Stefon Diggs Loves New Vikings WR Coach Nearly as Much as Your 1997 Fantasy Football Team Does

If you played fantasy football (or watched and kept stats for your dad’s team) in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, before it was taken over by the internet, then you know who Keenan McCardell is. He was one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, not rostered by the Minnesota Vikings at the time.

He posted SIX 1000-yard seasons between 1996 and 2003, spending his best years for the start-up Jacksonville Jaguars. Following a very successful career of playing WR, McCardell got into coaching them. He started at Maryland and has now spent six seasons in the NFL as a wide receivers coach.

Today, the Minnesota Vikings hired the 2x pro-bowler for 2021.

#Jaguars WR coach Keenan McCardell is moving on to same position with #Vikings, where he gets to mentor Justin Jefferson, per NFL sources. Didn't have relationship with Meyer or Bevell and wasn't really in hunt to keep his job that he did really well.

— Eugene Frenette (@GeneFrenette) January 28, 2021

High praise

Keenan McCardell, the football coach, comes in with high praise from many different places. One quote, however, caught my attention on Twitter. It was via Stefon Diggs.

Diggs was coached by McCardell at Maryland and has high praise for the former Jaguar great, calling McCardell the best non-NFL coach he’s ever had. Diggs even credits McCardell for teaching him how to get open and create separation.

I’m definitely interested in the coach who engrained those traits in Stefon Diggs. Let’s see if Keenan McCardell can take Justin Jefferson to the next level.

Here’s what Stefon Diggs and Keenan McCardell had to say about their time at Maryland when I talked to both of them a couple years ago.

Diggs said McCardell might have been the best coach he’s ever had; the #Vikings hope McCardell could be a similar influence for Jefferson. pic.twitter.com/RFuUrqwJ3m

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingStrib) January 28, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan