'Perhaps we will do that with out him': Contained in the Payments-Stefon Diggs break up

IT WAS NEITHER the most important nor essentially 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 proper slot the place he knew precisely who he would discover. Stefon Diggs had discovered a tiny void within the Eagles’ zone on the purpose line, which is the place Allen’s essentially low and excellent 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 last landing as a Invoice. The 30-year-old huge receiver with the NFL’s most receptions from 2020 to 2023 would see his alternatives dwindle, at the same time as his staff went on a five-game successful streak that took it from 6-6 after the Eagles loss to the AFC East title. 4 months and one week after he slid by the rain in Philly, the Payments traded Diggs to the Houston Texans, taking over $31 million of useless wage cap cash to maneuver him — the best identified useless cap cost for a large receiver ever.

The place it went mistaken between Diggs and the Payments will not be a query that yields a single reply from greater than a dozen staff, entrance workplace and trade sources ESPN contacted for this story. The participant is famously mercurial. The staff’s degree of persistence together with his persona ebbed and flowed. The offense was headed in a unique route. The ratio of the influence of those three causes on Diggs’ exit will depend on who’s doing the speaking.

And now comes a reunion between Diggs and Buffalo (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS) that may possible 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 certain, this divorce didn’t come out of nowhere.

“Super participant,” a staff supply mentioned. “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. The multitalented Allen was heading into his third season and coming off a promising playoff 12 months in 2019 however lacked a real alpha at receiver. Diggs crammed that vacuum, establishing his place instantly within the Payments tradition in the course of the COVID-altered offseason of 2020 and setting the tone day-after-day together with his competitiveness and work ethic. If each receiver received one rep, Diggs wished 5. Diggs has been described by a number of sources as well liked by teammates, sentiments that have been obvious from his early days in Buffalo. Whether or not organizing a Thanksgiving turkey drive within the Buffalo space or taking part in catch with followers pregame, Diggs made his presence and instance felt inside the neighborhood and the locker room.

Diggs’ arrival immediately correlated with Allen’s vault into the top-tier quarterback dialog and the Payments’ transition from fringe playoff staff to true contender. Although a few of Allen’s good points will be defined by the pure maturation of a younger quarterback, Allen’s improved numbers after Diggs’ arrival in Whole 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) have 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.

The 2 appeared to have buddy-cop movie chemistry early on, sharing secret handshakes and laughs on the sphere. Allen went out of his solution 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 a giant believer in off-field relationships paying dividends on the sphere. I feel that ours form of speaks volumes,” Allen mentioned in 2021 concerning the Diggs relationship. “We get to hang around with one another lots, and develop these forms of bonds and relationships, and it exhibits up on the sphere.”

In time, frustration would present up on the sphere as properly, tied to the shortcoming of the Payments to interrupt by on the most important stage. Late in an unsightly 27-10 house loss to the Bengals within the 2022 playoffs, Diggs — restricted to 4 catches on the day — may very well 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 shedding ? Nah … Need me to be okay with our degree of play when it is less than the usual ? Nah … It is simple to criticize my response greater than the consequence,” Diggs tweeted.

The controversy ignited anew on the subsequent necessary minicamp when coach Sean McDermott informed reporters he was “very concerned” about Diggs not being current.

The following day, McDermott clarified that he “gave Stef permission to get some house” after a dialog between the coach and star receiver. Diggs returned to follow that day.

Theories concerning the core subject abounded at Payments staff headquarters that day. One staff supply believed Diggs had grown annoyed with the late-season losses, had recommendations about enhancing the general method to successful that went past the specifics of his personal position, and that his supply on these ideas may need gone poorly. When requested about that theme, a supply near Diggs mentioned the receiver “received to the purpose the place he figured, I am right here they usually know what I can do, but when we’re shedding, let me assist.”

“He is tremendous sensible, and for those who sugarcoat it with him and should not 100%, he’ll see by it,” the supply mentioned of Diggs’ method. “And he remembers every little thing you say.”

A separate staff supply cited the 2022 postseason departure of the staff’s receivers coach, Chad Corridor, as a degree of rivalry. Diggs is near Corridor, whose contract was up after the 2022 season. Jacksonville supplied him a promotion from huge receivers coach to passing sport coordinator, which he accepted. The Payments changed him with veteran coach Adam Henry.

No matter Diggs’ intentions or the staff’s dealing with of them, what a staff supply mentioned 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 point of interest of the offense with 73 catches by 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 staff.

Diggs’ youthful brother, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, tweeted “Man 14 Gotta get up outta there,” in the course of the Monday evening loss, a remark Stefon tried to separate himself from later that week (“I am not liable for how different individuals really feel,” Diggs mentioned.). By then, McDermott had fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and promoted quarterbacks coach Joe Brady to the interim OC position.

