IT WAS NEITHER the largest nor probably the most memorable play of the Buffalo Payments’ 2023 season. Forward 10-7 late within the second quarter on the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12, Josh Allen took the third-and-6 shotgun snap from the 13-yard line, glanced left, then to the fitting slot, the place he knew precisely which participant he would discover. Stefon Diggs had discovered a tiny void within the Eagles’ zone on the aim line, which is the place Allen’s essentially low and ideal throw discovered him, sliding within the rain between security Kevin Byard and linebacker Zach Cunningham. Landing.
The Payments would blow a double-digit fourth-quarter lead and lose in additional time. And, because it seems, that may be Diggs’ thirty seventh and closing landing as a Invoice. The 30-year-old large receiver with the NFL’s most receptions from 2020 to 2023 would see his alternatives dwindle, at the same time as his crew went on a five-game profitable streak that took it from 6-6 after the Eagles loss to the AFC East title. 4 months and one week after Diggs slid by means of the rain in Philly, the Payments traded him to the Houston Texans, taking over $31 million of lifeless wage cap cash to maneuver him — the best identified lifeless cap cost for a large receiver ever.
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The place it went fallacious between Diggs and the Payments shouldn’t be a query that yields a single reply from greater than a dozen crew, entrance workplace and trade sources ESPN contacted for this story. The participant is famously mercurial. The crew’s degree of endurance along with his character ebbed and flowed. The offense was headed in a unique route. The ratio of the influence of those three causes on Diggs’ exit depends upon who’s doing the speaking.
And now comes a reunion between Diggs and Buffalo (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS) that can doubtless be skilled on the floor. What lies beneath, solely the principals can say. Diggs declined remark for this story, as did the Payments.
However to make sure, this divorce didn’t come out of nowhere.
“Super participant,” a crew supply stated. “However the offense did not want him anymore.”
THE 2020 DEAL that despatched Diggs from Minnesota to Buffalo was simply what Allen and the Payments wanted. Multitalented Allen was heading into his third season and coming off a promising playoff yr in 2019 however lacked a real alpha at receiver. Diggs stuffed that vacuum, establishing his place instantly within the Payments’ tradition throughout the COVID-altered offseason of 2020 and setting the tone day-after-day along with his competitiveness and work ethic. If each receiver obtained one rep, Diggs needed 5. Diggs has been described by a number of sources as well liked by teammates, sentiments that had been obvious from his early days in Buffalo. Whether or not organizing a Thanksgiving turkey drive within the Buffalo space or enjoying catch with followers pregame, Diggs made his presence and instance felt inside the group and the locker room.
Diggs’ arrival instantly correlated with Allen’s vault into the top-tier quarterback dialog and the Payments’ transition from fringe playoff crew to true contender. Although a few of Allen’s good points could be defined by the pure maturation of a younger quarterback, Allen’s improved numbers after Diggs’ arrival in Complete QBR (from 50 to 71), completion share (56% to 66%) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (from 30 touchdowns, 21 interceptions to 137 touchdowns, 57 interceptions) had been undeniably tied to the duo’s compatibility.
For his half, Diggs’ star rose instantly with Allen as his quarterback — he was named a first-team All-Professional in 2020.
2:38
Stephen A.: Wherever Stefon Diggs goes, QBs get higher
Stephen A. Smith cannot wait to see how Stefon Diggs improves C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans.
The 2 appeared to have buddy-cop film chemistry early on, sharing secret handshakes and laughs on the sphere. Allen went out of his strategy to reward Diggs in entrance of each microphone, heralding his No. 1 wideout’s influence on the sphere and his friendship off it.
“I have been an enormous believer in off-field relationships paying dividends on the sphere. I believe that ours form of speaks volumes,” Allen stated in 2021 concerning the Diggs relationship. “We get to hang around with one another so much, and develop these sorts of bonds and relationships, and it exhibits up on the sphere.”
In time, frustration would present up on the sphere as nicely, tied to the shortcoming of the Payments to interrupt by means of on the largest stage. Late in an unsightly 27-10 residence loss to the Bengals within the 2022 playoffs, Diggs — restricted to 4 catches on the day — might be seen animatedly addressing Allen on the sideline.
