Flores case to arbitration, it’s apparently not over until the NFL says it’s over.
Regardless, the presiding judge has now made it abundantly clear that it’s over.
Despite a court ruling and an appeals court ruling that the claims brought by Brian Flores (against the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans), Ray Horton (against the Titans), and Steve Wilks (against the Cardinals) must be decided in court, the NFL filed a motion to reconsider the ruling that slammed the door on arbitration.
On Wednesday, Judge Valerie Caproni denied the NFL’s latest motion.
The 15-page ruling begins with an expression of exasperation regarding the nearly four-and-a-half-year-old litigation: “This case continues to linger at the starting block. Or, to use a more fitting metaphor, this case continues to linger as the teams mill about in the players’ tunnels.”
Elsewhere in the written decision, there are some not-so-subtle indications of the judge’s impatience with the NFL’s efforts to keep fighting over a settled issue. From page 9: “Defendants can articulate no reason why these arguments were not raised in their response to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration. . . . With sophisticated law firms, it is hard to fathom a plausible explanation.”
Also, from the same page: “Defendants opted for an iterative stream of arguments to buy themselves a few more months hanging out in the players’ tunnels. . . .”
Putting it another way, and as a judge said to the opposing lawyer in a case I was handling more than 20 years ago, “At some point, you stop arguing to the court and start arguing with the court.”
Judge Caproni’s order concludes like this: “Defendants’ seemingly-never-ending list of arguments why they should not have to litigate this case has run its course. Stepping back, while Defendants are free to spend endless attorneys’ fees to pursue the forum they think will be most advantageous to them, arguments about the superior efficiencies of arbitration ring hollow. . . . Instead of proceeding, discovery and motion practice for these three teams have been further delayed so this Court can deal with these teams’ attempt to take yet another run at how to avoid district court litigation and will, presumably, be delayed further while they pursue yet another appeal.”
It’s a mostly tactful way of saying to the NFL, “Enough. You’ve lost on this issue. Stop asking for arbitration and get to work on defending yourself in the litigation.”
Attorney Doug Wigdor issues a statement regarding the latest decision.
“At this point, the NFL and its teams have lost on this issue at the Second Circuit, were denied en banc review by the Second Circuit, were denied Supreme Court review and have now had the District Court twice confirm that the claims will not proceed in an NFL-controlled forum,” Wigdor said. “We hope the NFL and its teams will accept these rulings and proceed with the litigation.”
Presumably, that will happen. One of these days. Or, more accurately, one of these years.
Sometimes, life imitates art. And football imitates football.
During a Vikings-Browns game in England last season, a field goal attempt by Minnesota kicker Will Reichard apparently struck an overhead wire. (The league strongly prefers that this not be mentioned. So we won’t.) During Saturday’s England-Norway game in Miami, the ball apparently struck an overhead wire during first-half stoppage time of the World Cup quarterfinal, setting the stage for the decisive goal by England’s Jude Bellingham.
FIFA apparently would also strongly prefer that it not be mentioned.
Via ESPN, FIFA claims there is “no evidence” that the ball hit a foreign object.
The rules require play to be stopped with a drop ball to resume the action, if it’s noticed. Because it wasn’t noticed, England won possession of the ball and soon thereafter scored.
“Before England’s goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, the sensor in the Connected Ball showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball,” FIFA said in a statement.
The snafu in the Vikings-Browns game, which will not be mentioned, eventually was attributed by the NFL to an “optical illusion.” (At first, the league said there was “no clear view” that Reichard’s kick had struck a wire.)
Here’s the clip of the key moment from Sunday. The ball clearly moves in a sudden and abrupt way.
It’s a good thing that no one will be mentioning it.
When the Vikings start training camp later this month, all eyes are going to be on the quarterbacks.
Nothing was settled in the competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy for the starting job during the offseason program, so it remained a chief topic of conversation for head coach Kevin O’Connell during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday. O’Connell said that he’s never heard of a “closed competition” when asked if things were truly open and said that the best way to reach their goal is having “a daily attempt to have guys push each other.”
“Kyler has come in and done a great job,” O’Connell said. “J.J., I think, has benefited from it; he’s had a really good spring. Carson Wentz is this veteran quarterback in the room. As a guy who’s played seven or eight quarterbacks in four years, the two years we had our starter play the whole season, we won 13 and 14 games. We want to try to get back to the standard of having the quarterback position be a driving force behind us winning by doing their job, by hopefully activating the great players they get to play with.”
O’Connell said in June that there’s a plan in place to name a Week 1 starter early enough for them to fully prepare for the regular season, but didn’t share how much time that will take. Until that becomes clearer, the Murray-McCarthy duel will be front and center in Minnesota.
The Commanders have hired Demitrius Washington as a senior personnel executive, Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports reports.
Washington replaces Scott Fitterer, who left the Commanders to join Athletes First.
Washington previously worked with Commanders General Manager Adam Peters in San Francisco. Washington worked in the 49ers’ football research and development department from 2015-21, overlapping with Peters from 2017-21.
Washington spent the past four years in the Vikings’ front office, most recently as assistant General Manager.