Brady instantly broke from Dorsey’s system that had rushed about 25 instances per sport the earlier season. Brady as an alternative known as 155 speeding performs within the first 4 video games (38.8 per sport), culminating in a blowout of the Cowboys wherein they ran 49 instances. It was the staff’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 — might adapt. Diggs’ 4 catches for 48 yards on 5 targets towards Dallas may need seemed like a minimal contribution inside the field rating, however what they mentioned held significance past the numbers.

“For some time it was, ‘No method we will play with out this dude,'” a staff supply who was on the scene that evening mentioned about Diggs. “However I believed to myself, ‘Oh, perhaps we will do that with out him.'”

Diggs remained a main possibility, 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).

Crew 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. However it signified a page-turn in philosophy and choice.

“We nonetheless tried to attempt to get him the ball,” a Payments personnel supply mentioned. “It is extra about philosophy, [Brady and McDermott’s] model, what’s best holistically for the offense. Groups know the place you are going by way of go-to guys. It’s a must to unfold that factor out, have flexibility.”

In the meantime, Diggs wasn’t saying a lot publicly — he was hardly ever out there 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 trustworthy, it is irritating,” Diggs mentioned earlier than the win over the Cowboys. “I received to do lots of issues to get open after which lots of issues received to go proper for me to get the ball. Y’all understand how a lot of a competitor I’m, and I prefer to play at a excessive degree, and I at all times need it to occur and even when it would not, when it would not materialize, I positively get a bit discouraged at a second, however then I received to shake again, trigger I at all times have a look at it like, my staff nonetheless wants me.”

Diggs and Allen remained cordial {and professional} by the philosophical shift, staff sources mentioned.

There wasn’t rather more Diggs might say inside the constructing, or in his public feedback. The Payments have been successful once more. However his likelihood to change uniforms for the third time in 5 years was looming.

---

FROM AFAR, A staff 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 mentioned.

Coaches and scouts on the Minnesota workers throughout Diggs’ tenure there usually seek advice from 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 lots. He would possibly 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 staff discovered his aggressive facet might result in frustration. The Vikings went to the playoffs thrice throughout Diggs’ 5 years with the staff, all underneath head coach (and noted Diggs fan) Mike Zimmer, and by no means completed with a shedding document. However the very factor that made Diggs nice — his perception that getting him the ball would assist the staff — was one thing Minnesota needed to handle each on sport day and all through the week.

“He must have somebody he can speak to, listening to his considerations, work by what was bothering him, recognizing him as a voice,” a Vikings supply who immediately noticed Diggs’ tenure there mentioned.

A number of Vikings sources mentioned that whereas the franchise thought-about Diggs’ want to maximise his offensive influence to be largely a constructive, the staff needed to work to make sure it did not flip poisonous inside the constructing. Vikings brass spent important time speaking by points with Diggs, realizing he simply wanted to vent typically.

Diggs was identified to be forceful when he did. And he shared the huge receiver room with one other alpha, Adam Thielen, who additionally wished the ball.

To provide then-quarterback Kirk Cousins peace on the sideline throughout video games, coaches as soon as located the Vikings receivers other than the quarterbacks and nearer to the defensive benches, an ex-Vikings supply mentioned.

“It may be lots,” the supply mentioned. “He would possibly 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 laborious. That is why coaches love him.”

After 5 years that included a pair of 1,000-yard seasons, the Diggs-authored “Minneapolis Miracle” but in addition $200,000 in fines for unexcused absences from practices and conferences, the staff and Diggs determined to half methods in what a Vikings-era supply described as a mutual choice between participant and staff. (A separate staff supply made clear Diggs wished out.) Minnesota dealt Diggs as a part of a package deal that despatched Buffalo’s first-round 2020 option to the Vikings, a decide the staff used to draft Justin Jefferson at twenty second general.

That supply didn’t recall Buffalo asking for recommendation on find out how to handle Diggs’ persona within the commerce course of.

“You at all times have to fret about how he feels,” a Payments staff supply mentioned. “That wears on a locker room.”

In 2023, 4 seasons for the reason that 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 staff worker who works as a reporter for the Payments’ web site was heard on a livestream saying, “There isn’t any management over Stefon Diggs. Dude’s gonna do what he needs to do. He’ll look in my face and say f— you … that is how he treats all people.”

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 would by no means deal with anybody how she described & have by no means mentioned something remotely near that to her.”

The controversy abated, and the season continued. Greater than a 12 months later, the staff worker stays a reporter for the Payments’ web site. The group would come to a unique choice about Diggs.