Stefon Diggs exchanging some phrases with Josh Allen on the sideline pic.twitter.com/J2heSTBMrc
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 22, 2023
He defined himself in a sequence of tweets that solely deepened the intrigue:
“Need me to be okay with dropping ? Nah … Need me to be okay with our degree of play when it is lower than the usual ? Nah … It is simple to criticize my response greater than the consequence,” Diggs tweeted.
The controversy ignited anew on the subsequent obligatory minicamp when coach Sean McDermott instructed reporters he was “very involved” about Diggs not being current.
The subsequent day, McDermott clarified that he “gave Stef permission to get some area” after a dialog between the coach and star receiver. Diggs returned to follow that day.
Theories concerning the core challenge abounded at Payments crew headquarters that day. One crew supply believed that Diggs had grown annoyed with the late-season losses and had solutions about bettering the general method to profitable that went past the specifics of his personal function and that his supply on these ideas might need gone poorly. When requested about that theme, a supply near Diggs stated the receiver “obtained to the purpose the place he figured, I am right here they usually know what I can do, but when we’re dropping, let me assist.”
“He is tremendous sensible, and should you sugarcoat it with him and are usually not 100%, he’ll see by means of it,” the supply stated of Diggs’ method. “And he remembers every part you say.”
0:42
The numbers behind Stefon Diggs’ fantasy efficiency in Week 4
Try some key fantasy stats from Stefon Diggs’ efficiency within the Texans’ win over the Jaguars.
A separate crew supply cited the 2022 postseason departure of the crew’s receivers coach, Chad Corridor, as a degree of rivalry. Diggs is near Corridor, whose contract was up after the 2022 season. Jacksonville provided him a promotion from large receivers coach to passing sport coordinator, which he accepted. The Payments changed him with veteran coach Adam Henry.
No matter Diggs’ intentions or the crew’s dealing with of them, what a crew supply stated felt like unstated stress between the 2 sides for some time had gone public.
The difficulty appeared to chill down after that, as Diggs remained the focus of the offense, with 73 catches by means of the primary 10 video games of the 2023 season. However Buffalo misplaced 5 of these video games, and a 24-22 upset by the hands of Russell Wilson and the Broncos turned up the warmth round the entire crew.
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, Diggs’ youthful brother, tweeted “Man 14 Gotta stand up outta there,” throughout the Monday evening loss, a remark Stefon tried to separate himself from later that week (saying, “I am not chargeable for how different individuals really feel”). By then, McDermott had fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and promoted quarterbacks coach Joe Brady to the interim OC function.
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Brady instantly broke from Dorsey’s system that had rushed about 25 occasions per sport the earlier season. Brady as an alternative referred to as 155 dashing performs within the first 4 video games (38.8 per sport), culminating in a blowout of the Cowboys wherein the Payments ran 49 occasions. It was the crew’s most working performs in a sport since 2017.
Extra importantly, it confirmed that an offense so reliant on Allen to run and throw — usually to Diggs when he put it within the air — may adapt. Diggs’ 4 catches for 48 yards on 5 targets towards Dallas might need seemed like a minimal contribution inside the field rating, however what the tally stated held significance past the numbers.
“For some time it was, ‘No means we will play with out this dude,'” a crew supply who was on the scene that evening stated about Diggs. “However I assumed to myself, ‘Oh, possibly we will do that with out him.'”
Diggs remained a major choice, however his targets dipped from 102 over the primary 10 video games (10.2 per sport) to 75 over the ultimate 9 (8.3 per sport).
Workforce sources say the run-oriented assault wasn’t about Diggs however extra about maximizing the general personnel, involving a number of pass-catching choices and setting extra of a bodily tone. Nevertheless it signified a web page flip in philosophy and choice.
2:34
Why Stefon Diggs to the Texans ticks Pat McAfee off
Pat McAfee explains his unhappiness concerning the Houston Texans buying and selling for Stefon Diggs.
“We nonetheless tried to attempt to get him the ball,” a Payments personnel supply stated. “It is extra about philosophy, [Brady and McDermott’s] model, what’s handiest holistically for the offense. Groups know the place you are going by way of go-to guys. It’s important to unfold that factor out, have flexibility.”
