MINNEAPOLIS -- Stefon Diggs doesn't like player comparisons. Doesn't see the point in them. But Mike Wallace will share who the Minnesota Vikings rookie receiver reminds him of anyway: Antonio Brown.

"When you look at a guy, you can tell from day one who can play football. I always felt like he could," Wallace said. "Just the skill set, the way he runs his routes, the energy that he has. It reminds me of him.”

That's a bold parallel to draw between the player who had the second-most catches in NFL history last season and a rookie who's been active for only two games. But it's been quite some time since the Vikings were reserved in their opinions of Diggs. Quarterbacks coach Scott Turner -- who recruited Diggs when he was at the University of Pittsburgh -- badgered receivers coach George Stewart for months about Diggs before the 2015 draft. Stewart said in training camp that Diggs was more athletic than Percy Harvin. And quarterback Teddy Bridgewater did little to temper expectations for the fifth-round pick after a seven-catch, 129-yard performance in a win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

"We know this league waits for no one," Bridgewater said.

Diggs' agility, body control and ability to make big plays after the catch certainly are grounds on which to make a comparison to Brown, who also came to the NFL from humble roots after being picked in the sixth round out of Central Michigan. But it's the rookie's unbridled love of football that might be fueling his early success.

The rumor Stewart heard about Diggs during his first night at the Vikings' rookie camp -- that the Maryland product was running routes on his own, in the dark, long after practice -- already is part of the receiver's origin story. So is the toughness Diggs displayed while playing with a lacerated kidney last November against Penn State. And already, Diggs talks about insights he gleans from film study like a veteran receiver.

Take the 16-yard catch Diggs made to extend the Vikings' first drive on Sunday. With Marcus Peters playing off coverage, Diggs had seen on film he could set the first-round pick up by stemming to the inside before breaking toward the sideline and turning Peters around. Diggs freed himself from Peters, leaped to catch Bridgewater's pass, tapped his toes on the sideline and stepped out of bounds with a first down.

"Some people study just the look (of a defense)," Diggs said. "I kind of really study different angles of the film. You see how people's bodies are, how they react to certain kind of moves -- what foot they step with, what hand they jab with, and all that. Just little things like that, that you pick up when you watch film. Studying is big for me."

It's hard to hear Diggs talk like that and not think of Cordarrelle Patterson, the rookie sensation of 2013 who has become a forgotten man in the Vikings' offense because of his inability to master the intricacies of playing receiver in the NFL. The split end position given to Patterson a year ago eventually was handed to the late-blooming Charles Johnson, who's been underwhelming this season and injured for the last two games. Now that Diggs has caught 13 passes for 216 yards in the Vikings' last two games, he might have the starting spot for good.

"You don't lose your starting job because of injury, but you do lose your starting job because of performance," coach Mike Zimmer said, before adding he hadn't decided who would start Sunday against Detroit if Johnson is healthy."

If both Diggs and Johnson are active, it could lead the Vikings to think about deactivating Patterson, particularly in light of Diggs' success as a return man in the preseason. Regardless of what happens with the rest of the wideouts, it's hard to see the Vikings restraining Diggs from here. They certainly aren't shy about voicing what they think he can do.

"Certain people get excited because you don't see a person on a daily basis," Wallace said. "When you see somebody every single day, putting in the amount of work he does, it's going to happen. He does a really good job of taking coaching and wanting to get better. If he messes up, he's going to lean on anybody. He's going to ask an older guy, 'What should I do here? What should I do there?' If he continues to do those things, it'll all work out."