Bills and Diggs really need each other
You can tell that Bills coach Sean McDermott played safety in college and coached defensive backs in the NFL. This past week, he showed off an impressive backpedal.
On Tuesday, McDermott said he was “very concerned” about Stefon Diggs’s
absence from mandatory minicamp practice, waiving off reporters tersely with, “I’m not going to get into it.” Quarterback Josh Allen also said that “internally, we’re working on some things — not football-related.”
By Wednesday, McDermott had a different take. Actually, McDermott said, “Stef did everything that he was asked to do.” There was “great communication” between Diggs and the team, and his absence from practice was excused, because “we all needed a break and some space . . . and then picked up those conversations after practice.”
Oh, and things are just fine between Diggs and the team. He even appeared at Wednesday’s practice, participating in individual drills before sitting out team drills.
“He was excused by me, and so those conversations have got us to what I think and believe is a great spot,” McDermott said.
Of course, that’s a sanitized version of events. The Bills really do have issues with Diggs, their 29-year-old star receiver. McDermott is just doing his best to deescalate a tricky situation.
What else can McDermott do? McDermott needs Diggs more than ever in 2023, following two straight embarrassing postseason losses that have put McDermott on the hot seat. McDermott may have won three straight AFC East titles, but he doesn’t have much to show for it.
This is a rare situation where the issue doesn’t appear to be money. Diggs signed a four-year, $96 million deal last offseason and is set to make a healthy $24.4 million in 2023.
Diggs’s frustration is with his role in the offense and his voice in play-calling, per a league source close to the Bills’ locker room. He was visibly agitated at Allen during the 27-10 playoff loss to the Bengals, stormed out of the locker room almost immediately after the game, and didn’t attend any voluntary workouts this offseason.
The issues still hadn’t been resolved when the Bills reported for mandatory minicamp on Monday evening, as
Diggs skipped Tuesday’s practice. Diggs’s agent, Adisa Bakari, told ESPN that Diggs reported for his physical on Monday night and did everything the team asked him to do, calling it an “inhouse” issue, not contractual.
But by Wednesday, Diggs was back on the field, and McDermott spoke of the importance of involving Diggs more.
“Listen, getting Stef the ball is an important part of our offense. There’s no reason to say it isn’t,” McDermott said. “He’s a big focal point of our offense, in addition to Josh. And so you know, it’s important to get him going, and the more production he has, the more production we have as an offense.”
At first glance it’s hard to see how the Bills could get Diggs more opportunities. His stats last year all ranked in the top five in the NFL — 154 targets, 108 catches, 1,429 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Since joining the Bills for the 2020 season, Diggs is top six in all of those stats, and his 484 targets rank second behind only Davante Adams.
But a closer look does reveal a few reasons for Diggs to be upset. Over the last six games in 2023, including two playoff games, Diggs caught just one touchdown pass and averaged a meager 63 receiving yards. In the playoff loss to the Bengals, a listless, blowout defeat at home, Diggs had just four catches for 35 yards.
And Diggs may not have connected as well with new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after thriving for two years with former coordinator Brian Daboll.
McDermott intimated that it was all discussed with Diggs on Tuesday.
“We come out of those meetings with some real truths about what we could have done better,” McDermott said. “I’m extremely impressed and appreciative of the communication that we’ve had. And we all want the same thing, and that’s what we kept coming back to, is we all want to win. And so I think we’re in a good spot.”
Both sides need each other. Diggs will have a hard time finding a better situation than the one he has in Buffalo, where the Bills are one of the top Super Bowl contenders, his quarterback is one of the best in the game, and the team appears committed to feeding him the ball.
McDermott badly needs to win this year to erase the stigma that he can’t win the Big One — and, potentially, to keep his job. McDermott already dismissed Leslie Frazier and named himself defensive coordinator. Trading Diggs doesn’t help the Bills overcome the Chiefs and Bengals, especially when the Bills don’t have a great No. 2 option. If anything, the Bills should be looking to add someone such as DeAndre Hopkins to pair with Diggs.
Diggs’s contract should also keep the Bills from trading him, though not because of his $44.3 million in dead cap money, which would get split between $13.2 million this year and $31.1 million next year. It’s the actual cash — Diggs is set to make $24.4 million this season, and in March, the Bills converted $22.7 million of his base salary into a signing bonus to create cap space. Teams usually don’t trade or release players after pre-paying them 93 percent of that season’s salary.
So while there clearly are issues between Diggs and the Bills, McDermott is doing his best to quash them. The Bills’ 2023 season, and potentially McDermott’s future, likely depend on Diggs being happy and productive.
“He works extremely, extremely hard — as hard as any player I’ve been around to be elite in this league — and that’s what he is,” McDermott said. “I love him. So I want to make sure that you guys understand what, really, the situation was and is, because there’s some things that have been said that I don’t think are fair.”