In the meantime, Diggs wasn’t saying a lot publicly — he was hardly ever obtainable to the media in any respect — even when his frustration was privately mounting. The general public story was about defenses doing extra to take Diggs away than they’d at any earlier level in his Buffalo tenure.
“I am gonna be sincere, it is irritating,” Diggs stated earlier than the win over the Cowboys. “I obtained to do quite a lot of issues to get open, after which quite a lot of issues obtained to go proper for me to get the ball. Y’all understand how a lot of a competitor I’m, and I wish to play at a excessive degree, and I all the time need it to occur, and even when it would not, when it would not materialize, I positively get a little bit discouraged at a second, however then I obtained to shake again, trigger I all the time have a look at it like, my crew nonetheless wants me.”
Diggs and Allen remained cordial {and professional} by means of the philosophical shift, crew sources stated.
There wasn’t rather more Diggs may say inside the constructing, or in his public feedback. The Payments had been profitable once more. However his probability to change uniforms for the third time in 5 years was looming.
FROM AFAR, A TEAM within the NFC North had seen this script earlier than.
“All of it felt very acquainted,” a high-ranking Vikings supply from the Diggs period stated.
Coaches and scouts on the Minnesota employees throughout Diggs’ tenure there usually check with the “Diggs expertise,” a curler coaster of on-field brilliance and off-field irritability that may elicit discomfort inside the soccer constructing.
“It may be so much. He may throw his helmet. He’ll put on in your quarterback. However discover me a premier receiver that is not a diva.”
Ex-Vikings supply on Diggs
After Minnesota drafted Diggs out of Maryland in 2015 — one of many notable fifth-round steals in trendy NFL historical past — the crew discovered his aggressive facet may result in frustration. The Vikings went to the playoffs 3 times throughout Diggs’ 5 years with the crew, all beneath head coach (and famous Diggs fan) Mike Zimmer, and by no means completed with a dropping report. However the very factor that made Diggs nice — his perception that getting him the ball would assist the crew — was one thing Minnesota needed to handle on sport day and all through the week.
“He must have somebody he can speak to, listening to his considerations, work by means of what was bothering him, recognizing him as a voice,” a Vikings supply who instantly noticed Diggs’ tenure there stated.
A number of Vikings sources stated that though the franchise thought of Diggs’ need to maximise his offensive influence to be largely a optimistic, the crew needed to work to make sure it did not flip poisonous inside the constructing. Vikings brass spent vital time speaking by means of points with Diggs, realizing he simply wanted to vent typically.
Diggs was identified to be forceful when he did. And he shared the large receivers room with one other alpha, Adam Thielen, who additionally needed the ball.
To offer then-quarterback Kirk Cousins peace on the sideline throughout video games, coaches as soon as located the Vikings receivers aside from the quarterbacks and nearer to the defensive benches, an ex-Vikings supply stated.
“It may be so much,” the supply stated. “He may throw his helmet. He’ll put on in your quarterback. However discover me a premier receiver that is not a diva. … And he works extremely exhausting. That is why coaches love him.”
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After 5 years that included a pair of 1,000-yard seasons and the Diggs-authored “Minneapolis Miracle” but in addition $200,000 in fines for unexcused absences from practices and conferences, the crew and Diggs determined to half methods in what a Vikings-era supply described as a mutual choice between participant and crew. (A separate crew supply made it clear that Diggs needed out.) Minnesota dealt Diggs as a part of a package deal that despatched Buffalo’s first-round 2020 option to the Vikings, a choose the crew used to draft Justin Jefferson at twenty second general.
That supply didn’t recall Buffalo asking for recommendation on tips on how to handle Diggs’ character within the commerce course of.
“You all the time have to fret about how he feels,” a Payments crew supply stated. “That wears on a locker room.”
In 2023, 4 seasons because the commerce from Minnesota to the Payments, the every day realities of Diggs weren’t confined to the soccer facet of the constructing in Buffalo. The Payments handled a minor public relations disaster in September 2023 when a crew worker who works as a reporter for the Payments’ web site was heard on a livestream saying, “There is not any management over Stefon Diggs. Dude’s gonna do what he desires to do. He’ll look in my face and say f— you. … That is how he treats everyone.”
