Enigmatic and seemingly self-absorbed, Stefon Diggs forced Buffalo Bills’ hand

Las Vegas Raiders v Buffalo Bills — Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

“Houston, we have a problem.”

Having the question proposed to him, wide receiver Stefon Diggs might say that he’s been building toward his moonshot moment since adolescence, when the NFL became his only focus. Sure enough, Diggs made it happen, no doubt fueled by lessons he learned from his parents — his father’s wisdom guiding him, serving as a focused and comforting surrogate after his passing when Stefon was barely a teenager.

Along the way, Diggs manifested greatness within himself to such a degree that he became one of the most talented receivers in the NFL, capable of playing anywhere and against anyone. The brand was established. “I am Him” was born.

But was it all too much to bear for a Bills team that prioritized him in the 2020 NFL Draft, leveraging what was necessary to pull off a trade that ultimately paired him with an ascending quarterback in Josh Allen? At first blush, not a bit. Diggs became one of the central figures in Buffalo’s NFL resurgence.

That is, until situations that similarly plagued his career with the Minnesota Vikings and made him expendable to begin with began to surface with the Bills. Now, the name Stefon Diggs has created a new legend for its namesake: an oft-traded and widely discontent NFL superstar constantly in search of what’s next, what’s best. For Diggs.

As the trade to send Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans unfolded over the phone in March of 2023, it’s easy to imagine general manager Brandon Beane having uttered “Houston, we have a problem.”

And then with that, suddenly, Diggs was gone.

Yet here we find ourselves, Diggs and his Bills tenure are both once again back in the national spotlight — this time the subject of a featured interview with Clay Skipper that published September 3 through GQ Sports. Intentional or not, Diggs makes himself easy NFL editorial fodder — especially when he opens his mouth.

That’s never been more true than now, with him being given an extensive podium with a significant publication. When it comes to comments from Stefon Diggs, even peripheral attention from a half-tuned-in audience piques like accident gawkers in rush-hour traffic. And this GQ content? It’s a chaotic wreck.

How many elephants can possibly fit into one locker room?

Since his departure this past spring, I’ve continuously come back to one question: If Stefon Diggs couldn’t make things work with Josh Allen, how will it be different anywhere else?

By and large, Bills Mafia has genuinely wished Diggs luck with the Houston Texans. Though it’s also true that many are quick to lament what could have been and remain concerned about the impact of losing Diggs and its outcome for Josh Allen, and Buffalo, moving forward.

But now? It’s possible that the sympathetic tide carried by many Bills fans has now transitioned to an ominous rip current ready to usher Stefon Diggs out to sea. Getting down to the heart of things, Stefon Diggs exhausted too many fans, and those tasked with reporting on him.

Near the end of his tenure in Buffalo, it became less clear where and on what Diggs wanted people to focus. Perhaps he didn’t have the answer either.

Had Diggs lost his own focus, mired in too much off-field drama and responsibility? We can only theorize. The intent here isn’t to claim knowledge about Diggs’ life away from football. That said, if there were outside distractions, then on-field issues rightfully belong laid at his feet first and foremost. As we’ll dive into further below, Diggs, as he revealed to GQ, is certain to counter that idea with the theory that interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady messed things up.

If you believe that Stefon Diggs is his own biggest fan, then perhaps it’s a short journey to end up convinced of his discontentment simply being a part of Josh Allen’s story. Diggs craves the spotlight, in all things. He might have been unwilling to share it with Allen, and decided there was no worse chair than second fiddle with Buffalo.

As an alpha player, it’s easy to understand that Diggs wasn’t always going to play the good soldier in Orchard Park, NY. Not without reaching the pinnacle of NFL success and leveraging Allen to his benefit along the way. His time as an elite player is limited, and his 2023 output represented a downward shift compared to the three seasons prior. NFL careers are exceedingly fleeting.

Diggs has long-told anyone willing to listen that all he wants to do is win. And by that, he means to win it all — to hoist the Lombardi Trophy as confetti falls around him. No one should fault him for such aspirations.

Where many have now found fault with Diggs is in the manner he goes about chasing his professional dream. Over, and over, and over regardless of the collateral damage.

