Originally Posted by
cas22
The Athletic
The Buffalo Bills’ patience wore thin with Stefon Diggs. Now he’s gone
By Tim Graham
Apr 3, 2024
Stefon Diggs wore out the Buffalo Bills.
For a long time, they put up with the passive-aggressive comments, with the All-Pro little brother insulting them and Josh Allen, with other NFL friends proclaiming he deserved better than Buffalo. They endured Diggs’ refusal to ever push back on the chirping. When I asked him about Trevon Diggs shoveling shade last season, Stefon took offense that anybody would dare question his family and altogether ignored the concept of defending the Bills. They hadn’t said anything when Stefon Diggs dragged a team employee whom a hot mic had caught chiding him for being difficult to work with.
As recently as Tuesday night, Diggs seemed to take another shot at Allen’s wherewithal. Replying on social media to someone who opined a “top-tier receiver” is not “essential” to the franchise quarterback’s success, Diggs said: “You sure?”
Folks at One Bills Drive once again saw a player who’s as likely to jab co-workers in public as defend them.
Teams tolerate micro-aggressions from a superstar talent who makes opponents quake — not for a player you can trade, along with a 2024 sixth-round draft choice and 2025 fifth-rounder, for a second-round pick that’s 13 months away, which is precisely what the Bills did in a deal with the Houston Texans on Wednesday. They aren’t tolerating someone they’d rather shoo from the locker room for the joy of absorbing a massive dead-cap hit, either.
Stefon Diggs stopped being “HIM” halfway through 2023, right about the time Trevon Diggs, a Dallas Cowboys cornerback, once again took to social media to declare, “Man 14 (his big brother’s jersey number) gotta get up outta there,” followed by the exhausted and crying emojis.
Also around that time, Buffalo’s offense started to operate like it didn’t care whether No. 14 got up outta there or not.
Many pundits and Bills fans believed Diggs’ place on the roster was pinned by a mammoth contract that, given the salary-cap implications, made it counterproductive for the team to trade or release him. The decision by owner Terry Pegula, general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott to make the move illustrates how motivated the club was to part with Diggs, a pivotal character in transforming NFL chumps into perennial Super Bowl contenders.
For the past couple seasons, there was turbulence. After the Cincinnati Bengals bounced the Bills from the 2022-23 playoffs, an emotional game in which a gesticulating Diggs seemed to wear out Allen and then-quarterbacks coach Joe Brady on the bench, Diggs infamously stormed out of the locker room so fast the pressbox assistant coaches hadn’t gotten inside for McDermott to deliver his postgame speech. Practice squad running back Duke Johnson tracked down Diggs in the Highmark Stadium tunnel and begged him not to leave.
All was rationalized — same as two months earlier, when Diggs screamed at McDermott on the sideline — as Diggs being the ultimate competitor for the most part, although Hall of Fame targets Michael Irvin and Shannon Sharpe, with three Super Bowl rings apiece, found Diggs’ act to be contemptuous to the team ideal.
Competitiveness, however, morphed into a lengthy rift last offseason. When the Bills convened for mandatory minicamp, Diggs wasn’t on the practice field. McDermott said he was “very concerned” about the absence, but he and Diggs have refused to divulge what the problem was.
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We still don’t know the reason, and that’s the Diggs dichotomy. He presents himself in news conferences as a transparent yet misunderstood figure. He’ll answer any question — just ask — until the information is nobody’s business, like why McDermott was “very concerned” last June or what all those cryptic tweets mean or why he defends his brother’s right to mock Buffalo.
Trevon Diggs did his town crier impersonation after the Bills’ 24-22 home loss to the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football.” The Bills’ fourth defeat in six games floored them to 5-5, three spots out of the playoff picture.
Then, over the remaining seven regular-season games, Stefon Diggs caught only 34 passes for 315 yards and one touchdown, while Allen accounted for 1,896 yards of total offense, ran for 10 touchdowns and threw for eight more. Two sophomores, tailback James Cook and receiver Khalil Shakir, and rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid emerged as trustworthy weapons.
The Bills went 6-1, their lone loss at the Philadelphia Eagles in overtime.
Nobody at One Bills Drive could – or simply felt compelled to – elucidate Diggs’ unmistakable evaporation.
The Bills insisted Diggs was not hurt, and he never appeared on the injury report. Diggs bemoaned being double-teamed, but Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid tweeted, “Crazy part is … we didn’t double him” after Diggs played 37 percent of the snaps in a crucial Week 14 victory at Arrowhead Stadium. McDermott and Brady noted how packages dictated Diggs’ usage, but they declined to explain why Shakir and deep reserve Trent Sherfield saw more snaps than a four-time Pro Bowler some games. Bills cornerback Josh Norman told the Associated Press that Diggs had been taking himself off the field.
“It’s rough, man,” Diggs told reporters before catching four passes for 48 yards in the Week 15 victory over Dallas. “Even earlier in the year, I saw a lot of the doubles, but they’ve been doing a great job, especially when you put those first seven to eight games on tape of what you like to do. They’ve been doing a good job.
“For me, personally, I’ve been trying, bro. I promise you I’ve been trying. It’s not because of me.”
Drops aren’t an official NFL stat, so there can be discrepancies. Pro Football Reference charted Diggs for eight drops in the regular season, tied for sixth-worst in the league. His 5 percent drop percentage ranked 14th among NFL wideouts with at least 80 targets.
Diggs’ fade from Buffalo’s offense was so stark that three-time Lombardi Trophy safety and “Football Night In America” studio analyst Devin McCourty told me before the regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins: “I think there’s bigger issues going on there. I think their offense is trying to prove to Diggs that they don’t need him.”
Either way, to answer Diggs’ social media question from Tuesday night, Buffalo’s offense already did prove he’s unessential to Allen’s success down the homestretch.
Further, Diggs’ miscues when called upon in January hurt their chances to win when it mattered most.
In two playoff games, Diggs added 10 catches for 73 yards and no TDs. In the three-point elimination loss to Kansas City, he fumbled on the first play and dropped a pass on the second play. Buffalo’s final drive began with a pinpoint Allen bomb that should’ve gone for at least a 55-yard gain if not the go-ahead touchdown. The ball went through Diggs’ arms.
Diggs trotted back toward the huddle and made a gesture with his thumb and forefinger to let Allen and the millions watching on TV know the desperately needed play was “this close” to happening.
Or, as another campaign was about to conclude in heartbreak, maybe that’s how much patience enough important people in Highmark Stadium had left for Diggs.