Stefon Diggs talks Bills trade and says he likes Josh Allen

ORCHARD PARK – Stefon Diggs met with reporters Tuesday in Houston for the first time since the Buffalo Bills traded him to the Texans, and it was all flowers and candy for his former quarterback, Josh Allen.

“I feel like he played a complex role in my career,” Diggs said. “When I got to Buffalo, Josh was… Josh is still my guy. He really embraced me, he kind of had southern hospitality. So for me, he embraced me, spent a lot of time, and I probably wouldn’t be here without him. I have a lot of love for this boy. You will all give him a hug and a kiss for me.

Diggs’ comments followed the path Allen blazed in April when he spoke about his former teammate and their time together.

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“It’s really hard to part ways with a guy who has been instrumental in our success here over the last four years,” Allen said. “I can’t thank him enough for coming here, for how hard he worked and for what he taught me over the years. I will always love this guy like a brother and wish him nothing but the best.

So take that, all you conspiracy theorists who believed there was a rift between the two superstars.

Look, both men were speaking to a horde of reporters armed with digital recorders and cameras when these comments were made, so of course the whole thing could have been a show to hide some lingering animosity between the two. But I refuse to believe it.

These two have a deep respect for each other, they understand that they needed each other at a key moment in their respective careers, and even if the end result didn’t work out to an AFC championship or a Super Bowl victory, their relationship has propelled them both soaring.

Stefon Diggs is a diva on the decline:3 reasons why exchanging tickets was the right decision

Diggs wanted out of Minnesota and was looking to take his game to the next level when Brandon Beane acquired from Minnesota in the spring of 2020. And Allen was heading into his third season in the NFL, desperately needing a go-to target to bring life to Buffalo. good but not great offensive.

Four years later, their connection proved to be one of the deadliest in the NFL and the Bills won four straight AFC East titles with an offense that was consistently among the league’s best. Oh, not to mention they benefited financially in the most spectacular way.

“My lasting memory of Stef will be the receiver who helped me become the quarterback I am today and I will always thank him for that,” Allen said. “He meant a lot. You look at the statistics, they don’t lie, the numbers don’t lie.

This is not the case. During his four years in Buffalo, Diggs caught the second-most passes on the most targets of any NFL receiver, and while Pro Bowl invitations are meaningless, Diggs was never elected during his time with the Vikings, but he was after the four seasons he was with the Bills.

What happened in 2023 wasn’t an Allen-Diggs problem; it was about changing Diggs’ role following the removal of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and the promotion of Joe Brady. Brady tried to diversify the offense and while he didn’t actively scheme to keep the ball away from Diggs, he relied on the running game a bit more than his predecessor, and he also encouraged Allen to use his other weapons and not trying to force the ball on Diggs, which is why Khalil Shakir and Dalton Kincaid emerged in the second half of the season.

There’s also this: Diggs is in a gradual decline in his career at age 30, and the simple truth was that during the second half of 2023, he ran into tough defensive backs who kept him in check and thus his numbers fell.

On Tuesday, he didn’t say he thought he was on the downside – he’ll never say that – nor would he admit he’s struggled against tougher competition, but he said: “All in all Throughout the season there were ups and downs, especially after the first eight. We had a coaching change and different things went in different directions, differences in terms of schemes, patterns and. ups and downs. It’s always about balance. It’s not my job to call the plays. I just have to open up and catch it. which would worry me.

Yeah, but it seems that way. He wasn’t happy with the way things were changing for him and the end of the season, especially after dropping a very catchable deep ball on what turned out to be the final drive of his Bills career during the playoff loss to the Chiefs, he admitted he saw the writing on the wall and that Buffalo might look to take care of it.

However, some of the writing on that wall was Diggs’ work. His cryptic social media posts, dating back to the bitter end of 2022, along with all the silliness of that offseason where he blew up Bills OTAs, became a thorn in Beane’s side and it felt like the Bills were done with the drama. and I saw a three-pronged opportunity presented to them.

First, they could get an asset in exchange for Diggs and that turned out to be a 2025 second-round pick; second, they could clean up their payroll situation in 2025 and beyond by losing tens of millions in the caps set by Diggs; and finally, this was the moment where they could turn the page and allow players like Kincaid, Shakir, James Cook and perhaps Curtis Samuel to become Allen’s primary weapons.

“Obviously, at the end of the season, there was a lot of gray area as to what I was going to do, as to whether I was going to be in Buffalo or not,” Diggs said. “You feel it a little in the air, especially in personal feelings. But for me, when I got traded, obviously, I was happy. I was in the right place. I told God to light my path, and here I am (in Houston), so he won’t make any mistakes. I remain firm on this.

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