The worker later apologized, and Diggs reacted to the controversy by tweeting: “The media or followers could confuse my competitiveness that they witness on the sphere as who I’m as an individual. However off the sphere I might by no means deal with anybody how she described & have by no means stated something remotely near that to her.”
The controversy abated, and the season continued. Greater than a yr later, the crew worker stays a reporter for the Payments’ web site. The group would come to a unique choice about Diggs.
1:35
Texans GM tells McAfee how they landed Stefon Diggs
Texans GM Nick Caserio says communication was key in bringing star WR Stefon Diggs to Houston.
AS HE FIELDED questions at his season-ending information convention, Payments basic supervisor Brandon Beane was requested about Diggs’ manufacturing down the stretch, together with a three-catch, 21-yard efficiency in a divisional spherical playoff loss on the Chiefs.
“Stef’s … a No. 1 receiver. I firmly imagine that, not wavering off of that,” Beane stated. Left unstated in that analysis was how prominently Diggs factored into the Payments’ plans.
Issues had been altering in Buffalo. Younger offensive playmakers, together with tight finish Dalton Kincaid and working again James Cook dinner, had been rising in stature. The Payments confronted roughly a $50 million wage cap deficit, forcing exhausting roster selections. Phrase unfold amongst participant brokers that Buffalo can be parting with high-priced, ageing veterans, partly to brace for ballooning cap hits on Allen’s $258 million contract. Middle Mitch Morse, nook Tre’Davious White and security Jordan Poyer had been launched earlier than free company. Longtime security Micah Hyde, who was considering retirement, was non-tendered.
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Buffalo had “no intention to ship [Diggs] away” initially, a crew supply stated, however inquiries had been rampant even earlier than the turbulent 2023 season, overtures the Payments rebuffed. Executives from a number of receiver-needy groups confirmed they didn’t hear from Buffalo this previous offseason providing up Diggs — the Payments had been on the hook for Diggs’ contract both means; there was no 2024 cap aid obtainable by dealing him.
Whereas crew sources weren’t capable of affirm whether or not Diggs formally requested a commerce, they agree that Diggs was open to a change in surroundings and that an eventual commerce was a mutual choice.
“If he is not pleased someplace, he is sensible sufficient to maneuver his means out,” a supply near Diggs stated.
Added a crew supply: “It is a regular factor for veteran guys at that stage of his profession to be interested in one thing new. I believe there was some attraction [to Houston] for him.”
On the Professional Bowl Video games in February, Diggs acknowledged that “there’s quite a lot of modifications occurring” in Buffalo and stated, “I am unable to inform you what the longer term holds, however I am nonetheless being me.”
1:14
Texans conform to void closing 3 years of Stefon Diggs’ contract
Adam Schefter particulars the Texans agreeing to void the ultimate three years of Stefon Diggs’ contract, permitting him to turn into a free agent after the 2024 season.
Then got here the cryptic tweets.
“Prepared for watever” on March 15; “Effectively….” a day later; “Being diligent” on March 25.
Whether or not motivational fodder or coded commerce speak, these messages felt eerily just like his social media habits earlier than he was traded from Minnesota.
The idea in league circles is the Texans had been dedicated to getting a longtime veteran receiver this offseason. They first tried with Keenan Allen, who was traded from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Chicago Bears on March 14. A supply near Allen stated the Texans obtained “very shut” to dealing for the receiver.
As soon as that fell by means of, the Texans pivoted to Diggs. Phrase out of the Payments’ locker room began to trickle out in mid-March — in step with these obscure Diggs tweets — that Houston was a doable vacation spot.
Those that know Houston basic supervisor Nick Caserio weren’t stunned by this. He scours the marketplace for alternatives, a Texans supply stated, utilizing personnel conferences to debate gamers who might be obtainable because of a litany of things. “I believe [Caserio] noticed the writing on the wall [with Diggs in Buffalo],” the supply stated.
2:08
Riddick: Texans close to prime of AFC after Diggs commerce
Louis Riddick reacts to the Houston Texans buying and selling for large receiver Stefon Diggs.
The Payments had a number of components to navigate. They needed to negotiate parameters of the deal. Houston and Diggs would additionally have to renegotiate his contract, wiping out the ultimate three years to make him a 2025 free agent. Buffalo would wish to grant permission for Diggs’ camp and the Texans to speak earlier than a commerce commenced.