So... about last year?

At some point in time, I’ve no doubt that Bills fans and those who cover the team will be able to move beyond discussions and content focused on Stefon Diggs. But his latest comments with GQ aren’t so easily ignored. They’re incendiary, inflammatory, and revealing of a key character trait seemingly bathed in an overbearing amount of self-absorption.

Though it’s unpleasant to believe, I’ll freely admit that things may not have ever been quite as wonderful as the Buffalo Bills led outsiders to believe. That’s not dissimilar from any other organization that believes in handling its business in-house, in private. But last season? No one can deny that things very quickly turned sour.

At this juncture, it’s clear one side has moved on far further than the other side. That’s because Stefon Diggs just won’t stop nebulously discussing his NFL past when people bring up the subject.

With Clay Skipper and GQ, Stefon Diggs opened up in his unique way about previous stops with the Vikings and Bills. The man who feels he owes no one any explanation about self-described “evil villain stories,” and expects “people to mind their own damn business” has never been an easy interview, whether he’s dressed with a charming smile or not.

Interestingly with regards to Diggs on a professional level, it appears as though he’s saying a lot, offering really heavy sound-bites. The truth lies somewhere else, where too often seemingly circuitous responses serve to confuse listening ears. Even attempts to lay bare Diggs’ thoughts through the best-quoted transcripts leaves many scratching their head. That’s true of this GQ interview.

Though Diggs can be concisely direct when he chooses, stating to GQ of doubting fans on social media: “What am I gonna do about it — am I gonna fight the world?” ... “You ain’t beating Twitter, and you ain’t beating the Internet.” Diggs was also asked about refuting the notion that he and quarterback Josh Allen were on bad terms, to which he stated of those “evil villain stories”:

“If I feel targeted or I feel somebody’s saying something that’s wrong, can I say something? Yes. Will I say something? No. For what? I don’t gain nothing from it. None of these people sign any check of mine.”

That’s admirable in many ways, but it also perpetuates confusion and potentially false narratives. As such, that’s perhaps where the biggest criticisms marinate from outsiders’ perspectives on Stefon Diggs. No one would expect Diggs to get into a defensively positioned argument with the public.

That, however, doesn’t completely excuse Diggs from the narratives he’s pushed time and again. Clearly refuting incorrect and disparaging rumors would have likely sewn a more harmonious locker room. That’s true even if none of his teammates have ever publicly had a bad thing to say about Diggs.

While the locker room may be able to absorb the shock of Diggs’ unpaved off-the-field road, his teammates couldn’t suffer the lack of game-changing plays in the biggest moments. Apparently, neither could Stefon Diggs. Telling GQ he wasn’t in “a good space,” Diggs implied that he was ready for a change.

Last season, Diggs started off the season in Buffalo hot, with more than 100 receiving yards in five of his first six games. But he didn’t go over 100 yards—and he notched only two scores—for the rest of the season. If it didn’t look like Diggs was having fun that’s because, well, he wasn’t. “Last year, I was in the worst mental space I’ve been in since I’ve been in the league,” Diggs says. “If I’m not in a good space, obviously that’s not the best for me. So that’s when things had to start shaking out.”

An easy read of the tea leaves, it appears as though Diggs was suddenly unhappy working with the Buffalo Bills. But why? While it’s no one’s business what constituted his “worst mental head space” as a professional football player, there were a lot of people counting on him — as a leader, a captain — shutting out off-field issues for a few hours every week.

It seems that Diggs was unable or unwilling to make sure that happened, and it’s arguable that the headspace he resided in proved most detrimental to his on-field production.

Quite frankly, the guy flat-out disappeared last season, especially so during the playoffs. That, of course, is among the hottest of Diggs debates with Bills Mafia, which routinely takes exception to his second-half performances during last two seasons with Buffalo.

Diggs claimed to GQ that things shifted after the change at offensive coordinator from Ken Dorsey to Joe Brady — and that his stats suffered.

