Stefon Diggs plays for the name on the back of the jersey more than the team name on the front. It’s all about making Diggs happy. If not, he will bring nothing but drama to your team’s locker room. The Bills front office finally said enough is enough and once again, Diggs has worn out his welcome like he did before Buffalo in Minnesota, as he was traded to the Houston Texans. It’s a blockbuster deal favoring the Texans as they also receive two draft picks – a 2024 6th rounder and 2025 5th rounder. The Bills are left 31 million in dead cap space for 2024. The Bills do get a second round pick in 2025. The Texans will take on the 30 year old playmaker’s final 4 years of the contract at 75 million total. It’s a trade where the Bills basically paid Diggs to get out of town.

In 2020, the Bills traded their number one draft pick that year to land Stefon Diggs who wanted out of Minnesota. The Vikings would use that pick to draft their star wide receiver Justin Jefferson who is turning out to be one of the best playmakers in the NFL. The Bills needed a number one receiver at the time as Josh Allen was on the verge of being star quarterback. The Bills at the time struck gold with Diggs in that first season, as he caught 127 passes for 1,535 yards. It was a career high for the X-Vikings receiver. In the last 4 seasons, Diggs has caught over 100 passes with Allen as his quarterback. He has made 4 straight pro-bowls. He has tallied 4 straight seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards. The last 4 seasons he has led the league in receptions with 445 of them. Over that span, Davonte Adams is second with 441 receptions, and Tyreek Hill comes in third with 436. In 4 seasons in Buffalo, Diggs has played in 66 games, has 445 receptions for 5,372 passing yards, and 37 touchdown catches. How do you replace that kind of production if you are Buffalo? What went wrong with this lethal combination of Allen and Diggs?

Things went sour when the Bills were so close to making it to the Superbowl in 2021. The loss to the Chiefs in overtime was 42-36 in one of the best games of all-time. This was the first of these heart breaker losses the Bills have gone through over the last few seasons. The Bills let the Chiefs tie the game with 13 ticks on the clock to send that one into OT. Then in the 2022 post-season, the Bengals lost in the snow in Buffalo which was the beginning to the ending of this Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs relationship. The Bills were at home in the divisional round versus the Bengals, and Cincinnati gave Buffalo a beat down. The Bills offense was out of sync. Diggs would have words with Allen on the sideline. After the loss, Diggs would leave the locker room without a word. The following season Diggs would miss the first day of mandatory mini camp in June. Diggs was unhappy with his role in the offense. Some how the Bills and Diggs put a temporary band aid on their strained relationship. The 2023 regular season started off with a bang as Diggs and Allen were connecting and the team got off to a good start. The wheels fell off the bus and the Bills found themselves 5-5 with talk of missing the playoffs. The Bills made a move and fired their offensive coordinator, Ken Dorsey. The next man up was Joe Brady, the Bills offense started scoring points again, and the team most importantly was winning games. The Bills finished with 11-6 record and won the AFC East once again. During the last 7 games, Diggs did not score a single touchdown as he had one in every game the first ten games of the season. Diggs did not post one 100 yard receiving game when Brady took over the play calling on offense. Diggs averaged 41 yards per game in those 7 games. The Bills once again would manage to get to the divisional round and at the same time host a playoff game against the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. The Bills seem to have dominated most of the game until late in the 4th quarter. The Bills were driving and looking for the lead as they gave that up late in the game. The Bills drive halted and they were trying to settle for a field goal to tie the game. The kick sailed wide right and those words reopened the nightmare of a 1990 Superbowl kick went wide right. The Bills would lose once again to the Chiefs, who would go on to the AFC championship game and end up winning the Superbowl. Diggs’ words about his future with the team were grim. The Bills this off-season had to make several cuts to veteran players to get under the cap. The General Manager Billy Beane seemed to have steer the ship into retaining some of the free agents the Bills had on the open market. Then adding some pieces to replace guys they cut. The final straw for Diggs was more grim words on social media basically telling the world he made Allen who he is. Some insiders have said that Diggs and his agent may have requested a trade. He got his wish heading to Houston.

