Do You Remember Just How the Vikings Acquired Camryn Bynum?
Dustin Baker
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File this under the little-known fact tab of your Vikings brain.
The Minnesota Vikings upstart safety, Camryn Bynum, is a direct product of the Stefon Diggs trade.
Minnesota traded Diggs to the Buffalo Bills in March 2020, after the wide receiver spent months implying he was not happy with his standing on the team. Diggs would cryptically tweet song lyrics, implying unhappiness — and those sentiments culminated with his departure to Buffalo.
There, Diggs has thrived. Absolutely thrived. He led the NFL in receiving yards, receptions, and targets in 2020. So, everything he lamented with the Vikings — existing as a target-needy WR in a run-first offense — was cured by the Bills offense. Diggs and the Bills even reached the AFC Championship last season, only to encounter an unfortunate beatdown by the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the immediacy of the Diggs trade, Vikings faithful panicked. How could a franchise replace such a talented, homegrown talent?
Simple. They drafted another one.
Justin Jefferson has been just as good as Diggs since the start of 2020, accruing yards and catches at an alarming rate for a young wide receiver. Plus, Jefferson is compiling pass-catching glory at a much faster rate as a rookie and sophomore in 2020 and 2021 than Diggs did in 2015 and 2016. Diggs might have the edge now for production or reputation, but Jefferson is just getting started.
The unsung product of the trade — especially over the last two weeks — is Camryn Bynum. Fellow safety Harrison Smith contracted the coronavirus right before Week 9, causing the safety to miss two games.
In those matchups, Bynum was marvelous. And few saw it coming. During games against the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers, Bynum scored a sweltering 90.5 grade, according to Pro Football Focus. For two games only, a strong case can be made that Bynum was better than Smith would’ve been if healthy — which is remarkable considering Smith’s lofty reputation.
Now, Smith is back, so head coach Mike Zimmer is tasked with keeping Bynum involved in the defense. The Vikings have “too many” good safeties. Smith, Bynum, and Xavier Woods provide tremendous depth to a position that looked a little naughty when training camp began four months ago. Props to the Vikings front office.
While Bynum was a run-of-the-mill 4th-Round draft pick last April, his first two games provide further oomph to the merits of the Diggs trade for the Vikings. Even if Bynum, Willekes (who is starting to get playing time, too), Robinson, and Davidson never played a snap of regular season football in Minnesota, the acquisition of Jefferson-for-Diggs was well worth it for the Vikings. The franchise essentially reset the production and contractual clock on an upper-echelon wide receiver while ridding the locker room of a man who whimsically skipped practice because he was mad in the 2019 season.
Sprinkle in a promising forecast for Bynum and maybe even a budding breakout from Willekes, and the Diggs trade continues to look profitable for the Vikings and Bills.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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