“The games looked a lot different,” he says. “You can blame me. I don’t mind blaming me. I got big-ass shoulders. But pay attention, pay real close attention. Watch the game. Of course there’s plenty of plays I want back. But there’s a lot of plays that didn’t go my way. I need a lot of things to go right to get the ball…. You can’t roll out of bed and get 800 yards in the first eight games. Your best receiver’s doing that. You tell me about the last 10. What changed? Were there changes going on? I just pay attention to what really happened and not what people try to act like happened. Like, for the last 10 games, I forgot how to fucking play football?”

That sure sounds like a guy who was ready to move on from One Bills Drive after they dropped their embattled and overwhelmed first-time offensive coordinator midseason. Did Diggs have a valid argument? Taking a deeper dive, Diggs wasn’t bereft of opportunity once Brady took over for Dorsey. He saw more than 80 targets. The issue was his catch rate down the stretch, and an inability to haul in touchdowns.

Perhaps that was due to the way Brady used Diggs, or maybe there was more to the situation than Diggs cares to reveal. Though this won’t be the last time Diggs speaks on the subject, it’s unlikely we ever learn more than we have through his interview with GQ.

What’s clear now is that Stefon Diggs wore out his welcome at One Bills Drive. Nothing is forever, but one can’t help wondering if things really needed to end the way they did for Diggs and the Bills.

The contentious situation had been a long-brewing one, dating back to Diggs’ visible sideline outburst at Allen and Brady during Buffalo’s home playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in January of 2023. Diggs stormed off the property, returning only after a teammate convinced him to return. But the wound only seemed to fester in the hours and days following the loss. Even into the offseason the situation was never addressed — and that’s perfectly within Diggs’ rights. But the seeds had been planted, and the weeds were waist high by the time mandatory minicamp began a few months later.

What may have been the final nail in the coffin of Diggs’ Bills career was that now-infamous drop during Buffalo’s home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs during last season’s NFL playoffs. People are anything but perfect, but professional sports’ best players almost always rise to the occasion when the chips are down. Diggs, even at that point, was still one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, and he couldn’t have asked for a more perfect throw from Josh Allen — a 70-yard work of art, at that. In the biggest moment, Diggs couldn’t overcome the ever-humbling reality of what it means to be a perfectly imperfect human.

A player the caliber of Stefon Diggs can’t drop the variety of passes he struggled to corral in big games, yet the trend followed him deep into January. Though purely speculative in this space, would it surprise anyone to discover that decisions were made about his future in Orchard Park, NY after that playoff performance against the Kansas City Chiefs? Unfair or otherwise, the NFL is a production business.

Loss, then immediate red flags

On the heels of his team’s most recent playoff exit, Diggs made his way around Radio row during Super Bowl week in Las Vegas, While there, Diggs again tip-toed around questions about his relationship with Allen and future with the Bills. In an appearance with Kay Adams, Diggs implored that he and his feet were simply riding the wave where it took him. Immediate red flags, for sure.

At best, Diggs’ interview with Kay Adams made Bills Mafia more anxious thanks to his decision to ride out comments that lacked any real substance. But don’t mistake Diggs’ conceptual discourse for lack of big-picture direction, given his choice to reinforce that mantra in speaking with GQ, and stating that “I believe in alignment,” ... ... “I’m everywhere I’m supposed to be, when I’m supposed to be there.”

Add it all up, and it’s easy to imagine general manager Brandon Beane being far more open to the idea of moving on from Diggs, no matter the cost. And, it would seem, Diggs got his wish.

In discussing the trade that sent him to the Houston Texans this past April, Diggs mentioned that it was anything other than a surprise. The implication being that perhaps he took the lead role in the production.

“We had some talks with Buffalo,” he says. “We knew where things were going—I did, at least. The outside world had so much speculation. I knew, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year to the offseason, exactly what was going on. Not too much confusion on my end.”

Professional athletes show their true colors in how they respond to adversity, to loss, and unmet expectations. Undeniably an incredible wide receiver for the Bills, too often, Stefon Diggs chose an emotionally charged and defensive leadership role seemingly only able to rise above the smoke in victory.

Change was clearly needed, for everyone involved. When Diggs made his mind up that it was time for a new address, the fuel to ignite that flame gushed abundantly from his open mouth — and paired horribly with his on-field slump.