---

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 consider that, not wavering off of that,” Beane said. Left unstated in that analysis was how prominently Diggs factored into the Payments’ plans.

Issues have been altering in Buffalo. Younger offensive playmakers, together with tight finish Dalton Kincaid and working again James Cook, have been rising in stature. The Payments confronted roughly a $50 million wage cap deficit, forcing laborious roster selections. Phrase unfold amongst participant brokers that Buffalo can be parting with high-priced, getting older veterans, partly to brace for ballooning cap hits on Allen’s $258 million contract. Heart Mitch Morse, nook Tre’Davious White and security Jordan Poyer have been launched earlier than free company. Longtime security Micah Hyde, who was considering retirement, was non-tendered.

Buffalo had “no intention to ship [Diggs] away” initially, a staff supply mentioned, 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 procuring Diggs — the Payments have been on the hook for Diggs’ contract both method; there was no 2024 cap reduction out there by dealing him.

Whereas staff sources weren’t in a position to verify whether or not Diggs formally requested a commerce, they agree Diggs was open to a change in surroundings and an eventual commerce was a mutual choice.

“If he is not blissful someplace, he is sensible sufficient to maneuver his method out,” a supply near Diggs mentioned.

Added a staff supply: “It is a regular factor for veteran guys at that stage of his profession to be drawn to one thing new. I feel there was some attraction [to Houston] for him.”

On the Professional Bowl Video games in February, Diggs acknowledged “there’s lots of adjustments happening” in Buffalo, and “I am unable to inform you what the long run holds, however I am nonetheless being me.”

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 much like his social media habits earlier than he was traded from Minnesota.

The idea in league circles is the Texans have 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 mentioned the Texans received “very shut” to dealing for the receiver.

As soon as that fell by, the Texans pivoted to Diggs. Phrase out of the Payments’ locker room began to trickle out in mid-March — in step with these imprecise Diggs tweets — that Houston was a attainable vacation spot.

Those that know Texans basic supervisor Nick Caserio weren’t stunned by this. He scours the marketplace for alternatives, a Texans supply mentioned, utilizing personnel conferences to debate gamers that may very well be out there as a result of a litany of things. “I feel [Caserio] noticed the writing on the wall [with Diggs in Buffalo],” the supply mentioned.

The Payments had a number of components to navigate. They needed to negotiate parameters of the deal. Houston and Diggs would additionally must 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 choice of this magnitude possible concerned Josh Allen, not less than not directly. Whereas the staff’s actual communication with Allen about Diggs’ future with the staff is unknown, one staff supply believes “[Allen is] on the level that they are not 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 decide in trade for Diggs, a 2024 sixth-round decide (later dealt to the Lions) and a 2025 fifth-round choice. One AFC government known as Buffalo “fortunate” to get that form of worth for a 30-year-old receiver, contemplating the idea amongst some within the trade that Houston may 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 suggestion pretty much as good as Houston’s? One staff supply was not conscious of a tough line on hypothetical commerce phrases, one other mentioned it was the proper time to maneuver on and believes the events in all probability would have discovered a solution to half amicably — even when it meant Buffalo procuring Diggs extra aggressively. It by no means got here to that.

Diggs known 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 mentioned. “Thrive in an area of being round those that actually care and actually 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. By way of 4 weeks, Diggs is No. 3 on ESPN’s Receiver Scores listing, a composite metric that distills a large receiver’s means to get open, make catches and accrue yards after the catch. The Texans are making Diggs’ place within the offense a precedence in a method that wasn’t taking place in his last days in Buffalo.

In the meantime, there’s Josh Allen.

In the future 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 positive?” Diggs fired again.

By way of 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 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.

Allen made headlines after Buffalo’s 47-10 Week 3 win over the Jaguars when he mentioned, “That is the fantastic thing about it when guys get to purchase into this and actually perceive like I could not get the ball 4 or 5 instances thrown to me a sport however the one or two instances I do, I will have alternatives to be ultimately zone. It is a enjoyable and fantastic factor if you received a bunch of men 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 mentioned, “I really like 14, I nonetheless do. However everybody needs to maintain making this factor [the split] a factor. We’re so centered on what is going on on inside our constructing and that is the one factor we’re caring about proper now.”

The numerous league observers who’ve had this sport circled for the reason that 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 intense digital camera lights by his locker. Reporters have 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.

Really, 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 to watch.

Many are excited for that matchup, the reporter informed him. Stefon’s youthful brother arched an eyebrow and gave a understanding smile as he headed for the staff bus.

“Me too,” Trevon mentioned.