The Viking who will forever be linked to a 61-yard touchdown catch has No. 65 alongside his name in NFL's Top 100 list for 2018.
Stefon Diggs, who provided the hands and legs during the Minneapolis Miracle, was added to the annual list that is determined exclusively by players' votes for the first time. His selection was announced in an NFL Network program that aired Monday.
Diggs joined Kirk Cousins (No. 93) and Linval Joseph (No. 83) as current Vikings who have made the list so far.
Before recapping Diggs' improbable touchdown, the program fired through several other scoring grabs the fleet-footed receiver made in his third pro season.
NFL Films interviewed Jarvis Landry, who was flying through the New Orleans airport on his way back to Florida during the game. He was in front of an airport TV when a city known for its jazz got the blues.
"I'm telling you, everybody in the airport, it took the air out of everybody in the city," Landry said.
NFL Films also interviewed Andrew Sendejo, who was injured and in the Vikings locker room, and Adam Thielen, who ran a route on the opposite sideline.
"I was hanging out with the people that do the food catering after the game, so it was me and three people that do the catering," Sendejo said. "We were all watching it together, and obviously, things weren't really looking up."
Thielen said the Vikings had complete faith in Diggs and the play to accomplish its initial objective of advancing the ball within field goal range and allowing Diggs to get out of bounds and stop the clock.
Diggs, however, had the wherewithal once safety Marcus Williams whiffed on the tackle, to spin, sprint and stretch the ball across the goal line as time expired.
"In those situations, that's the guy you want the ball to go to," Thielen said. "It was a play that was designed for him to catch the ball, get out of bounds and be able to kick a field goal. It's unbelievable that he was able to put that hand down, stay in bounds, and having the awareness to know, 'Hey, I can score. I don't need to go out of bounds.' It was pretty unbelievable."
Aside from the late-game heroics, Diggs performed well in his third pro season. He caught 64 passes for 849 yards and a career-best eight touchdowns on 95 targets. Diggs started all 14 games he played and had four or more receptions in 11 games.
The 2015 fifth-round pick started and finished strong, totaling 17 receptions for 293 yards and four scores in Minnesota's first three games of 2017 and 16 catches for 155 yards and three touchdowns in Weeks 15-17.
The late-season surge pushed Diggs' career totals to 200 receptions, 2,472 yards and 15 touchdowns and set the stage for an impressive postseason.
Diggs caught six passes for 137 yards and the magical, memorable touchdown against New Orleans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs — the first postseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium. He added eight receptions for 70 yards the following week at Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game.
Diggs was sandwiched between Titans DT Jurrell Casey at No. 66 and former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman at No. 64, who signed with San Francisco this offseason.
Falcons running back Devonta Freeman was No. 70, just after Eagles DT Fletcher Cox at No. 69 and TE Zach Ertz at 68. Jaguars LB Telvin Smith was No. 67.
Bengals DT Geno Atkins was at No. 63, Bills DB Micah Hyde was No. 62, and Ndamukong Suh, who joined the Rams this offseason, came in at No. 61.
Jordan Reed was listed at No. 65 in 2017, and Marcus Peters was at the spot in 2016.
The Top 100 will continued to be revealed in groups of 10 on Mondays.