Billy Beane helps a team in his own conference become one of the power houses of the AFC conference. Last year the Texans selected CJ Stroud with the second overall pick, and Houston struck gold. Stroud led the Texans to a division title as they won the AFC South. The Texans beat up on the Browns in the first round of the post-season. In the divisional round, the Texans were eliminated by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Last year, Stroud worked well with his receivers. Nico Collins ranked 8th in the league in receiving yards along with 8 touchdown catches. Rookie wide out Tank Dell was on pace for 1,200 receiving yards, but in week 13 suffered a season ending injury as he finished with 709 receiving yards with 7 touchdown catches. The Texans re-signed their tight end Dalton Schultz who may be a top ten guy at his position. The former Cowboy had a nice year with Stroud his first season in Houston. Then the Texans upgraded their running back position as they acquired Joe Mixon from the Bengals. The Texans tried to land Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen, but the Bears ended up getting him in a trade. Adding Stefon Diggs gives the Texans a three headed monster at the wide receiver positions. You even have to say the Texans may be one of the top offenses in the league next season now with Diggs aboard the mother ship. The Texans are in the second year of Stroud’s current rookie contract which makes it easy to afford Diggs for the next few seasons. Which makes this deal so good for Houston and they got two additional draft picks as well.

Where does this leave the Bills? The Bills have lost Gabe Davis in free agency as he landed on his feet in Jacksonville. With Stefon Diggs gone, that leaves Khali Shakir as the only wide receiver from last season. Shakir is a guy with potential as he caught 39 balls for 611 yards last season and had two touchdown catches. The Bills have signed a pair of wide receivers in free agency, Mack Hollins, former Falcon, and Curtis Samuel, former Panther. Samuel also played with the Commanders the last few seasons. How do you replace the production from a guy like Diggs? Even though Diggs was not a vital part of the passing game in the last seven weeks of the regular season last year, he still demanded attention from opposing defenses. The Bills sit at 28th in the draft and it is loaded with wide receiver talent. I can see Billy Beane moving up to perhaps net one of the bigger names. If the Bills want another dog they could throw some money at Odell Beckham Jr. who is still out there as a free agent. Could the Bills land other receivers that are currently on the trading block like the Bengals’ Tee Higgens? The Bengals want to keep him but need the money to lock up Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow’s number one guy. The 49ers don’t have enough money to get a long term deal with Brando Aiyuk. The Bills could make a move and still be okay after this trade.

Stefon Diggs is definitely a fiery competitor who hates to lose. If he feels like he’s not involved in the offense for whatever reason, he feels slighted. You want your play makers to want the ball. Sometimes being a decoy works for the team. Sometimes taking on double the coverage with defenders helps because someone else is open. Diggs has a track record established as we’ve seen the fall out in Minnesota & now Buffalo. The Texans better hope that CJ Stroud does not have a sophomore slump. With Joe Mixon and Diggs, these personalities and egos can clash at any time and turn the Texan locker room into a place unbearable for the young talent they have in place. For the Bills, let’s remember Davonte Adams has never won a Superbowl. Tyreek Hill has not won a ring after being traded away from Kansas City. The Chiefs have won back to back titles without Hill. The Chiefs had their worst receiving core in Patrick Mahomes’ career and still won it all last year. Josh Allen is capable of winning without Diggs. The Bills offensive scheme with Joe Brady as the Offensive coordinator is heavy on running the ball and throwing to the open receivers. Allen will not have to worry about forcing the ball into Diggs’ hands. You can win the big game without these big time play making receivers that cost more than most of the starting quarterbacks in the league. I hate getting the return that Buffalo got on Diggs. I feel like they can still address that vacant position without taking a big step backwards. In years to come like next season, not having Diggs on the payroll and the salary cap may increase which could pay dividends for the Bills. I suspect the Diggs’ move will not give the Texans their first ever Superbowl trophy. I feel like they will be in for a rude awakening in years to come. It’s all about the Diggies when it comes to Stefon, and not what you think and his team’s Superbowl aspirations. That is unless he is the queen of the prom.