NFL: New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills

Out of desperation, opportunity renews itself

Now, Diggs is on to what he sees as his best current opportunity — a situation that’s guaranteed him only a one-year stay with the newest quarterback he believes will take him to the heights of Super Bowl stardom. Once the NFL air clears early next February, Diggs is set to enter free agency. It’s anyone’s guess as to how that will play out, and if the Texans will be willing to meet his demands as a receiver set to turn 32 in November of 2025.

For this season, at least, Diggs is exactly where he wants to be — and he’s been rewarded with yet another captain’s “C” on his jersey. That’s important to Diggs, even if the way he leads looks different from a lot of peoples’ ideas on captaincy. In the end, outside noise doesn’t matter to Diggs. He’s exactly where he’s meant to be, doing what needs to be done for Stefon Diggs, as he alluded to in conversation with GQ’s Clay Skipper:

He’ll lead, he says, in his own way: “I can talk, but I like to work. I like to make plays. That’s how I like to be able to show you that I am who I say I am.”

Did Stefon Diggs give up on the Bills, due largely to frustrations about his involvement and statistical plummet? We can only guess. Or did he instead see only one path to renewing his opportunity at NFL greatness?

Is it perhaps overbearing, the continued focus on Diggs — the constant conflicting narratives about who was at fault, and yet that no one was unhappy? One-hundred percent. As editor in chief of Buffalo Rumblings, I’ve been content for months now having moved on from detailed discussions about Diggs, covering his often fairly insubstantial press conferences. There’s newfound freedom in no longer riding an editorial dividing line that didn’t paint him too generously, nor too unfair in ways that would damage his reputation.

Diggs played the role necessary to fans, but it appears he was someone else entirely for the Buffalo Bills.But what’s true of the Stefon Diggs that the public, and his fans, know? The truth is that Stefon Diggs has and always will be quick to paint his own reputation, and a lot of the national-media narrative on Diggs’ perceived personality is based in observations aplenty. Again, Diggs has never shied from the spotlight.

To say that Stefon Diggs is an incredible football player whose height of talent paired impeccably with Josh Allen isn’t hyperbole. Theirs was a connection built for the most spellbinding success. The perfect pairing at the right moment. But that magic was always fleeting.

It’s fair to say things came to a crashing end during the 2023 NFL regular season. There’s no need to further rehash those eye-opening stats — the numbers that likely played a role in One Bills Drive’s willingness to part ways with Diggs this past spring. Likewise, there’s no sugarcoating things: Diggs wasn’t an acceptable WR1 for half the Bills’ 2023 season, and things were somehow worse in the playoffs. Some would say Diggs was hardly ever impactful enough in the postseason. Read: Ever.

On fondness and redemptive arcs

From here on out, I hope to remember the best version of Stefon Diggs in a Bills uniform — a generational talent and the guy who took generous amounts of time with young fans before games. The first teammate to reach Damar Hamlin in the hospital, showing the ultimate concern and compassion for a someone in his greatest hour of need.

The guy living “the high life” during touchdown celebrations, and quick to repay those fans who sacrificed refreshments for his on-the-spot choreography.

The generous and philanthropic person who continually goes out of his way to help at-risk youth, and advocates for women at events such as the Kering Foundation’s Annual Caring For Women Dinner.

Kering Foundation Second Annual Caring For Women Dinner

These are the character traits that allow Diggs to shine brightest as a public figure, and undoubtedly played an integral role in his ascendance as one of the NFL’s greatest receivers.

Endlessly chasing moonshots

This is unlikely the last time we hear from Stefon Diggs and his departure from the Buffalo Bills. After all, if he couldn’t make things work with Josh Allen, how can he expect them to work anywhere else? Incredible as he is, it’s likely only a matter of time before the world learns of Diggs’ newest quest to land where he’s supposed to be. Will that journey lead him to the Super Bowl and NFL Hall of Fame?

One thing remains clear: Stefon Diggs is here for no one’s amusement but his own. That alone, might serve as a warning. Houston, you may have a problem in time.