And a call of this magnitude doubtless concerned Josh Allen, a minimum of not directly. Whereas the crew’s precise communication with Allen about Diggs’ future with the crew is unknown, one crew supply believes “[Allen is] on the level that they don’t seem to be going to make any necessary strikes like that with out letting him know.”
The commerce was introduced April 3, with the Payments receiving a 2025 second-round choose in change for Diggs, a 2024 sixth-round choose (later dealt to the Lions) and a 2025 fifth-round choice. One AFC govt referred to as Buffalo “fortunate” to get that form of worth for a 30-year-old receiver, contemplating the assumption amongst some within the trade that Houston might need been the lone main participant for his companies on the stage the deal was made.
Would Buffalo have dealt Diggs if it did not obtain a proposal pretty much as good as Houston’s? One crew supply was not conscious of a tough line on hypothetical commerce phrases; one other stated it was the fitting time to maneuver on and believes the events most likely would have discovered a strategy to half amicably — even when it meant Buffalo purchasing Diggs’ companies extra aggressively. It by no means got here to that.
Diggs referred to as his expertise in Houston “a breath of recent air” when he met the media for the primary time as a Texan in June.
“You thrive in an area the place you are liked,” Diggs stated. “Thrive in an area of being round those that really care and really wish to see you win.”
It took Diggs little time to depart behind the career-high seven-game touchdown-less streak he introduced with him from Buffalo. He caught two landing passes from C.J. Stroud in a Week 1 win over the Colts. Via 4 weeks, Diggs is No. 3 on ESPN’s Receiver Scores record, a composite metric that distills a large receiver’s potential to get open, make catches and accrue yards after the catch. The Texans are making Diggs’ place within the offense a precedence in a means that wasn’t occurring in his closing days in Buffalo.
In the meantime, there’s Josh Allen.
Someday earlier than he was traded in April, Diggs posed a pointed query to a social media consumer who expressed the opinion that Diggs was not important to Allen’s success.
“You certain?” Diggs fired again.
Via 4 weeks, it seems the consumer was on to one thing. The Payments are 3-1, and Allen is an early MVP candidate who leads the league in QBR by means of his first 4 video games of the post-Diggs period.
And now comes Sunday’s reunion, which has been preceded by only a contact of the drama emblematic of the Diggs-Payments relationship.
7:09
Did Josh Allen take a shot at Stefon Diggs?
“First Take” discusses Josh Allen’s postgame feedback and whether or not they had been directed at former teammate Stefon Diggs.
Allen made headlines after Buffalo’s 47-10 Week 3 win over the Jaguars when he stated, “That is the fantastic thing about it when guys get to purchase into this and actually perceive like I’ll not get the ball 4 or 5 occasions thrown to me a sport however the one or two occasions I do, I will have alternatives to be in the long run zone. It is a enjoyable and fantastic factor once you obtained a bunch of fellows that do not care concerning the stats, they do not care concerning the touchdowns.”
Allen later clarified that “I am not making an attempt to tear down anyone” and referenced Diggs particularly when he stated, “I really like 14, I nonetheless do. However everybody desires to maintain making this factor [the split] a factor. We’re so targeted on what is going on on within our constructing and that is the one factor we’re caring about proper now.”
The various league observers who’ve had this sport circled because the NFL schedule launch will perceive if that focus is diverted this Sunday.
After the Cowboys’ Week 4 win over the Giants, Trevon Diggs was sporting outsized black shades to battle the brilliant digital camera lights by his locker. Reporters had been fixated on his perspective after the Cowboys cornerback helped Dallas knock off the New York Giants.
As soon as the cameras shut off, a reporter reminded Diggs that Stefon’s Texans host the Payments in Week 5.
“When is that sport? Is it prime time?” requested Diggs, as if doing the maths in his head to find out whether or not he wanted to set the DVR.
Truly, the Cowboys face the Steelers in Pittsburgh in prime time, whereas Buffalo and Houston kick off at 1 p.m. ET. Trevon ought to be capable of watch.
Many are excited for that matchup, the reporter instructed him. Stefon’s youthful brother arched an eyebrow and gave a figuring out smile as he headed for the crew bus.
“Me too,” Trevon stated.
