Buffalo Bills agree to trade top receiver Stefon Diggs to Houston Texans

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills are trading their top receiving threat, Stefon Diggs, to the Houston Texans in a deal completed Wednesday.

In announcing the trade, the Bills acquired the Texans’ second-round pick in the 2025 draft, which Houston acquired in a trade with Minnesota. Houston also acquired Buffalo’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft and a 2025 fifth-round pick.

Diggs’ departure from Buffalo leaves quarterback Josh Allen without his favorite target and breaks up a tandem that has rewritten the team’s passing records since the receiver arrived in a trade with Minnesota in March 2020. Together, they turned a Bills offense into one. of the most powerful in the NFL, while helping Buffalo win four straight AFC East titles.

For the Texans, Diggs gives the offense another playmaker to pair with Nico Collins and Tank Dell. Collins led Houston with 80 receptions for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns last season. The Texans were the AFC South’s worst starters under first-year coach DeMeco Ryans and AP Offensive Rookie of the Year CJ Stroud.

Houston also traded for running back Joe Mixon, along with a host of upgrades on defense.

After the deal, the Texans were 15-1 to win the Super Bowl next season on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Diggs, 30, has nine years of NFL experience and has topped 1,000 yards in each of his last six seasons. In his first season in Buffalo, he became the first Bills player to lead the league in receiving yards (1,535) and catches (127).

Diggs’ production began to decline in the second half of last season, which coincided with Buffalo’s firing of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and the promotion of Joe Brady, which placed a renewed emphasis on the running offense of execution. Diggs finished the season with 107 catches and 1,183 yards – both lowest during his tenure with the Bills – and eight touchdowns.

He finished his time in Buffalo with 445 catches for 5,372 yards and 37 touchdowns to rank fourth on the team’s list. Diggs holds the top four spots on the franchise list for single-season receptions and the top two spots for receiving yards.

Overall, he has 1,178 catches for 9,995 yards and 67 touchdowns since being selected by the Vikings in the fifth round of the 2015 draft out of Maryland.

Diggs, however, also retained his mercurial personality that led the Vikings to trade him to Buffalo. Although he was voted team captain of the Bills in each of the last two seasons, Diggs caused occasional stir with several sideline outbursts and the frustration he showed after the end of the Bills’ 2022 season. Bills with a 27-10 loss to Cincinnati in the divisional round playoffs.

Diggs left the locker room before coach Sean McDermott had a chance to address the team and had to be persuaded by teammate Duke Williams. Diggs then spent the offseason posting cryptic messages on his social media accounts while refusing to participate in the Bills’ voluntary offseason programs.

Confusion then arose when Diggs was not present for the Bills’ first mandatory practice and McDermott said he was “concerned” about the player’s absence.

A day later, McDermott corrected himself by saying that Diggs was excused from practice, but was present on site to discuss lingering issues stemming from the previous season.

The routs led to Diggs having to repeatedly reiterate his loyalty to the Bills, including saying he wanted to finish his career in Buffalo.

“I take my job seriously. You can see how I play. You can see how I play. You can see how I practice,” Diggs said in November. “They never questioned me as a player and as a man on what I bring to the table. My total investment was therefore never really called into question.

Diggs has four seasons remaining on his contract as part of a four-year contract extension worth $96 million that the player signed in August 2022.

Although the Diggs trade won’t bring much salary cap relief to Buffalo, his departure continues an offseason overhaul of the Bills roster, which was forced by the team having to cut payroll to ceiling reasons. Among the players cut were starting center Mitch Morse, starting cornerback Tre’Davious White and starting safety Jordan Poyer.

The team also lost No. 2 receiver Gabriel Davis to free agency.

Buffalo returns second-year wide receiver Khalil Shakir, who is coming off a promising season in which he started 10 games. The team also signed receivers Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins in free agency.

Without Diggs, the Bills should now go for a record wide receiver in this month’s draft. Buffalo opens with the 28th pick.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

John Wawrow, Associated Press