The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and Jets G.M. Darren Mougey have a connection that dates back to their time as college roommates at San Diego State. In a Thursday conference call promoting the upcoming American Century Championship, O’Connell praised the man who is trying to turn around the Jets.
O’Connell, via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, sent plenty of text messages to Mougey during the offseason.
“Most of the time I was complimenting him on whether it was a great draft they had, or how they handled some of their internal situations there — getting their running back [Breece Hall re-signed],” O’Connell said.
“I just think the plan that he’s had has been really well thought-out. It’s one thing — a lot of teams put the time and the energy in to have as much good planning as you can — but it’s about the execution of those plans. The way Darren has gone about it doesn’t surprise me.”
It’s an encouraging sign for Jets fans to hear a coach who has taken the Vikings to the playoffs twice in three seasons. The Jets haven’t been there once since 2010.
“I know there’s not a day Darren shows up to work that he doesn’t feel prepared — and I think that’s proving to be the case,” O’Connell said. “He’s not afraid to make difficult decisions, and I think that’s because it’s in alignment with the process that he has. He’s attempting to execute a vision that he has for that organization. As a former Jet, it’s always good to see the organization in good hands — and they certainly are with Darren and [head coach Aaron Glenn].”
Alignment is the key. If the timeline had aligned a little differently, Mougey could have been the new G.M. with O’Connell in Minnesota. Instead, it’ll be Nolan Teasley who’ll hopefully develop the kind of relationship with O’Connell that O’Connell has with Mougey.
Of course, that relationship will have the pause button pressed on January 3, when the Vikings face the Jets at MetLife Stadium. Especially if both teams are competing for a playoff berth when Week 17 rolls around.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
As it turns out, Dianna Russini didn’t FaceTime an NFL head coach for help in getting out of a ticket for texting while driving.
She claimed she did during a February segment with the Stugotz and Company radio show. Her anecdote was mentioned at the outset of last week’s lengthy article in the New York Times, her former employer.
The bodycam video of the Dianna Russini traffic stop has now been posted by Adam Herbets of the Center Square.
The seven minute, 10 second video includes the entire traffic stop. At no point does it include a FaceTime call to any head coach.
After the officer approaches her car, Russini says, “I’m an NFL reporter, and I just broke that Sean McDermott got fired from the Bills. And that I what I was just sending to send [sic], a tweet. I was gonna pull over, because I have to make calls. I know you don’t care, but I just wanted you to know my reason why.”
The officer says, “Obviously you were on your phone for a while. . . . I understand you’ve got a job.”
Then, Russini says, “You know who I was on the phone with? Brian Daboll. He wants the job.”
Next, she asks the officer if he’s a fan of the Giants or Jets.
“I’m actually — I’m not a fan of either,” the officer says.
“What is your team?” Russini replies.
“I’m a Vikings fan, unfortunately,” he said.
Russini then shows him her phone, and a text exchange with Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. But she didn’t FaceTime O’Connell. She simply showed the officer her phone.
She also added, regarding the Vikings, their “quarterback sucks.”
After going to his vehicle, the officer eventually returns and says, “I’m gonna cut you a break on the cellphone. I understand your job requires you to be on the phone a lot. Just try to wait ‘til you get home, OK?”
And that was that. There was never a FaceTime. So, while it made for an interesting radio story on a radio show, it never happened.
The Vikings have formally announced several moves in their front office, as they gear up for their first season under General Manager Nolan Teasley.
Minnesota announced the previously reported hirings of co-assistant General Managers Andrew Healy and Trent Kirchner.
The club has also hired Tyler Hamblin as director of football strategy, Ryan Pace as football advisor, and Azzaam Kapadia as assistant director of pro scouting.
Additionally, the Vikings have promoted Dabness Atkins to scouting assistant, Chris French to director of football quantitative methods, Claire Morrison to football quantitative methods analyst, Jack Murphy to college area scout, and Brian Schnorr to college scout/BLESTO.
“I’m excited about the staff we’ve assembled and confident in the talented, hardworking group we have throughout our entire football operation,” Teasley said in a statement released by the team. “The additions we’ve made further strengthen an already outstanding staff and bring valuable experience and perspective to our organization. We’re committed to building a championship-caliber team and creating an environment where everyone can do their best work in pursuit of that goal.”
The Vikings are set to begin training camp next month, with rookies reporting on July 26 and veterans reporting on July 28.
A report earlier Wednesday indicated Ryan Grigson was leaving the Vikings to pursue another opportunity in the NFL. We now know what that opportunity is.
Grigson is returning to the Browns as a senior football advisor, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports.
He held the same position for the Browns from 2020-21 and was a senior personnel executive in Cleveland in 2017.
New Vikings General Manager Nolan Teasley offered to keep Grigson in a different role after hiring Andrew Healy and Trent Kirchner as assistant General Managers. Grigson, though, chose to leave for Cleveland.
Grigson served as assistant General Manager for the Vikings last season under Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. It was a promotion from senior vice president of player personnel, a position he held with the Vikings from 2022-24.
Grigson worked as the Colts’ General Manager from 2012-16.
